All actors in Capernaum are people whose real life resembles that of the film. Thus, Zain's real life is similar (to some extent) to that of his character, as was Rahil, who was undocumented. For the character of Zain's mother, Nadine Labaki was inspired by a woman she met, who has 16 children and lives in the same conditions as those of Capernaum. Six of her children have died and others are in orphanages for lack of care. The one who plays the role of Kawthar really fed her children with sugar and ice cubes.
The boy who stars as Zain is actually a Syrian refugee. Zain Al Rafeea had lived in Lebanon for eight years and was 12 years old during production. His character is named for him.
During filming, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees applied for resettlement on behalf of lead actor Zain Al Rafeea and his family, who all had been sleeping on the floor in one room. They were subsequently relocated to a two-story house in Norway, where Zain is learning to read and write.
The title, Capernaum, can mean 'chaos' in Arabic. It is derived from a biblical town that was condemned by Jesus as one of the three cities that refused to repent for its sins even after Jesus performed miracles of healing there.
Capharnaüm is a fiction of which all the elements are things that Nadine Labaki has really seen and experienced during her research in the field. Nothing is fantasized or imagined, on the contrary, all that we see there is the result of her visits to deprived neighborhoods, detention centers and juvenile prisons, where she went alone.