A Sad and Beautiful World

After a minor incident involving a car, government adviser Yasmina walks into the little restaurant Chez Nino in Beirut. Whilst she is eating, her eye falls on an old school photo that the owner, Nino, has hung on the wall. She recognises the photo, as she attended that very same school. As soon as she meets Nino, she realises that he was her childhood sweetheart twenty years earlier. It soon becomes clear that the feelings from back then are still very much alive; sparks fly. But in unstable Lebanon, life is certainly not all sunshine and roses, and this has major consequences for their relationship.

Following several short films and documentaries, this is the first feature film by Lebanese director Cyril Aris, for which he wrote the screenplay himself, together with Bane Fakih. A Sad and Beautiful World depicts a world full of tragedy and uncertainty, but where humour, resilience and, above all, love prove to offer a lifeline. Starring Mounia Akl and Hasan Akil.