Montreal Program 2023
Day 1
Saturday June 3, 2023
Red carpet, opening ceremony and reception
THE SONS OF THE LORD
(Imen Ben Hassine)
6:00pm
DR. HAFNAOUI is a medical examiner who falsifies autopsy records every time he is ordered to do so by an organization whose power is extended! One day, by chance, the code received relates to a person so close to him. Surprise, astonishment, emotions, the discovery of the body which is in his hands pushes him to question!! What a life ? What future ? What values? What fate! TO FOLLOW because fate is sometimes a fatality!
108 min
Concordia University - Henry F. Hall Bld - 1455 Maisonneuve O. Montreal
Day 2
Sunday June 4, 2023
LES CEDRES DU LIBAN
(Frederic Nassif)
8:00pm
Defying preconceptions about the integration of immigrants in Quebec, LES CÈDRES DU LIBAN tells a story of hope, openness to the world and acceptance of others, from icy Quebec to warm Lebanon. We get a close-up look at a double quest: to mitigate the prejudices that exist in Quebec, and to introduce hockey to Lebanon, where our characters are greeted as strange beings.
52 min
Cinema Guzzo - 1055 des Laurentides. Laval
RIVERBED
(Bassem Breche)
8:30pm
Riverbed tells the story of Salma and her returning daughter Thuraya, and their attempt to preserve, maintain and reconstruct their lives with and against each other. Salma survived many years by protecting her independence, she reached her peace through letting go of any attachments. But the past does not let go of Salma and brings back Thuraya, defeated, divorced, and pregnant.
84 min
Cinema J.A. De Seve - 1400 Maisonneuve O. Montreal
Day 3
Monday June 5, 2023
We Are Our Mountains
(Federico Lemos)
7:00pm
“We Are Our Mountains” reflects the struggle that the Armenian people continue to wage from their own territory in real trenches and in symbolic trenches from the consolidation of the Armenian diaspora scattered around the world, which expands that battlefield to preserve themselves from the latent danger of a new genocide and cultural extermination.
90 min
Cinema Guzzo - 3500 Boulevard Cote Vertu Ouest, Saint-Laurent
MORINE
(Tony Farjallah)
9:00pm
The year is 620 A.D., North Lebanon. Living with God is men’s privilege and the most unreachable women’s right. Stubborn as she is, the 20 year-old revolutionary girl breaks the rules and endures all the consequences.
She would accept, fight and do anything to win her right as a woman to live and serve in the house of God.
115 min
Cinema Guzzo - 3500 Boulevard Cote Vertu Ouest, Saint-Laurent
Day 4
Tuesday June 6, 2023
Blush
(Em Johnson)
6:00pm
Two strangers stumble upon the other while confronting personal dilemma’s, where, through each other, they see themselves more clearly.
75 min
Cinema Public - 505 Jean-Talon E. Montreal
Mother Valley
(Carlos Chahine)
8:30pm
Lebanon, 1958. A civil war rages. A young mother and model wife, Layla, spends the summer with her family in a remote village in the Christian mountains. It’s wedding season but her two younger sisters, Eva and Nada, have no desire to follow in Layla’s footsteps by accepting an arranged marriage organized by their father, a broke feudal aristocrat. This summer, an encounter with a French guy and his mother opens Layla’s eyes on her condition as a woman living in a patriarchal society, where female fates are decided by men, fathers, husbands, and even sons. For the first time ever, Layla suddenly stifles.
82 min
Cinema J.A. De Seve - 1400 Maisonneuve O. Montreal
Day 5
Wednesday June 7, 2023
All roads lead to Rome
(Lara Saba)
7:00pm
From fame to faith: Can Hady’s spiritual journey lead him to land the role of a lifetime? All Roads Lead to Rome follows the famous actor’s transformative retreat with four nuns and a young woman in Wadi Qannoubin (a world heritage listed village in Northern Lebanon) as he prepares for his decisive casting as the young pope. Will he make it to the audition in time?
90 min
Cinema Guzzo - 3500 Boulevard Cote Vertu Ouest, Saint-Laurent
Day 6
Thursday June 8, 2023
MO YAN
(Tongdao Zhang)
8:00pm
The documentary Mo Yan explores the literature career of writer Mo Yan, from his rural roots to his Nobel Literature Prize win.
