Casperworld Forum

Quoted

Film changes the life of Syrian refugee boy and his family

Discovered by film director Nadine Labaki in the streets of Beirut, Zain Al Rafeaa and his family find new beginning in Norway.

NEW YORK – At 12, Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeaa barely knew how to write his name. He was discovered in the streets of Beirut
by Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki, who cast him to star in her new film Capernaum. Today, Zain and his family have been
resettled to Norway, where they live in a house overseeing the sea and Zain plays with reindeer in the forest.

Until three months ago, Zain’s life shared similarities to the character he plays in Capernaum, the story an undocumented Lebanese
boy fighting to survive poverty and marginalization while helping other displaced people living in the slums of Beirut. He was living
below the poverty line, like many other Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities.

The film has been selected as Lebanon’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2019 Academy Awards and received the Jury
Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This week UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, co-sponsored a screening of the film in New York City.

“To be resettled in a third country, and having this kind of life – it truly is a new beginning.”

...
https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/latest/…boy-family.html