Diaspora Film Festival

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

2018 Festival
Live Music with Mponda and The Matata 6!

Live Music with Mponda and The Matata 6!

Live Music! Mponda and The Matata 6 Saturday, 3 November, 2:50 – 3:10, Carlton Cinema   Mponda was born in Africa and went from never seeing his mother to becoming a refugee and finally getting rescued by Red Cross and moving to Canada at young age. He went from being bullied at school and not...
Diaspora Film Festival 2018

Diaspora Film Festival 2018

Welcome to the 18th edition of DFF! Promised Land is the main theme of the festival this year Carlton Cinema and Ryerson University, Toronto 1 to 4 November 2018
OPENING NIGHT - RAWI HAGE BOOK READING

OPENING NIGHT – RAWI HAGE BOOK READING

Opening Night Literary and Poetic Imagery Evening Book reading and film screening Rawi Hage reads from his latest novel Beirut Hellfire Society
OPENING NIGHT - 24 FRAMES

OPENING NIGHT – 24 FRAMES

OPENING NIGHT – LITERARY AND POETIC IMAGERY EVENING 24 Frames is the last work of the Iranian master, Abbas Kiarostami, before his tragic death. A meditation bridging photography and cinema, his last work captures the moments immediately before and after a photograph is taken. In 24 tableau-style still images, Kiarostami takes us with him on a voyage...
MY FAVORITE FABRIC

MY FAVORITE FABRIC

MY FAVORITE FABRIC Gaya Jiji, France/Germany/Turkey, 2018, 98 min, in Arabic with English Subtitles, Canadian Premiere Cannes FF 2018, nominated for Camera d’Or and Un Certain Regard Award Damascus, Spring 2011. It’s the early stages of the revolution. 25-year-old Nahla is torn between her desire for freedom and the hope of leaving the country thanks...
SEXTAPE

SEXTAPE

SEXTAPE Antoine Desrosières, France, 2018, 98 min, in French with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Cannes FF 2018, Un Certain Regard; Munich IFF 2018 In the absence of her sister Rim, what was Yasmina doing in a car park with their boyfriends Salim and Majid? Rim knows nothing about it, but that’s because Yasmina is...
MINING MEMORY

MINING MEMORY

MINING MEMORY Daniel Yon, Canada/St Helena/South Africa, 2018, with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Official Selection, South African Intenational Documentary Festival 2018 On May 21st, 1907, one hundred men left the Island of St Helena aboard the RMS Galician Castle, bound for Port Nolloth and Concordia beyond, to take up employment in the copper mines....
YEARS OF FEAR

YEARS OF FEAR

YEARS OF FEAR Amin Zargham, Canada, 2018, 38 min, in English and Farsi with English Subtitles, World Premiere “Years of Fear” is a personal narrative on the life of an Iranian Baha’i citizen who, by reflecting on a collection of memories, sheds light on a relatively unknown aspect of being Iranian. Amin Zargham studied filmmaking...
ELDORADO

ELDORADO

ELDORADO Markus Imhoof, Switzerland/Germany, 2018, 92 min, in German, English, and Italian with English Subtitles, Canadian Premiere Winner, Amnesty International Prize, Berlin FF 2018; Official Selection, Telluride FF 2018; Oscar 2019 Swiss Submission In the lean years of WW II, the family of Swiss director Markus Imhoof took in Giovanna, an Italian refugee part of...
ONE OF THESE DAYS

ONE OF THESE DAYS

ONE OF THESE DAYS Nadim Tabet, Lebanon, 80 min, 2017, in Arabic with English Subtitles, Canadian Premiere A 24-hour youth chronicle in Beirut. Maya, Tarek, Yasmina and Rami are teenagers. They are smart, beautiful and hungry for life. Beirut is experiencing yet another terrorist attack with street demonstrations and police checkpoints. For this generation who...
ZAGROS

ZAGROS

ZAGROS Şahim Omar Kalifa, Belgium/The Netherlands, 2017, 98 min, in Kurdish and Dutch with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Winner, Best Film, Ghent FF 2017; Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Oostende FF 2018 Kurdish shepherd’s wife Havin, accused of having an affair by her in-laws, flees to Belgium with her 9-year-old daughter. Her husband...
A DYSFUNCTIONAL CAT

A DYSFUNCTIONAL CAT

A DYSFUNCTIONAL CAT Susan Gordanshekan, Germany, 2018, 93 min, in Farsi and German with English Subtitles, North American premiere Official Selection Berlin FF 2018, with Pegah Ferydoni Mina’s family has introduced her to several potential husbands in Iran. She has rejected them all until she meets Kian, a surgeon who has travelled from Germany in...
IN BLUE

IN BLUE

IN BLUE Jaap van Heusden, The Netherlands, 2017, 102 min, in Dutch, English, and Romanian with English Subtitles, Canadian Premiere Winner, Best Film, Austin FF 2017; Special Jury Prize, Eindhovens FF 2017 A forty-something Dutch flight attendant has to deliver a child in mid-air on a flight to Bucharest. In the emotional aftermath, she meets...
LAND

LAND

LAND Samiramis Kia, Canada, 2017, 11 min, in Dari and English with English Subtitles, Toronto Premiere Winner, Norman MacLaren Award, Montreal FF 2017 An old Afghan man in search of integration into his new society finds it in a strange way. Trailer
THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM

THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM

Muayad Alayan, 2018, Palestine/The Netherlands/Germany/Mexico, 127 min Winner, Audience Award, Tiger Award, Rotterdam IFF 2018; Sarah is Israeli and runs a café in West Jerusalem. Saleem is Palestinian from East Jerusalem and works as a deliveryman. Despite being worlds apart, Sarah and Saleem risk everything as they embark on an illicit affair that could tear apart their...
DAHA (MORE)

DAHA (MORE)

DAHA (MORE) Onur Saylak, Turkey, 2017, 115min, IN Turkish and Arabic with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Winner, Best Film, East End FF UK 2018; FIPRESCI Prize, Valladolid IFF 2017 Gaza is a 14-year-old boy who lives on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Together with his domineering father, he helps smuggle refugees from war-torn countries...
LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA Alankrita Shrivastava, India, 2016, 116 min, in Hindi with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Film de Femmes 2017; Audience Award, Glasgow FF 2017; Audience Award, Granada FF 2017; Best Film, Best Performance, London Asian FF 2017; Audience Award, Minneapolis FF 2017; In rural India, a burkha-clad college...
Diaspora Film Festival 2018

Diaspora Film Festival 2018

Welcome to the 18th edition of DFF! Promised Land is the main theme of the festival this year Carlton Cinema and Ryerson University, Toronto 1 to 4 November 2018
OPENING NIGHT - RAWI HAGE BOOK READING

OPENING NIGHT – RAWI HAGE BOOK READING

Opening Night Literary and Poetic Imagery Evening Book reading and film screening Rawi Hage reads from his latest novel Beirut Hellfire Society
OPENING NIGHT - 24 FRAMES

OPENING NIGHT – 24 FRAMES

OPENING NIGHT – LITERARY AND POETIC IMAGERY EVENING 24 Frames is the last work of the Iranian master, Abbas Kiarostami, before his tragic death. A meditation bridging photography and cinema, his last work captures the moments immediately before and after a photograph is taken. In 24 tableau-style still images, Kiarostami takes us with him on a voyage...
THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM

THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM

Muayad Alayan, 2018, Palestine/The Netherlands/Germany/Mexico, 127 min Winner, Audience Award, Tiger Award, Rotterdam IFF 2018; Sarah is Israeli and runs a café in West Jerusalem. Saleem is Palestinian from East Jerusalem and works as a deliveryman. Despite being worlds apart, Sarah and Saleem risk everything as they embark on an illicit affair that could tear apart their...
LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA Alankrita Shrivastava, India, 2016, 116 min, in Hindi with English Subtitles, North American Premiere Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Film de Femmes 2017; Audience Award, Glasgow FF 2017; Audience Award, Granada FF 2017; Best Film, Best Performance, London Asian FF 2017; Audience Award, Minneapolis FF 2017; In rural India, a burkha-clad college...