It’s Easter in Beirut and, as many matriarchs do on this holiday, Josephine has gathered her family to celebrate. It’s no small feat given the sprawling nature of her family, many of whom haven’t shared a meal together in years. While the lunch gets off to a joyfully ruckus start, bit-by-bit the façade of the happy family gathering begins to fall away. The result is an astute meditation on the complexities of human nature and a slice-of-life portrait of Lebanese society.

A renowned theatre director and social activist in Lebanon, Lucien Bourjeily’s feature debut builds on his desire to dig into taboo topics to forge space for discourse—even if, as we see in Heaven Without People, that can come at a great cost.