Benammar interviews Mohamed, who witnessed his best friend’s murder by armed militia on the outskirts of Damascus in 2012.
Mohamad Awad
Canada
2024
In Arabic with English subtitles
Violence, murder
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Samy Benammar
Screenwriter
Samy Benammar
Cinematography
Mathieu Turcotte, Samy Benammar
Editor
Ralitsa Doncheva
Samy Benammar
Samy Benammar is a Montreal-based artist and film critic whose socially conscious works as a writer and filmmaker are influenced by his Algerian and working-class origins. His experimental films have been shown in festivals including Prismatic Ground, BFI London, and RIDM, and are distributed by the Winnipeg Film Group, Vidéographe, and CFMDC. His writings can be read in magazines such as Hors Champs, 24 images, and Panorama cinéma. He is currently pursuing a PhD in research and creation focused on the Wilaya of Batna, Algeria, as well as colonial photography.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.