Deep Dive
Everything to Know About the Movie The Sand Castle
The film follows a family on a barren island as they await a rescue that may never come.
By Ingrid Ostby
Jan. 29, 2025
The Sand Castle Movie: Cast, Trailer, Plot - Netflix Tudum
A young girl named Jana is stranded with her family on a small patch of land somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. They’ve taken shelter in a lighthouse, where Jana spends her days playing in the sand while the family notices strange occurrences: Jana sees a body bag floating by the shore; her mother hears a radio broadcast confirming dozens of migrants have drowned between Greece and Turkey; their radio breaks, leaving them with no connection to the outside world. As they struggle to accept their fates, their circumstances deteriorate.
The Lebanese drama The Sand Castle, from director Matty Brown (2020’s The Distraction), follows this family of four as their pasts are slowly revealed, while their futures hang in the balance. Starring Oscar nominee Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain and Riman Al Rafeea, the film was written by Brown, Hend Fakhroo (The Waiting Room), and Yassmina Karajah (Rupture). This is the second time Labaki, who won the 2018 Cannes Jury Prize for her film Capernaum, has collaborated with the Al Rafeea siblings.
When will The Sand Castle be released?
Where can I find the trailer for The Sand Castle?
Check it out at the top of this page.
Who’s in the cast of The Sand Castle?
- Riman Al Rafeea (Capernaum) as Jana, a child
- Nadine Labaki (Where Do We Go Now?) as Yasmine, Jana’s mother
- Ziad Bakri (The Weekend Away) as Nabil, Jana’s father
- Zain Al Rafeea (Eternals) as Adam, Jana’s brother
What happens in The Sand Castle?
Jana (Riman Al Rafeea) spends all day playing in the sand on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. Jana, along with her family — her mother, Yasmine (Labaki); her father, Nabil (Bakri); and her older brother, Adam (Ramin Al Rafeea) — live in a lighthouse with the bare necessities, waiting for friends to come and get them. While the reasons they’ve ended up here aren’t completely clear, it’s evident that they’re increasingly desperate to get back to the lives they were forced to escape. As Jana’s daydreams and island adventures grow increasingly complex, her parents and her brother become desperate to find a way off the island before it’s too late.
Is The Sand Castle based on a book?
No, it’s an original screenplay.
Is The Sand Castle based on a true story?
No, it’s fictional.
Where does The Sand Castle take place?
It takes place on a small, uninhabited island somewhere off the coasts of Greece and Turkey.
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