Perhaps best known in the West for her work behind the camera as director
of the acclaimed Capernaum, Lebanese star Nadine Labaki headlines 1982, the directorial debut of Oualid Mouaness and Lebanon's entry for the 2020 Oscars.
Inspired by Mouaness's childhood experiences, the film stars child
actor Mohamad Dalli as a young boy falling for a classmate amid the
conflict tearing his country apart. Labaki and Rodrigue Sleiman play teachers who find themselves on opposing
sides of the political divide.
1982 is on US VOD from January 19th. A UK/ROI release has
yet to be announced.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
At a private school on the outskirts of Beirut, as the geopolitical conflict inches closer and closer, 11-year-old Wissam (Mohamad Dalli) is more intent on finding the courage to tell his classmate he loves her. For a dreamer like Wissam, who is more likely to be drawing than playing football, it's hard to comprehend the gravity of the impending violence. But for his teachers, Yesmine (Nadine Labaki) and Joseph (Rodrigue Sleiman), the jets in the sky signal something greater. As they try to mask their growing fears for the sake of the students, they also attempt to hide the fractures in their relationship, as they fall on different sides of the political divide.
