Flushed with the triumph of her latest film at the Toronto International

Flushed with the triumph of her latest film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki is the toast of the town as she sits in a Beirut cafe giving interview after interview.

The movie “Where Do We Go Now?”, about a group of women determined to prevent the men in their village from getting involved in a religious war, won best picture at the festival’s People’s Choice Award, seen as a bellwether for Oscar success.

Previous winners of the award, including “The King’s Speech” and “Slumdog Millionaire”, went on to win Oscars, and should Labaki’s film follow in their footsteps it would be a first for Lebanon.

“With success comes a sense of responsibility as you take on the role of spokesperson for your country,” said the 37-year-old, clearly still overwhelmed by her film’s achievement.

Her first feature film “Caramel,” about the lives of five Lebanese women working in a Beirut beauty salon, also won critical acclaim in 2007 and thrust Labaki, who stars in both her movies, into the international limelight.

She wrote the script of “Where Do We Go Now?” in 2008 while pregnant with her first child and as Lebanon stood on the brink of sectarian warfare.

After earning a degree in media at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University she began producing music videos, including for such stars as Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram, and made her first major breakthrough with “Caramel.”

Caramel trailer

Labaki baulks at critics who say that her movies are tailored for Western audiences, given her portrayal of Arab women as daring and set in a burlesque environment that mocks Lebanese society.

Source AP