ARABIAN SIGHTS

A Sad and Beautiful World

Nujum al'amal w al'alam

CYRIL ARIS
Lebanon, 2025
110 minutes, Color

Lebanon's official submission for the 98th Academy Awards® for Best International Feature Film, A Sad and Beautiful World spans three decades of passion, loss, and hope. It centers on the magnetic bond between Nino and Yasmina, born on the same day amid a tragic massacre in Beirut, their lives bound by fate from childhood. United by hardship—Nino's loss of his parents and Yasmina's fractured family—they form a deep connection. Yasmina dreams of escape, imagining a magical train journey to a distant island, a plan Nino eagerly embraces, but their dream is cut short when she moves away. Reunited 24 years later, Yasmina is disillusioned but is drawn to Nino's unwavering optimism. As love rekindles, she abandons emigration plans, choosing the fragile, powerful bond they share. A tender meditation on longing, love, and destiny, the film is elevated by performances that reveal the quiet beauty of life.—Various sources

In Arabic with English subtitles