A Sad and Beautiful World - Director Cyril Aris

A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD is a sweeping love story that spans three decades of friendship, passion, heartbreak, and hope. Nino, an eternal optimist, and Yasmina, an impulsive pragmatist, drawn together by a magnetic relationship. Struggling with universal choices of adult life in the extraordinary circumstances of a country constantly ravaged by war, they are confronted with an impossible choice between love and survival. They must decide if they can build a family and chart a path to happiness in Lebanon, despite the tragedies ravaging their country, or if they should seize the opportunity for reinvention far from home. “A Sad and Beautiful World” premiered at the 2025 Venice film Festival where it won the Giornate Degli Autori Audience Award, and went on to play at the BFI London Film Festival, SF International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Sao Paolo FF, Red Sea Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival among others. It was Lebanon’s entry for the Academy Awards Best International Feature Film.About the filmmaker - Lebanese writer-director, Cyril Aris’s feature documentary The Swing (2018) premiered in Karlovy Vary. His second feature documentary Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano (2023), recipient of a grant from the Sundance Institute, premiered in the main competition of Karlovy Vary, won a special jury mention, and played in BFI, CPH DOX, DOC NYC and over 80 festivals. His short film The President’s Visit (2017) premiered at TIFF and played in over 100 festivals. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.