Skies of Lebanon
Animation (Features)
•
1h 32m
Directed by Chloé Mazlo • Drama • With Alba Rohrwacher, Wajdi Mouawad, Isabelle Zighondi • 2020 • 92 minutes
A poetic blending of the personal and political, Skies of Lebanon combines live action with animation to create a vivid picture of Lebanon, inspired by the family history of filmmaker Chloé Mazlo. Using stories told to her by her grandmother of life during the Lebanese Civil War, Mazlo crafts a touching and heart-breaking story of love during wartime.
Alba Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro) plays Alice, a Swiss woman who moved to Beirut in the 1950s and falls in love with a Lebanese man. Wajdi Mouawad (author of the play Incendies, which was the source material for Denis Villeneuve’s 2010 film) plays Joseph, an astrophysicist with dreams of sending his fellow citizens into space, and the object of Alice’s affection. Joseph and Alice appear to lead the perfect life until their bliss is ripped apart by the civil war and nothing will be the same again.
An official selection for the 2020 Cannes International Critics’ Week, Skies of Lebanon stunningly gives shape to the emotional undercurrents felt by the characters through the use of animation. This rewarding and quietly devastating cinematic experience announces Mazlo’s arrival as an important new talent.
"A tour de force of filmmaking technique." —Eye For Film
Up Next in Animation (Features)
-
Louise By the Shore
Directed by Jean-Francois Laguionie • Animation • With Rance Castel • 2016 • 75 minutes
On the last day of summer in a small seaside resort town, an older woman named Louise realizes that the last train has departed without her. She finds herself alone in the town, abandoned by everyone. As the ...
-
Sita Sings the Blues
Directed by Nina Paley • Animation • 2008 • 82 minutes
Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully ...
-
Josep
Directed by Aurel • Animation • 2021 • 74 minutes
During the Spanish civil war, Republican fighters fleeing Franco's dictatorship are imprisoned in concentration camps once they arrive in France. Forced to live in appalling conditions, these refugees barely have access to hygiene, water and food...