Caramel (film)
Caramel (Arabic: سكر بنات, romanized: Sukkar banat) is a 2007 Lebanese film and the feature film directorial debut of Nadine Labaki. The screenplay was co-written by Labaki with Rodney El Haddad and Jihad Hojeily. It premiered on May 20, 2007, at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section, and was nominated for the Caméra d'Or.
| Caramel | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Nadine Labaki |
| Written by | Nadine Labaki Rodney El Haddad Jihad Hojeily |
| Produced by | Anne-Dominique Toussaint |
| Starring | Nadine Labaki Adel Karam Yasmine Al Massri Joanna Moukarzel Gisèle Aouad Dimitri Staneofski Sihame Haddad Aziza Semaan Fadia Stella Fatmeh Safa |
| Cinematography | Yves Sehnaoui |
| Edited by | Laure Gardette |
| Music by | Khaled Mouzanar |
Production companies | Rotana Studios Rotana TV Sunnyland Films |
| Distributed by | Rotana Studios Rotana TV Les Films des Tournelles & City Films Lebanon Roissy Films (Subsidiary of Europa Corp.) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Lebanon |
| Language | Lebanese Arabic |
| Budget | $1.5 million |
| Box office | $14.2 million |
The story focuses on the lives of five Lebanese women dealing with issues such as forbidden love, binding traditions, repressed sexuality, the struggle to accept the natural process of age, and duty versus desire. Labaki's film is unique for not showcasing a war-ravaged Beirut but rather a warm and inviting locale where people deal with universal issues.
The title of the film refers to an epilation method that consists of heating sugar, water and lemon juice. Labaki also symbolically implies the "idea of sweet and salt, sweet and sour" and showcases that everyday relations can sometimes be sticky but ultimately the sisterhood shared between the central female characters prevails. Caramel was distributed in over 40 countries.