Diaspora Film Festival 2017
We are very pleased to welcome you to the 17th annual Diaspora Film Festival.
2 to 5 November 2017 - Carlton Cinema - See details...
Tehran Taboo
Ali Soozandeh, Germany/Austria, 2017, 96 min, in Farsi with English Subtitles Nominated, Camera d’Or and Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Cannes FF 2017; winner, FIPRESCI, Jerusalem FF 2017 Opening film, Thursday, 2 November 2017, 7:30 PM, Toronto Premiere The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex,...
The 90 Minutes War
Eyal Halfon, Israel/Germany/Portugal, 2016, 90 min, in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Portuguese, with English Subtitles Sunday, 5 November 2017, 8:00 PM What if the fate of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict decided through a soccer match??!! After years of bloodshed, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about to be resolved. A moment before another round of violence, the ideal solution...
Django
Etienne Comar, 2017, France, 117min, French with English Subtitles Nominated for Golden Bear, Berlin FF 2017 Friday, 3 November 2017, 7:00 PM, Toronto Premiere 1943, occupied Paris. Django Reinhardt is at the pinnacle of his art. The brilliant and carefree jazz guitarist, king of ethereal swing, plays to standing-room- only crowds in the capital’s...
Halal for Beginners
Conor McDermottroe, Irland/Germany, 2017, 100 min, in English Saturday, 4 November 2017, 5:00 PM, North American Premiere Partly based on true events, this warm-hearted comedy about Ireland’s first Halal meat factory tells the story of young Muslim Raghdan Aziz trying to find his place in the world of small town Sligo. While managing a rundown...
They
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, US, 2017, 80 min Nominated, Camera d’Or, Queer Palm, Cannes FF 2017 Friday, 3 November 2017, 9:10 PM, Toronto Premiere Fourteen-year- old J goes by the pronoun ‘They’ and lives with their parents in the suburbs of Chicago. J is exploring their gender identity while taking hormone blockers to postpone puberty. After two...
Son of Sofia
Elina Psykou, France/Greece/Bulgaria, 2017, 111min, in Russian and Greek with English Subtitles Winner, Jury Award, Tribeca FF 2017, Special Award, Sarajevo FF 2017 Sunday, 5 November 2017, 6:00 PM, Canadian Premiere Athens, 2004 summer Olympic Games. 11-year- old Misha arrives from Russia to live with his mother, Sofia. What he doesn’t know is that there...
Morris from America
Chad Hartigan, Germany, 2016, 91 min, in German/USA and English with English Subtitles Winner, Special Jury Award, Sundance FF 2016; Named Top Ten Independent Film by National Board of Review USA, 2016 Sunday, 5 November 2017, 4:00 PM, Toronto Premiere Morris, a 13-year- old African-American moves to Heidelberg with his dad, a professional soccer coach....
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Marc Waltman, The Netherlands, 2017, 100 min, in Dutch with English Subtitles Sunday, 5 November 2017, 2:00 PM, Canadian Premiere The grass is greener on the other side… Axel is a Boeroe, a white Surinamer, who has been living in The Netherlands for 20 years. When his mom Gladys calls the family back for Christmas,...
Babai
Visar Morina, Germany/Kosovo, 2015, 104min, In German, Albanian, Serbian, English, with English Subtitles Winner, Best Director, Label Europa Cinema, Karlovy Vary FF 2015; One Feature Prize, Young German Cinema Award, Munich FF 2015 Saturday, 4 November 2017, 9:15 PM, Canadian Premiere Ten-year- old Nori (Val Maloku) and his father Gezim (Astrit Kabashi) roam the streets...
Gholam
Mitra Tabrizian, UK, 2017, 94 min, in Farsi and English with English Subtitles With Shahab Hosseini, winner of Best Actor, Cannes Film Festival 2016 Saturday, 4 November 2017, 7:00 PM, Toronto Premiere Gholam is an enigmatic quiet Iranian cab driver with two jobs and no apparent interest in the money. Every day, he eats at...
Harmonia
Ori Sivan, Israel, 2016, 98 min, in Hebrew and Arabic with English Subtitles Winner, Best Cinematography, Jerusalem FF 2016; Nominated for four Israeli Film Academy 2016 Saturday, 4 November 2017, 3:00 PM, Canadian Premiere Harmonia is a modern adaptation of the mythological triangle between the childless Abraham and Sarah and young Hagar. Sarah is the...
The Visit (part of Diaspora in Short)
Mahsa Mortazavi, Canada, 2017, 12 min, World premiere The Iranian filmmaker, Mahsa Mortazavi courageously captures both her and her mother’s dramatic story of love, separation, survival and the long lasting effects of the 1979 revolution.
The Absence (part of Diaspora in Short)
Hawa Aliou N’diaye, Senegal/France, 2016, 8 min, Canadian Premiere My father moved away from the family. His absence ruined my childhood. Today, I have the impression that his spirit haunts me wherever I go. I see him in every old man I meet.
Big City (part of Diaspora in Short)
Jordan Bond and Lachlan Ryan, Australia, 2016, 9 min, Canadian Premiere Vijay, a lonely taxi driver who recently moved to Melbourne, picks up a stray drunk, Chris. Vijay’s distrust is slowly broken down as Chris befriends him. Over the course of the night Chris experiences some of Vijay's nightly troubles, and Vijay learns to see...
Baobab Bark (part of Diaspora in Short)
Mariana Luiza, Brezil, 2017, 12min, Canadian Premiere Maria, a young black woman entered college through the system of racial quotas and now lives abroad. Francisca, her mother, still works on a sugarcane plantation. Both exchange letters that revive memories and reflects the end of an economic-social era.
Ayny – My Second Eye (part of Diaspora in Short)
Ahmad Saleh, Jordan/Palestine/Germany, 2016, 10 min While venturing outside to collect scrap metal to buy a music instrument, two boys get trapped in a deadly danger. The strength they inherited from their mother keeps them standing.
Water on Sand (part of Diaspora in Short)
Nathalie Attallah, Canada, 2017, 7 min, Toronto Premire In Water on Sand, the filmmaker’s brother and grandmother reflect on their feelings and experiences as members of the Lebanese diaspora, giving rise to an inter-generational narrative about immigration and cultural displacement.
Toprak (part of Diaspora in Short)
Onur Yagiz, France, 2017, 11 Min, Canadian Premiere Toprak, 8, translates for his parents who can’t speak French. Today, he goes to the hospital with them for his mother’s second trimester examination. He will be the first one to know if the twin babies are brothers or sisters.
Sanctuary (part of Diaspora in Short)
Farid Zarrinbal and Harald Sandø, Sweden/Norway, 2017, 15 min, North American Premiere A young asylum seeker searches for his serenity with a few obstacle to overcome.
The Other Side (part of Diaspora in Short)
Griselda San Martin, Spain, 2017, 6 min, Canadian Premiere Jose Marquez, a musician deported from the US, and his daughter Susanna have been separated for almost 15 years but meet every month on either side of the US-Mexico border wall.
