SHAFAQNA- Zain Al Rafeaa and his family find new beginning in Norway, when he was discovered by film director Nadine Labaki in the streets of Beirut.
Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeaa barely knew how to write his name. He was discovered by Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki in the streets of Beirut, 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.
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