Where Do We Go Now? (2012)

Where Do We Go Now

Taglines: A film by Nadine Labaki about faith, hope and love.

Where Do We Go Now? tells the story of a remote, isolated unnamed Lebanese village inhabited by both Muslims and Christians. The village is surrounded by land mines and only reachable by a small bridge. As civil strife engulfs the country, the women in the village try, by various means and with varying success, to keep their men in the dark, sabotaging the village radio, then destroying the village TV.

The story begins with a boy named Roukoz, whose job – along with his cousin, Nassim – is to venture outside the village and bring back much-needed merchandise such as soap, utensils, newspapers, light bulbs. Roukoz lives with Nassim’s family, and it is made clear that Nassim has lost his father. Roukoz tries to fix the church speakers, and falls off his ladder, crashing into the cross and snapping it in half.

Other characters include the village mayor and his wife Yvonne (Christians), the cafe-owner Amal (played by Nadine Labaki), Rabih (the village painter and Amal’s love interest) and his sister, Issam (Nassim’s brother) and his wife Aida, and the village priest and the village imam. The next day, the congregation is gathered in church to celebrate the Sunday mass; The Priest preaches about the need to fix the church, and blames the broken cross on the wind, telling churchgoers to keep their cool and that their fellow Muslims have nothing to do with it.

Some time later the Imam discovers that some goats have found their way into the mosque, and urges the Muslims not to blame the Christians for what had happened. As people start to gather, however, a Muslim man blames the Christians for what has happened and a small fight ensues.

Where Do We Go Now? (Arabic: وهلّأ لوين؟‎ w halla’ la wayn, French: Et maintenant, on va où) is a 2011 film by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. The film premiered during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as part of Un Certain Regard . The film was selected to represent Lebanon for the 84th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. The film won the People’s Choice Award at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Where Do We Go Now Movie Poster

Where Do We Go Now? (2012)

Directed by: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Layla Hakim, Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Antoinette El-Noufaily, Kevin Abboud, Ali Haidar, Mostafa Al Sakka, Petra Saghbini, Caroline Labaki, Mohamad Akil
Screenplay by: Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf
Production Design by: Cynthia Zahar
Cinematography by: Christophe Offenstein
Film Editing by: Véronique Lange
Costume Design by: Caroline Labaki
Music by: Khaled Mouzanar
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic drug material, some sensuality and violent images.
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: May 11, 2012

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