Nadine Labaki

Nadine Labaki was born February 18, 1974 in Baabdet. She obtained a degree in audiovisual arts at Beirut’s St. Joseph University. She is a director, actress and an activist. She portrays stereotypes and touching on fundamental issues such as Religion, war, women’s role in society, and the different challenges that the Lebanese person undergoes in daily life. She directed a film called “11 Rue Pasteur,” which won the Best Short Film Award at the Biennale of Arab Cinema at the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris) in 1998. She has directed adverts and many music videos for renowned Middle Eastern singers, for which she won several awards. By age 30, Ms. Labaki has already worked on being a director of over 50 television ads for high-profile firms. Her work earned two back-to-back Murex D’Or “Best Video Clip Director of the Year” awards. Her film “Caramel,” which she wrote, directed, and played a leading role in, premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. The film collected prizes at many festivals around the world and the industry newspaper Variety named her among 10 Directors to Watch at the Sundance Film Festival. Ms. labaki directed, co-wrote, and starred in her second film “Where Do We Go Now?” (Halla La Wen). The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the “Certain Regard” category in 2011. It won the Cadillac people’s choice award at the Toronto film festival and was a winner at the Cannes Film Festival, the San Sebastian Film Festival, and the Stockholm film festival. The film was nominated for best foreign film at the Critics’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles. Her movie Capernaum was nominated in the foreign-language Oscars category, which was a first for a female director. She is the first female Arab director to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Ms. Labaki is also a goodwill ambassador for the Brave Heart Fund of the Children’s Heart Center at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.