Diaspora Film Festival

DFF provides Toronto audiences with an
opportunity to experience the cultural mosaic
of the present world through the medium
of cinema.

2011 Festival
Calendar

Calendar

Atom Egoyan, Canada, 1993, 75 min. With: Arsinée Khanjain, Atom Egoyan In English, Armenian, Hebrew, with English Subtitles Monday, 5 November 2012, 7:00 PM, Innis Town Hall A photographer travels across Armenia to take photos of Armenian churches for a calendar. His wife is accompanying him as a translator. He becomes jealous when he observes...
An Evening with Deepa Mehta

An Evening with Deepa Mehta

In collaboration with the Cinema Studies Institute of University of Toronto, the IDFF celebrates contribution of Deepa Mehta to the Canadian cinema. In this event, clips from Midnight’s Children, the latest Mehta’s film adapted from Salman Rushdie’s novel will be shown and she will participate in a Q/A session. This by-invitation-only event will follow by a free and public screening of Bollywood...
Bollywood Hollywood

Bollywood Hollywood

Deepa Mehta, Canada, 2002, 105 min After the death of his girlfriend, Rahul (Rahul Khanna) is pushed by his mom to find a bride. He meets Sue (Lisa Ray) in a bar. Mistaking her as an escort girl, Rahul ask her to pose as his new girlfriend and future wife just to calm down his...

The Guests

Taghreed Saadeh, Canada, 2010, 30’ A documentary that tells the story of hundreds of Palestinian refugees who seek asylum in Canada after being driven away from their homes with no alternative place to go. It focuses on why they came to Canada, the difficulties they faced, and their human suffering after Canada refused to help...

Sibil

Ronak Ghorbani, Canada, 2011, 5’A personal view of the significance of body hair in Iranian culture. Ronak is a graduate student in the Ryerson’s Communication and Culture Graduate ………………………………………….. For Film Screening Time and Venue Click here to visit our schedules and venue page
Round Trip

Round Trip

Golkou Parhizgar, UK, 2010, 52 min, North American Premiere, FREE ADMISSION (Part of “Spotlight on Muslim and Arab Women’s Stories”, in partnership with Ryerson University) In English and Farsi, with English Subtitles Round-trip is inspired by the director’s personal experience of returning to Iran after 11 years of living in the UK and rediscovering relationships...
Unveiled Views - Muslim Women Artists Speak Out

Unveiled Views – Muslim Women Artists Speak Out

  Alba Sotorra Clua / Spain / 2009 / 52 mins, Canadian Premiere, FREE ADMISSION (A part of `Spotlight on Muslim and Arab Women`s Stories` in partnership with Ryerson University) In Bosnian, Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, with English Subtitles Winner: Best Documentary, REC Film Festival, 2009 – Barcelona. In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk...
Gaza Women Film Festival

Gaza Women Film Festival

  Various filmmakers, 2009/2010/2011, in Arabic with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Two years ago, a group of female Palestinian filmmakers got together and decided to have a film festival of their own. On top of all difficulties, they knew that there was no theater in Gaza. But did it stop them? Certainly not! They...
Les Secrets

Les Secrets

                  Raja Amari / Tunisia, Switzerland, France / 2009 / 91 mins, Canadian Premiere, FREE ADMISSION (Part of “Spotlight on Muslim and Arab Women’s Stories”, in partnership with Ryerson University) With Hafsia Herzi, Sondos Belhassen and Wassila Dari In Arabic with English Subtitles Nominated: Bronze Horse Award,...
Forget Baghdad

Forget Baghdad

  Samir / Germany, Switzerland / 2003 / 111 mins, FREE ADMISSION(Preceded by a Reception and followed by a conversation with renowned cultural studies scholar Dr. Ella Shohat who is also featured in the film. Part of “Spotlight on Muslim and Arab Women’s Stories”, in partnership with Ryerson University) In Arabic, Engish and Hebrew with...
Playoff

Playoff

Eran Riklis / Germany, France, Israel / 2011, Toronto Premiere With Danny Huston, Amira Casar, Max Riemelt, Mark Waschke, Hanns Zischler, Irm Hermann, Selen Savas, Yehuda Almagor In English/German/Turkish/Hebrew with English Subtitles Co-presented with Toronto Jewish Film Festival Max Stoller, 42 has achieved the impossible. Thirty years after surviving the Holocaust, he has taken Europe...
Almanya

Almanya

    Yasemin Samdereli / Germany / 2011 / 97 min, Toronto Premiere With Fahri Ögün Yardim, Demet Gül and Vedat Erincin In German and Turkish with English Subtitles Winner: Film Award in Gold – Best Screenplay, German Film Awards, 2011; Film Award in Silver – Outstanding Feature Film, German Film Awards 2011 After working for...
Before Your Eyes (Children of Diyarbakir)

Before Your Eyes (Children of Diyarbakir)

Miraz Bezar / Germany , Turkey / 2009 / 102 min, Canadian Premiere With Senay Orak, Muhammed Al and Hakan Karsak In Kurdish and Turkish with English Subtitles Winner: Golden Poznan Goat – Best Film, Children’s Jury Award – Best Film, Ale Kino! International Young Audience Film Festival, 2010 – Poznan, Poland; Behlül Dal Special...
Lesson for Zaffirah

Lesson for Zaffirah

                  http://youtu.be/tAinwJ05XCw Carolina Rivas & Daoud Sarhandi / Mexico / 2011 / 75 min, Canadian Premiere In Spanish with English subtitles Winner: Best Film Prize – Mexico Today, Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM (FICUNAM), 2011 – Mexico A metaphor of the Flood in our epoch. ‘The Flood’...
Aung San Suu Kyi- Lady of No Fear

Aung San Suu Kyi- Lady of No Fear

  Anne Gyrithe Bonne / Denmark / 2010 / 60 mins, North American Premiere In English Portrait of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi since 1988 leader of the nonviolent movement for human rights and democracy in Burma. The documentary Lady of No Fear focuses on her personal life and the immense sacrifices herself imposes its...
Burmese Dreaming

Burmese Dreaming

  Timothy Syrota / Australia / 2010 / 50 mins, Canadian Premiere In English Official Selection: United Nations We the People’s International Film Festival, 2011 – London, UK; Buffalo-Niagara International Film Festival, 2011 A creative non-fiction documentary by Australian filmmaker and writer Timothy Syrota.  Syrota uses a unique combination of film, art, photography, music and...
Kofta

Kofta

Michiel van Jaarsveld / Netherlands / 2010 / 90 min, North American Premiere With Ebru Akyildiz, Gürkan Küçüksentürk and Vefa Ocal In Dutch with English Subtitles Business is going very badly for Erdal Koksal, chef and owner of The Sultan, a traditional Turkish eatery. While trying to keep his oriental restaurant afloat, he must learn...
My Grandpa the Bank Robber (Mijn Opa de Bankrover)

My Grandpa the Bank Robber (Mijn Opa de Bankrover)

Ineke Houtman / Netherlands / 2011 / 90 min, North American Premiere With Kees Boot, Loes Haverkort and Katja Herbers In Dutch with English Subtitles In order to find her father in Surinam Grace is forced to take some desperate measures. Grace is the only black child of an all-white family, desperate to find out...
Flowers of Evil (Fleurs de mal)

Flowers of Evil (Fleurs de mal)

                          http://youtu.be/fQH6xWyxSSY David Dusa / France / 2010 / 99 min, Canadian Premiere With Rachid Youcef, Alice Belaidi In French and Farsi with English Subtitles Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival 2011 Paris-Tehran. Forced to leave Tehran after the controversial elections in 2009, 24-year-old...

Kaddish for a Friend, FLIM IS CANCELLED

CANCELLED …………………………………………..
Amin

Amin

Shahin Parhami / Canada, Iran, South Korea, Ukraine / 2010 / 120 mins, Toronto Premiere With Amin Aghaie In Farsi, Turkish, “Qashqai” and Russian Winner: Asian Vision Award, Taiwan International Documentary Festival; Special Distinction, Dubai International Film Festival; Official Selection: Moscow International Film Festival; Montreal World Film Festival; Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival; Pusan International...
On the Run with Abdul

On the Run with Abdul

                          David Lale, James Newton / UK, France / 2010 / 23 mins, Canadian Premiere In English, French, Pashtu with English Subtitles Winner, Press Award, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, 2010; Main Award, 8th International Festival Signes de Nuit, 2010, Official Selection: Telluride...
My Name is Mohammed

My Name is Mohammed

              Ahmed Al-Daradj, Nadia Eliewat, Hayder Helo / Iraq, UK, Jordan / 2010 / 11 min, Canadian Premiere In Arabic with English Subtitles Nine year old Iraqi refugee Mohamed dreams of being a regular kid and going to school. Instead he is a reluctant shoe shiner working the busy...
Checkpoint

Checkpoint

Ruben Amar, France, 2011, 19’, Canadian Premiere In Arabic and Hebrew with English Subtitles Suleiman, an eleven year old Palestinian boy, lives in a small village in the Gaza strip. Every month, he goes with his father to the ruins of a destroyed village. Though he doesn’t understand the weird ritual in which his father...
David

David

  Joel Fendelman, U.S.A., 2011, 80 min, Toronto Premiere With Maz Jobrani, Mautasem Mishal, Binyomin Shtaynberger In English/Arabic/Hebrew with English Subtitles Winner: Audience Award, Brooklyn Film Festival 2011; Ecumenical Prize, Montreal Film Festival 2011 As the son of the Imam of the local Brooklyn mosque, eleven year-old Daud has to juggle the high expectations of...
If You Die, I’ll Kill You

If You Die, I’ll Kill You

Hiner Saleemi , France , 2010, 90 min, North American Premiere With Golshifteh Farahani, Jonathan Zaccai, Jane Birkin, Mylene Demangoet In French and Kurdish with English Subtitles Philippe, who is just out of prison, encounters Avdal, a Kurd who is looking for an Iraqi criminal. A friendship forms between the two men. Avdal, who dreams...