In an article published on March 12, Images Francophones looks back on the success of Nadine Labaki’s film. Where Do We Go Now? has recorded 384,000 admissions in France (according to Le Film français) and 418,000 admissions outside France (according to Unifrance figures), for a grand total of over 800,000 admissions that could reach the 1 million mark.

Set in a country ravaged by war, Where Do We Go Now? tells the story of a group of women from different religious backgrounds determined to protect their families and their village from external threats. United by an unbreakable friendship, these ingenious women invent some incredible ploys to distract the men, and to make them forget their anger and their differences. Awarded at the Toronto Film Festival (Audience Award, ahead of A Separation), this second feature film by Nadine Labaki won the Bayard d’Or (the Grand Prix) at the International Francophone Film Festival of Namur, in Belgium. 

Where Do We Go Now? is also off to a good start in Italian cinemas (distribution: Eagle Pictures), where it attracted 26,000 viewers for 54 copies. Nadine Labaki’s feature however did not generate as much interest in Francophone countries outside France in 2011, with 16,000 viewers in Belgium (Benelux Film Distribution) and 6,000 in French-speaking Switzerland (distribution: Pathé Films AG).

The Arabic language film is France’s best performer in Lebanon to date (distribution: Empire), with 301,000 admissions. With Where Do We Go Now?, Labaki has beaten her own Lebanese box office record of 111,000 admissions for her successful feature Caramel (Sabbah International Video Corp.) in 2007 (according to Le film français).

As stressed by Images Francophones, Lebanese cinema is in full swing, notably thanks to the recent selection of Bahij Hojeij’s film, Here Comes the Rain (Chatti Ya Dini), to the Fameck Arab Film Festival 2011.