Un amour impossible
Empathy-arousing French adaptation of Christine Angot’s bestseller in which Rachel can’t seem to escape her doomed love affair.
134'
France
IFFR 2019
The doctor thinks Zain is about twelve years old, but nobody knows for sure; he wasn’t registered at birth. And this is not the only pretty basic thing missing from the chaotic lives of Zain and his younger brothers and sisters: they also lack a habitable home, sufficient food, protection, love. So Zain takes his parents to court. His complaint: that they brought him into the world.
Using the court case as a framework, we learn how it came to this in two long flashbacks. In an energetic montage of observationally filmed scenes, Capharnaüm examines – in part through the problems of an ‘illegal’ Ethiopian cleaner who shelters Zain when he runs away from home – the fate of the large group of undocumented people trying to survive in and around Beirut. Street-savvy and wise beyond his years, the sad gaze of young lead Zain Al Rafeaa betrays his real-life experiences as a Syrian refugee in the Lebanese metropolis.
Winner BankGiro Loterij Audience Award, IFFR 2019.
IFFR 2019
Programme IFFR 2019
Avant-premieres of some of the cinematic highlights of the year: international award-winners and festival favourites which will be released in Dutch cinemas after IFFR.
Read more about this programmeEmpathy-arousing French adaptation of Christine Angot’s bestseller in which Rachel can’t seem to escape her doomed love affair.
134'
France
IFFR 2019
Adaptation of war reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski’s most famous book mixes hyper-realistic animation, documentary, hallucinatory impressions and literary soul searching.
86'
Poland
IFFR 2019
In this gender-flipped Vertigo set in Japan, Asako’s encounter with her ex-lover’s lookalike sees her confronting the messiness of love.
119'
Japan
IFFR 2019