PANELS//مناقشات

  • Aesthetics of the Absurd – Screening, Panel & Workshop

    Aesthetics of the Absurd – Screening, Panel & Workshop

    Event Details

    Screening & Panel
    March 1, 2023
    6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
    CFMDC, 1411 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M6H 4C7

    Join us for a screening of “Life on the CAPS”, followed by a talk with Nehal El-Hadi.

    Screening:

    Life on the CAPS
    • Life on the CAPS

      Country: Morocco
      Director: Meriem Bennani
      Length: 76 mins
      Synopsis: Life on the CAPS is a trilogy of short film by Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani. Set in a supernatural, dystopian future, Life on the CAPS (short for “capsule”) features a fictional island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. In the world of the CAPS, teleportation has replaced air travel, and displaced populations utilize this mode of transportation to cross oceans and borders.

    Panel:

    Incorporating multi-media and digital techniques into diasporic narratives

    This post-screening discussion will engage viewers in a theoretical and practical discussion of incorporating multi-media and digital techniques into diasporic narratives.

    Speaker:

    Nehal El-Hadi, Writer, Researcher, Editor
    • Nehal El-Hadi

      Nehal El-Hadi investigates the relationships between the body (racialised, gendered), place (urban, virtual), and technology (internet, health).

      She completed a Ph.D. in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her research examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life.

      As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist.

      Nehal advocates for the responsible, accountable, and ethical treatment of user-generated content in the fields of journalism, planning, and healthcare.

      Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, and several anthologies and edited collections.

      Nehal is the Science+Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada, an academic news site, and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine, a biannual print publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design. She currently holds a residency at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, where she is developing a live arts event that explores surveillance, privacy, and consent.

      Nehal sits on the Board of Directors of FiXT POINT Arts & Media and Provocation Ideas Festival. She is a member of the Digital Communities Advisory Panel at the Centre for Free Expression. She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the City Institute at York University.


    Workshop
    March 5, 2023
    2:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST
    LIFT, 1137 Dupont St, Toronto, ON M6H 2A3

    Workshop:

    Projection Mapping Workshop

    Join Ilze Briede [a.k.a. Kavi] for a Video Projection Mapping Workshop. Learn the basics of video projection mapping in this introductory workshop. With Resolume, you can manipulate and mix videos in real-time, create complex and dynamic compositions from scratch using built-in effects and, most importantly, how to map your video output on site-specific objects, also known as Video Projection Mapping

    No previous experience with projection mapping is required.

    Facilitator:

    Ilze Briede [a.k.a. Kavi]
    • Ilze Briede

      Ilze Briede [a.k.a. Kavi] is a Latvian/Canadian artist and researcher working across multiple disciplines, including visual art, interactive installation and live performance. Her creative practice and academic research encompass working with live data sets and designing systems to turn data into visceral experiences. An example would be harnessing data from the forest about trees and the environment or the human body through bio-physiological sensing and translating them into immersive narratives. Kavi sees data as a living material that can express its essence and inner truth through creative, technological and artistic interventions. Sometimes, it looks too abstract for the human mind’s eye; however, she believes that the more we are exposed to weird and unusual, the more we stretch our cognitive abilities to embrace the world at large. She is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Computational Art at York University.

  • Demystifying Feature Filmmaking for Emerging Arab Filmmakers

    Demystifying Feature Filmmaking for Emerging Arab Filmmakers

    January 29, 2021
    Virtual

    Watch

    As the world of filmmaking increasingly moves towards international co-productions, aided by a plethora of start up initiatives aimed towards emerging talent, this panel will demystify the process of feature filmmaking for emerging directors, writers and producers. Particularly aimed at filmmakers who are trying to make the transition from short films into feature filmmaking, topics of discussion will include: opportunities available to emerging Arab filmmakers, international co-production initiatives, and how to find and work with producers. 

    Moderator:

    Rolla Tahir, Filmmaker, TAF Co-founder & Artistic Director
    • Rolla Tahir

      Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.

    Speakers:

    Karam Masri, Filmmaker
    • Karam Masri

      Karam Masri is a Program Consultant for Film & Television at Ontario Creates, the provincial agency that supports the economic development of Ontario’s cultural sectors. Prior to joining Ontario Creates, Karam was the Business Analyst at the Bell Fund, a private fund that supports the creation and development of Canadian digital/TV multi-platform projects. Karam holds two Master’s degrees: an MFA in Film Production and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. She also wrote & directed the short film “Juha the Whale”, winner of the York Thesis prize.

    Ahmed Magdy, Filmmaker, Actor
    • Ahmed Magdy

      Ahmed Magdy is a multi-talented filmmaker, actor, environmentalist, animal rights activist and a UNFPA champion who boasts an impressive repertoire in the industry. As an actor, Magdy took part in a number of highly-acclaimed films like the award-winning “Microphone” (2010), “The Gate of Departure” (2015), “Mawlana” (2016) and the award-winning “Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim” (2016) for which Magdy won the Best Actor award at the 6th Trophées Francophones du Cinéma in Sénégal among many other memorable films and TV series.

      Following many successful directorial efforts, in 2018, Magdy made his feature film directorial debut “The Giraffe”, which is written and filmed by him as well. The film made its world premiered at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival and its international premiere at the Marrakech International Film Festival receiving wide critical acclaim. Recently, Ahmed took part in the TV Series El Anesa Farah, which is an adaptation of the well-known American romantic comedy Jane The Virgin. His latest TV drama, “Forsa Tanya” (A Second Chance), aired in Ramadan 2020. Produced by Synergy/Tamer Morsi, Magdy stars opposite of Egyptian star Yasmine Sabry. The TV drama was a huge success and received wide acclaim among audiences and critics alike. He was also announced as a jury member at the RFF-Revart Film Festival. Hailed as Egypt’s first online vertical festival, RFF aims to introduce a modern dimension of creativity to filmmakers during the COVID-19 crisis.

      In addition, as a director and screenwriter, Magdy started working on his second feature film, The Crow, and is starring in the upcoming films “Talaat Harb” and “Hazr Tagawol” (Curfew).

    Dina Emam, Film Producer
    • Dina Emam

      Named one of Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch in 2018, Dina Emam is an Egyptian-American film producer and educator working between New York and Cairo. Her first feature, Yomeddine, had its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition, and was Egypt’s submission for the 91st Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

      In addition to producing, she teaches filmmaking/producing workshops and masterclasses for aspiring filmmakers in the MENA region. Prior to becoming a film producer, Emam worked in television market research and production management at MTV Networks in New York City.

      Emam holds a BS from New York University’s Stern School of Business in Marketing and International Business and an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She has previously served as an AmeriCorps volunteer.

    Darine Hotait, Film Director
    • Darine Hotait

      Darine Hotait is an Arab American writer, film director, and the founder of Cinephilia Productions— a New York-based film incubator championing African and Middle Eastern filmmakers. Darine has written and directed a dozen award-winning short films that can be seen on SundanceTV, AMC Networks, BBC Channel, ShortsTV, and at over a hundred international film festivals. She is the recipient of the prestigious New York Council on the Arts Artist Award, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the AFAC Cinema Grant, a Goethe Award, and an EMMY Blu Ribbon nomination. Her work has received the support of institutions like The Independent Film Project, Cannes Scriptwriters’ Pavilion, and The Sundance Institute. Darine is a published author of science fiction short stories and stage plays. Her literary work has appeared in several publications in print and online. www.darinehotait.com

  • Mix & Mingle + Panel on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations”

    Mix & Mingle + Panel on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations”

    May 5, 2023
    7:00 pm EDT
    Hale Coffee, 300 Campbell Avenue, Toronto, ON M6P 3V6

    An evening of networking, food, and music at Hale Coffee. An opportunity to meet filmmakers, industry professionals and film enthusiasts all in one fun evening, including a panel on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do” with Tamara Mariam Dawit, Aisha Jamal, Jude Chehab and Sherien Barsoum, moderated by Rolla Tahir.

    Panel:

    Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do

    An intimate conversation on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do” with special guests: filmmaker and industry executive, Tamara Mariam Dawit, filmmaker and programmer, Aisha Jamal, Lebanese-American filmmaker, Jude Chehab and filmmaker Sherien Barsoum. Moderated by filmmaker and TAF’s co-founder Rolla Tahir.

    Moderator:

    Rolla Tahir, Filmmaker, TAF Co-founder & Artistic Director
    • Rolla Tahir

      Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.

    Speakers:

    Tamara Mariam Dawit, filmmaker and industry executive
    • Tamara Mariam Dawit

      Tamara Mariam Dawit is an Ethiopian-Canadian award-winning filmmaker and arts industry executive. She has experience producing arts content and campaigns for organizations, including Save the Children, Girl Effect, Keep a Child Alive, and Make Poverty History. She has a long history of managing training labs and export missions and has advised on programs and policies to support the screen sector for DW Akademie, UNESCO, Afreximbank, EUNIC, Canada Media Fund and the Ethiopian government. 

      Tamara is an alumnus of the Berlinale and Durban Talents and has been awarded fellowships by Docs in Progress, Logan Nonfiction and TIFF. Her film Finding Sally won the Doc Institute Vanguard Award, Adiaha Award and the Gordon Parks Award, among others. Tamara, a 2023 Chalmer Arts Fellow, is producing a slate of Ethiopian films.

    Jude Chehab, Lebanese-American filmmaker
    • Jude Chehab

      Jude Chehab is a Lebanese-American filmmaker based between New York and Beirut. Her cinematic interests have drawn her to the exploration of the esoteric, the spiritual and the unspoken. A richly layered visual and intimate personal shooting style developed under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami’s final student group; Jude has been credited in collaborations with the BBC, Refinery29, Oxfam GB, and Doctors Without Borders. She has worked as a DP internationally, on films in Somalia, Sudan and Pakistan and was an AP on Sesame Street’s Ahlan Simsim. Her work has been awarded fellowships through: CAAM, BGDM, NeXtDoc, Points North Institute, Firelight Media, Close-Up and Chicken & Egg. Jude is currently in post production on her first feature documentary and has been supported by: IDA, ITVS, TFI, and Sundance. In 2021, Filmmaker Magazine named her one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her short film 300 Days of Sun, will be screening at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival. And her debut feature, Q, will be screening at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. judechehab.com

    Aisha Jamal, filmmaker and programmer
    • Aisha Jamal

      Aisha Jamal is a filmmaker and film programmer based in Toronto, Canada. Her films have played venues and festivals world wide. Her work often centers on people and their resilience in life. Aisha’s feature film debut A KANDAHAR AWAY, about her family’s connection the small Saskatchewan, Canada hamlet of Kandahar, premiered in 2019 at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, Canada and is currently available to stream on CBC Gem and playing on television on the documentary channel. Her previous short films include the award winning THE LONG WAY HOME (2017) and SEEDS OF THE PAST (2016). She recently directed, co-produced and co-wrote the documentary web series HOW WE DIE, an eleven part series about rethinking our relationship to death and dying. Aisha’s short, Field Notes, will be screening at Hot Docs Film Festival this year. aishajamalfilms.com

    Sherien Barsoum, Filmmaker
    • Sherien Barsoum

      Sherien Barsoum is a producer with the National Film Board of Canada. As an independent filmmaker she directed and produced CynaraRide for Promise and Player Zero, winning the Hot Docs Short Film Pitch and Best Canadian Documentary at NorthWest Fest. She was the producer of Dreams in Vantablack and Babe, I Hate To Go, which played top festivals internationally and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Sherien was also the story consultant on the Oscar-shortlisted Frame 394 and co-produced House of Z, the first feature bought and distributed by Condé Nast, now on Netflix. Sherien is a founding member of the Racial Equity Media Collective, which uses research to advocate on behalf of racialized creators in Canada. She is also the former Director of Programming for the Reelworld Film Festival and served as a board member of the Documentary Organization of Canada.

    ​Sincerest thanks to Hale Coffee for making this event possible and their continuous support.

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  • Mokhtabar//مختبر: Short Film Screenings + Panel on “Place Attachment”

    Mokhtabar//مختبر: Short Film Screenings + Panel on “Place Attachment”

    July 11, 2020
    Virtual

    Join us for a screening of Short Films followed by a panel on “Place Attachment”.

    Screenings:

    Fragments
    • Fragments

      Country: Tunisia
      Director: Ghassen Chraifa
      Length: 7 mins
      Synopsis: Life comes as a continuous race against time where everything is programmed in advance. Everything is tied up in a defined chronological order and we are just running to catch up. What would happen if we decide to take a break, if we feel how the present moment goes by?

    Tawargit
    • Tawargit

      Country: Morocco
      Director: Karim Barka
      Length: 3 mins
      Synopsis: A video take of a shadow of young fisherman from the Atlantic coast as a creature from another world. In seeing his shadow in the water, he imagines himself as a fish traveling through water to be wherever he wants.

    Un Passage entre Deux Points
    • Un Passage entre Deux Points

      Country: Tunisia
      Director: Lamis Souliman
      Length: 10 mins
      Synopsis: In a confrontation structure between emotional and spatial alienation, out of a party full with tipsy attendees, an alienated girl fleeing through a path hidden between two stopped points in ‘Time’. She takes her journey moving on the very fine line between the outer reality and a parallel universe. Through the mental sounds and expressive movements of a girl who travels in a circular path between the real world and the self-realm, the film embodies images of optional and compulsory isolation within the life of an expatriate person, in deconstructing for the meanings of fulfilled existence and residential affiliation

    All Come From Dust//من طين
    • All Come From Dust//من طين

      Country: Tunisia
      Director: Younes Ben Slimane
      Length: 9 mins
      Synopsis: A loop of edgeless bend. You were its doom, he was its bloom. You were its tomb, he was its womb. For Heaven and Hell, were words made of fum.

    April 21//٢١ نيسان
    • April 21//٢١ نيسان

      Country: Syria
      Director: Houssam Jlelati
      Length: 3 mins
      Synopsis: During the ongoing war in Syria, and the outbreak of coronavirus disease which resulted in a global quarantine, there are some ideas to get rid of all this noise.

    Summer 2006
    • Summer 2006

      Country: Czech Republic
      Director: Farah Abou Kharroub
      Length
      : 7 mins
      Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Farah filmed a bomb as it hit Beirut’s airport. Her father filmed the years of fighting in Lebanon every day as a war reporter. Images of the city at war are mixed with images of household peace from Farah’s childhood. This collage, created from footage shot by father and daughter, reveals the unbearable length of a conflict that affected two generations.

    Panel:

    Place Attachment
    Watch

    Our awareness of a surrounding environment, context or space, impacts our idea of identity as individuals, which we translate into materiality. Living within the parameters of a built environment over a stretch of time, we start to observe details and nuances that may have never otherwise caught our attention.

    Moderators:

    Fatma Hendawy
    • Fatma Hendawy Yehia

      Fatma Hendawy Yehia is an Egyptian-Canadian curator, based in Toronto since 2017. Yehia graduated in 2020 from the Master of Visual Studies Curatorial program at university of Toronto. Since 2008, Yehia held different positions at the New Library of Alexandria including Head of Permanent Exhibitions (2010-12). She was the Assistant Curator at the AGYU, Toronto (2021-22). She was Guest Curator at Images Festival 2022, and currently she works as Assistant Archivist at the Art Museum, University of Toronto. Yehia participated in curatorial workshops (including Tate Intensive 2017), residencies (ProHelvetia and ZKU/Berlin) and curated several projects in Egypt, UK, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Canada. Her curatorial practice focuses on investigating censored archives, questioning inaccessible histories, and navigating militarised spaces.

    Lamis Haggag
    • Lamis Haggag

      Lamis Haggag is an Egyptian multimedia artist, living and working between Cairo and Toronto. She received her MFA from The University of Calgary in 2013 and her BFA from Helwan University, Cairo in 2008. She participated in exhibitions and residencies in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, St. Thomas Ontario, Cairo, Beijing, Dakar, Lagos, Berlin, Incheon and Aswan.

      In addition to her art practice, Haggag is an art instructor, installer and proposal writer. She received various grants and scholarships in Canada from CCA, TAC, OAC, AFA, Interaccess Artist-run Center and the University of Calgary.  Haggag is also the recipient of awards and grants from the Goethe Institute in Lagos, the Goethe Institute in Cairo, Incheon Foundation for Arts and Culture (IFAC) in Incheon, Al Mawred Al Thaqafy for the Arab region, Kamel Lazaar Foundation in Tunisia and various awards from the Ministry of culture in Egypt.

    Speakers:

    May Telmissany, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Ottawa
    • May Telmissany

      May Telmissany is Associate professor of Cinema and Arabic Studies in the Department of Communication, University of Ottawa. She is the former Director of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and founder of the Arab Canadian Studies Research Group (ACANS). She is an established novelist and columnist as well as the author of numerous academic books including La Hara dans le Cinéma Egyptien. Popular neighborhood and national identity, and Counterpoints. Edward Said’s Legacy. Her scholarly articles are published in English, French and Arabic in France, the UK, the USA, Canada, and Egypt.

      Telmissany’s research spans a variety of topics in media and film theories including the representation of the popular neighborhood in cinema, the emergence of minor cinemas and women transnational filmmaking, the political contributions of the diasporic women intellectuals during and after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and the impact of SVOD platforms on Arab countries and the Francophonie.

      As a novelist, she published four novels and four short stories collections many of which were translated into several languages.

      Telmissany won two literary awards, in Egypt and in France, and was recently awarded the prestigious medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic, in recognition of her literary and academic achievements.

    Chantal Partamian, Filmmaker
    • Chantal Partamian

      Chantal Partamian is a filmmaker and archivist primarily focused on working with super 8mm and found footage. Partamian’s films have been screened and awarded at numerous festivals and are distributed by Vidéographe, Groupe intervention Vidéo (GIV), and the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Center.

      In her capacity as an archivist, she dedicates herself to preserving and restoring reels from the Mediterranean region while conducting research on archival practices in conflict areas. Her written works are predominantly featured in the revue Hors-Champs.

    Younes Ben Slimane, Filmmaker
    • Younes Ben Slimane

      Younes Ben Slimane is a tunisian artist and filmmaker.

      His architectural background has a major influence on his approach as an artist. Working through film, video, photography, drawing and installation, he establishes a permanent dialogue between architecture and visual arts, where different mediums coexist and reflect each other potentialities and limitations.

      Younes completed post-graduates studies at Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains (FR) . His work has been exhibited at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Institut du monde arabe  in Paris (FR), at the Mucem in Marseille (FR), at the Selma Feriani Gallery in Sidi Bou Saïd (TN), and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje (MK).

      His films have been selected in international festivals such as Locarno Film Festival (CH) and CPH:DOX (DK). He has received the Tanit d’or at the Carthage Film Festival (TN) and the Studio Collector Prize (FR).

    Co-presented with La Boite

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  • SALON//صالون: Christopher Aoun

    SALON//صالون: Christopher Aoun

    January 13, 2021
    Virtual

    Watch

    TAF artistic director and co-founder, Rolla Tahir, interviews Berlin-based, Lebanese cinematographer Christopher Aoun.

    Host:

    Rolla Tahir
    • Rolla Tahir

      Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.

    Guest:

    Christopher Aoun
    • Christopher Aoun

      Christopher Aoun was born in Beirut, where he studied cinematography at USJ de Beyrouth before continuing his studies at the HFF Munich.

      He won the German Cinematography Award in 2019, was named one of ‘10 Cinematographers to watch’ by Variety and a ‘Rising Star of Cinematography‘ by American Cinematographer magazine and became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.

      He lensed Philippe Aractingi’s ‘Listen’ and Nadine Labaki’s Oscar-nominated ‘Capernaum’ in his native Beirut, as well as dozens of commercials and music videos worldwide for renowned artists including Selena Gomez, Lou Doillon   and Rina Sawayama.

      In 2020, ‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’ (Dir: Kaouther Ben Hanias) premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor. It was nominated at the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and Christopher’s work earned him his second nomination for the German Cinematography Award.

      His most recent film, ‘Co-Pilot’ (Dir: Anne Zohra Berrached), produced by Razor Film premiered at the 2021 Berlinale. In 2022, the historic series ‘The Empress’ (Dir: Florian Cossen) produced by Sommerhaus will premiere on Netflix.

  • SALON//صالون: Mohamed Nabil

    SALON//صالون: Mohamed Nabil

    November 15, 2020
    Virtual

    Watch

    TAF Programmer Ahmad Alhaj interviews Moroccan-German filmmaker, Mohamed Nabil.

    Host:

    Ahmed Alhaj
    • Ahmad Alhaj

      Ahmad Alhaj is a Syrian filmmaker, film programmer, curator, journalist. founder of WIND CINEMA an emerging France based international film production and Distribution company, born in Al Hassake 1990 He writes for several Arab cultural websites and magazines, meanwhile organizing and programming film manifestations in Turkey and Netherland at Pages book store, in Copenhagen and Sweden at Syrian Doc days festival, in Canada at TAF Toronto Arab film festival and already in Syria before leaving the country. He made a short film in 2015 called “Its only three nails!! Saturn devouring his son” have been showed in more than 100 cities world wild. He got a diploma in finance and practical legal studies from Syria . Currently, based in France as a political refugee.

    Guest:

    Mohamed Nabil
    • Mohamed Nabil

      Mohamed Nabil grew up in Morocco, where he studied philosophy and pedagogy. For four years he taught philosophy and social sciences at the high school in Morocco before immigrating to Canada in 2001. There he studied journalism and political science in Quebec and Film Studies in Montreal. In 2005 he shot his first university short film in Canada: “Philosopher”. Since 2006, Mohamed Nabil lives in Berlin and works as a freelance journalist, artist and filmmaker. In 2009, he founded the production company Mia Paradies Productions, together with Eva Leonardi. “Women’s Dreams”, a film about German women converted to Islam, was his first documentary in 2010 and had a lot of success. The documentary “Jewels of grief” about single mothers in Morocco made in 2013 is the first part of a film trilogy about women in Morocco. It was shown on several international film festivals around the world as well as on BBC World Arabic television. 

  • SALON//صالون: Soudade Kaadan

    SALON//صالون: Soudade Kaadan

    April 3, 2021
    Virtual

    Watch

    TAF artistic director and co-founder, Rolla Tahir, interviews London-Based Syrian filmmaker, Soudade Kaadan.

    Host:

    Rolla Tahir
    • Rolla Tahir

      Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.

    Guest:

    Soudade Kaadan
    • Soudade Kaadan

      Soudade Kaadan is an award winning Syrian director born in France and raised in Damascus. She gained international recognition with her debut feature film, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2018 and won the esteemed Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Film. Her next short fiction film Aziza won the Sundance grand jury prize in 2019. And her second feature film Nezouh won the audience award at the Venice Festival in 2022, making her the only Arab female director to win twice in Venice.

  • Screening “To My Father//إلى أبي” + Director’s Talk

    Screening “To My Father//إلى أبي” + Director’s Talk

    Event Details
    September 29, 2024
    3:00 PM EDT
    TIFF Lightbox 350 King St W, Toronto, Cinema 2

    To My Father is Abdel Salam Shehadah’s poetic and mesmerizing homage to the studio photographers of the 1950’s – 70’s. Set partly in a refugee camp in Rafah, this is a remarkable look back at fifty years of Palestinian and Arab history, through photographs, reportage and the voices of photographers. A photo here is not just a photo: it brings history to life.

    The film, which premiered at the second TPFF in 2009, is a deeply personal and moving film that spotlights the talent of Gaza-born director Shahadah, who has worked all over the world as a director, cameraman and journalist, and filmmaker. Shehada has been directing and producing films and programming for over 30 years – including more than 20 documentary films, which have been nominated and won awards. Shehada also worked for NHK Japan TV.

    Following the screening, TPFF is honoured to host an in-person conversation with Director Shahadah, recently exiled from Gaza, about his reflections as a filmmaker from Gaza. 

    Co-presented with Toronto Palestine Film Festival.

    TPFF logo

    Screenings:

    To My Father//إلى أبي
    • To My Father//إلى أبي

      Country: Palestine
      Director: Abdel Salam Shehada
      Length: 53 mins
      Synopsis: “Those were days when people prettier, when eyes were filled with colour, even in black and white. What has changed – the camera, or the eye?” asks Abdel Salam Shehadah’s poetic homage to the studio photographers of the 1950’s – 70’s. Set partly in a refugee camp in Rafah, the film looks back at fifty years of Palestinian and Arab history, told through the photographs, reportage and the voices of these photographers today.

  • TAFF2020: Screening “Talking About Trees//الحديث عن الأشجار” + Panel on “Reviving the Arts in Sudan”

    TAFF2020: Screening “Talking About Trees//الحديث عن الأشجار” + Panel on “Reviving the Arts in Sudan”

    Event Details
    July 24, 2020
    7:00 PM EDT
    Virtual

    Join us for a screening of “Talking About Trees” followed by a Panel Discussion titled “Film is Dead, Long Live Film: Reviving the Arts in Sudan” featuring speakers Nehal El-Hadi, Mr. Mohamed Wahbi and Mazin Osman, moderated by Iman Abbaro.

    Screening:

    Talking About Trees//الحديث عن الأشجار
    • Talking About Trees//الحديث عن الأشجار

      Country: Sudan, France, Chad, Germany, Qatar  
      Director: Suhaib Gasmelbari
      Length: 94 mins
      Synopsis: Four older Sudanese filmmakers with passion for film battle to bring cinema-going back to Sudan, not without resistance. Their ‘Sudanese Film Club’ have decided to revive an old cinema, and again draw attention to Sudanese film history. The film intermittently weaves in clips from their films, many which were lost or banned due to their political leanings. 

    Panel:

    Film is Dead, Long Live Film: Reviving the Arts in Sudan
    Watch

    After having witnessed the history of cinema in Sudan in TALKING ABOUT TREES, motivated by the unwavering determination of these four filmmakers, this panel looks forward to examine the role of film and arts in the rebuilding of Sudan. Film in particular holds significant power in fostering community while promoting dialogue. TALKING ABOUT TREES makes us intently aware of lost potential and dreams marred and suppressed by politics and religious extremism and ultimately urges us to reconsider the importance of arts in shaping narratives about Sudan.

    Moderator: Iman Abbaro

    Speakers:

    Nehal El-Hadi, Writer, Researcher, Editor
    • Nehal El-Hadi

      Nehal El-Hadi investigates the relationships between the body (racialised, gendered), place (urban, virtual), and technology (internet, health).

      She completed a Ph.D. in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her research examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life.

      As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist.

      Nehal advocates for the responsible, accountable, and ethical treatment of user-generated content in the fields of journalism, planning, and healthcare.

      Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, and several anthologies and edited collections.

      Nehal is the Science+Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada, an academic news site, and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine, a biannual print publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design. She currently holds a residency at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, where she is developing a live arts event that explores surveillance, privacy, and consent.

      Nehal sits on the Board of Directors of FiXT POINT Arts & Media and Provocation Ideas Festival. She is a member of the Digital Communities Advisory Panel at the Centre for Free Expression. She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the City Institute at York University.

    Mr. Mohamed Wahbi
    Mazin Osman, Cultural Curator
  • TAFF2020: Shorts Programme 2 + Panel on “Defying Politics and Pan-Arabism in Cinema”

    TAFF2020: Shorts Programme 2 + Panel on “Defying Politics and Pan-Arabism in Cinema”

    Event Details
    July 25, 2020
    7:00 pm EDT
    Virtual

    Join us for our second Shorts Programme followed by a Panel Discussion on titled “Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema” featuring speakers Walid El-Kachab, Christina Piovesan and Viviane Saglier, moderated by Karam Masri.

    Screenings:

    Towards the Sun//نحو الشمس
    • Towards the Sun//نحو الشمس

      Country: Canada, Lebanon 
      Director: Nour Ouayda 
      Length: 17 mins 
      Synopsis: You are now in the main hall of the National Museum in Beirut. A guard reminds you that you are encouraged to touch the archeological objects. A voice in your headset suggests that you lick the stone. You are now facing a hole in the wall on the lower left corner of a mosaic. The voice in your headset indicates that it was made by a sniper. Out of curiosity, you dial 1-9-9-1 to listen to the rest of the story.

    In the Middle//في المنتصف
    • In the Middle//في المنتصف

      Country: Yemen, Qatar, Russia
      Director: Mariam Al Dhubhani 
      Length: 14 mins
      Synopsis: In a rarely seen perspective of war, we follow Ali—a Yemeni soldier on tour in the temporary capital of Aden. Leaving his hopes, dreams, and education behind to join the military, Ali dutifully sits at his checkpoint, performing a mundane task that he is clearly overqualified to do. His story represents the majority of youth in the country, people who are unable to just ‘live’, but instead are forced to continually struggle to survive.

    Four Acts for Syria//أربع فصول من أجل سوريا
    • Four Acts for Syria//أربع فصول من أجل سوريا

      Country: Syria, Germany 
      Director: Waref Abo Qaba
      Length: 14 mins
      Synopsis: Syrian history has been multicultural for centuries. This film is a voyage through Syrian culture until today’s insanity. It is a message of peace and hope for the Syrian people.

    The Return of Osiris//عودة اوزيريس
    • The Return of Osiris//عودة اوزيريس

      Country: Palestine 
      Director: Essa Grayeb 
      Length: 14 mins
      Synopsis: On June 9, 1967, Egyptian President at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser appeared on television and radio to inform the Egyptian citizens of their country’s defeat. During the speech, he also announced his resignation. For many, Nasser’s speech was the first hint at the full scope of loss and disillusionment with the pan-Arab vision he led. The film weaves together dozens of scenes that feature the speech from Egyptian films and television series produced between 1972-2016. The found footage excerpts were edited to reconstruct Nasser’s speech of resignation according to the original text.

    Compressed//مضغوط
    • Compressed//مضغوط

      Country: Syria, France 
      Director: Ali Dawwa 
      Length: 8 mins
      Synopsis: Compressed highlights the work of Khaled Dawwa, a Syrian artist, who was in one of the Syrian regime’s prisons. He met many young people in the prison, their only guilt and the great crime was that they had dreamed of, and asked for a better future. Released from prison, Khaled, now lives in France. He considers himself a hope for all those who are still in prison and expresses their voice and suffering through his sculptures. For Khaled, love and revolution are inseparable.

    I Have Seen Nothing,​I Have Seen All//لم أرى شيئا, رأيت كل شيء
    • I Have Seen Nothing,​I Have Seen All//لم أرى شيئا, رأيت كل شيء

      Country: Syria, Sweden 
      Director: Yasser Kassab 
      Length: 20 mins
      Synopsis: After talking about the end of the war in Syria and the start of the reconstruction phase, Yaser and his family find themselves compelled to deal with the transfer of graves from public parks in Aleppo. Thousands of kilometers separate Yaser from his parents in Aleppo. With what these two places carry of contradiction is reflecting the way they both deal with what happened.

    Panel:

    Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema

    Given the recent new wave of Arab cinema, bolstered by co-productions and initiatives around the world, particularly in film festivals, this panel aims to examine the recent wave of Arab films in international film festivals through the lens of a pan-Arab renaissance. Recent co-production initiatives, transnational talent development and pan-Arab distribution, in particular, are defying national borders and are reinvigorating and redefining preconceived notions of what constitutes Arab cinema.

    Watch

    Moderator:

    Karam Masri, Filmmaker
    • Karam Masri

      Karam Masri is a Program Consultant for Film & Television at Ontario Creates, the provincial agency that supports the economic development of Ontario’s cultural sectors. Prior to joining Ontario Creates, Karam was the Business Analyst at the Bell Fund, a private fund that supports the creation and development of Canadian digital/TV multi-platform projects. Karam holds two Master’s degrees: an MFA in Film Production and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. She also wrote & directed the short film “Juha the Whale”, winner of the York Thesis prize.

    Speakers:

    Christina Piovesan, Producer & President of First Generation Films
    • Christina Piovesan

      Christina Piovesan is the founder and principal of First Generation Films, a film and tv production company based in Toronto. Past films include the Cannes Winner Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; The Whistleblower directed by Larysa Kondracki, Mouthpiece directed by Patricia Rozema, Paper Year, written and directed by Rebecca Addelman and American Woman directed by Semi Chellas which had its Canadian premiere as a Gala Presentation at TIFF 2019. Her collaboration with Elevation Productions, the production arm of Elevation Pictures, has Christina in post-production on The Exchange directed by Dan Mazer and French Exit directed by Azazel Jacobs. Most recently, Christina was producer on The Nest directed by Sean Durkin which had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival

    Dr. Walid El Kachab, Associate Professor, Arabic Studies, York University
    • Walid El Khachab

      Walid El Khachab has published in Cairo four poetry collections in Arabic: The Dead do not consume (Al Mawta La Yastahlekoon, 2001); She who is (Allati, 2013); Sudden Moon (Qamar Mofajei’, 2015), I’timad’s Booth (Koshk I’timad, 2019). In 2022, his monograph about legendary Arab comedian Fuad al-Mohandes The Arachitect of Joy (Mohandes al Bahga) was released at Dar al Maraya publishing house, Cairo. He also translated into Arabic Canadian poet’s Mon Latif Ghattas collection, Les Chants du Karawan, and Canadian poetry theorist Paul Zumthor’s Introduction à la poésie orale. He teaches Arabic Studies at York University

    Dr. Viviane Saglier, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology and Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University
    • Viviane Saglier

      Viviane Saglier is a UTSC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. Prior to that, she was an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department at McGill University. She received her PhD in Film and Moving Image Studies from Concordia University. She is currently working on two projects: a first book on Palestinian film infrastructures, and a second book on histories of Arab cinema, gender, and decolonization. Her writings on Arab cinema, postcolonial theory, media economies, and transnational solidarity have appeared in several peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. Outside of the university, she curates collective programs of Arab cinema and political documentaries as well as video art exhibitions. 

      She started the Works-in-Progress (WIP) series and co-led the Political Imaginaries of Waiting working group.

    Panel Sponsored by:

    Faculty Arts & Science - U of T Logo
    Innis College Logo

    Co-presented by: 

    Goethe Institut Logo
    RPFF logo
  • TAFF2021: Arab/Futurism: Speculative Storytelling in Arab Cinema

    TAFF2021: Arab/Futurism: Speculative Storytelling in Arab Cinema

    Event Details
    July 8, 2021
    4:00PM EST
    Virtual

    Watch

    Over the past few decades, we have witnessed a new wave of Arab cinema, deeply grounded in the realities and politics of everyday life in the Arab world and its disparate diasporas. More recently, Arab filmmakers have experimented with alternative genres and modes of storytelling. While certainly popularized by the proliferation of Western culture, speculative fiction – fantasy, science fiction and magic realism – are not a foreign form of storytelling in the Arab world.

    These genres, and by extension, the stories they portray, have proved both timeless and timely. Can Arab cinema translate this success into film? Instead of only looking at and examining our immediate present and our recent tumultuous past, should we be rethinking, reconfiguring, and restructuring how we tell stories?

    Moderator:

    Rolla Tahir, Filmmaker, TAF Co-founder & Artistic Director
    • Rolla Tahir

      Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.

    Speakers:

    Desirée Custers, Arabic literature translator and Researcher
    • Desirée Custers

      Desirée Custers is a writer, researcher, and translator of Arabic literature. Her translations from Arabic to Dutch have appeared in poetry magazines and cultural platforms in Belgium, and in 2019 she translated the novel Brusselse Vrouwen (‘Women of Brussels’) by the Palestinian author Nisma Alaklouk. For her masters’ degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Desiree submitted a thesis on Arabic science fiction with the title Arabic science fiction as vehicle for criticism, in which she focused on the novel Harb al-Kalb al-Thaniyyah (‘Dog War II’, 2018) by Palestinian/Jordanian author Ibrahim Nasrallah. The thesis was short-listed for the Flemish thesis prize in 2019. Desiree writes about Arab sci-fi and literary and cultural topics on her bi-lingual Arabic/English blog, issabramil.com. She also holds an M.A. in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. 

    Nehal El-Hadi, Writer, Researcher, Editor
    • Nehal El-Hadi

      Nehal El-Hadi investigates the relationships between the body (racialised, gendered), place (urban, virtual), and technology (internet, health).

      She completed a Ph.D. in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her research examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life.

      As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist.

      Nehal advocates for the responsible, accountable, and ethical treatment of user-generated content in the fields of journalism, planning, and healthcare.

      Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, and several anthologies and edited collections.

      Nehal is the Science+Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada, an academic news site, and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine, a biannual print publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design. She currently holds a residency at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, where she is developing a live arts event that explores surveillance, privacy, and consent.

      Nehal sits on the Board of Directors of FiXT POINT Arts & Media and Provocation Ideas Festival. She is a member of the Digital Communities Advisory Panel at the Centre for Free Expression. She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the City Institute at York University.

    Ayham Jabr, Filmmaker, Editor, Graphic Designer
    • Ayham Jabr

      Ayham Jabr is a Surreal Collage Artist, a Video Editor, a Videographer and a Graphic Designer. He studied Electronics at Damascus University, and lives in Damascus, Syria. His love for science fiction films, stories, and theories are a main source of inspiration behind his primarily digital art works.

  • TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 1

    TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 1

    Event Details
    May 28, 2021
    7:00 pm EDT
    Virtual

    Watch

    Filmmaker Roundtable with: Halima Ouardiri (Clebs), Omar Elhamy (Foam), Yza Nouiga (Jardins Paradise) and Sara Trad (Clench My Fists)

    Moderator:

    Karam Masri, Filmmaker
    • Karam Masri

      Karam Masri is a Program Consultant for Film & Television at Ontario Creates, the provincial agency that supports the economic development of Ontario’s cultural sectors. Prior to joining Ontario Creates, Karam was the Business Analyst at the Bell Fund, a private fund that supports the creation and development of Canadian digital/TV multi-platform projects. Karam holds two Master’s degrees: an MFA in Film Production and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. She also wrote & directed the short film “Juha the Whale”, winner of the York Thesis prize.


    Speakers:

    Omar Elhamy (Foam)
    • Omar Elhamy

      Omar Elhamy was born and raised in Egypt. Established in Quebec, Canada for a few years now, he is a director, writer and editor. His films have been acclaimed in several festivals and art galleries. He directed Tartarus (2019), Paria (2015). In 2018-2019 he presented Five seasons behind the sun his first expanded cinema works at the Dazibao Gallery in Montreal. Foam (2020), his latest short film, is part of the International Short film Competition at the 70th Berlinale. He is currently working on his first feature film, Frère Raison.

    Yza Nouiga (Jardin Paradise)
    • Yza Nouiga

      Yza Nouiga is a French Moroccan director, and digital film distributor based in Montreal. Born and raised in Morocco, she’s been living in Canada for the last 10 years. Her work evolves around themes of identities, dual nationality, and homecoming through fiction and non-fiction narratives. She co-wrote a first feature-length documentary film, Circo, that received the supports of many Canadian arts councils and institutions (SODEC, CALQ). Her last work, Jardins Paradise, was selected by the Goethe-Institut as part of a special programming. Yza is currently working on two shorts films.

    Sara Trad (Clench My Fists)
    • Sarah Trad

      Sarah Trad (she/her) is a Lebanese-American artist and curator based in Philadelphia. She is currently the Co-Director of Programming for the MENA Film Festival in Vancouver, as well as a Juror for the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and a member of the Community Advisory Board for the Asian Arts Initiative. Trad is the recipient of the 2019 Rutland Vermont Art Center 77Art Artist Residency, the 2019 Plyspace Residency and Fellowship, and 2011 Carol N. Schmuckler Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film. Sarah’s work has been screened at the Gimli Film Festival, Toronto Arab Film Festival, Antimatter Media Art Festival, Rendezvous With Madness Festival, Everson Museum of Art, and Currents New Media.

  • TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 2

    TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 2

    Event Details
    May 29, 2021
    12:00 pm EDT
    Virtual

    Watch

    Filmmaker Roundtable with: Maha Al Saati (Fear: Audibly), Amine Koudhai (And The Night Will Carry Us), Rand Abou Fakher (So We Live)

    Moderator:

    Zeinah Kalati, Programmer

    Speakers:

    Maha Al Saati (Fear: Audibly)
    • Maha Al-Saati

      Maha Al-Saati is an independent, experimental filmmaker interested in exploring women’s stories in the Arab World. She is TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2020 and TIFF Writers’ Studio 2021 Alum, and honorary recipient of the Share Her Journey Award and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) residency 2021. Her short films include Hair: The Story of Grass (18), an official selection of Fantastic Fest 2018, Slamdance 2019, and HollyShorts 2019; Cycle of Apples (19); and Fear: Audibly (17). Her feature project Hajj to Disney was selected for development by the Red Sea Lodge in partnership with TorinoFilmLab.

    Amine Khoudhai (And The Night Will Carry Us)
    Rand Abou Fakher (So We Live)
    • Rand Abou Fakher

      Rand Abou-Fakher studied as a flutist in the Syrian Conservatory, broadening her practice in Brussels to audiovisual arts. Today, she works as a director, theatre actor, (art) project manager and programmer. Her short films Braided Love (2018) and So We Live (2020) have been shown at festivals and museums worldwide. In the process, So We Live won an Oscar Qualifying Award.

  • TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 3

    TAFF2021: Filmmaker Roundtable 3

    Event Details
    May 30, 2021
    12:00 pm EDT
    Virtual

    Watch

    Filmmaker Roundtable with: Malas Twins (One of Us Left the Photo), Suzannah Mirghani (Al-Sit), Sara Mesfer (The Girls Who Burned the Night)

    Moderator:

    Hiba Sleiman
    • Hiba Sleiman

      Hiba Sleiman is a Montreal-based artist and drama therapist. She is an actor and a writer for stage and screen and started her psychotherapy practice in 2023. Hiba’s curiosity for human behaviour has informed her creative work as her writing contemplates themes of identity, belonging, and politics of the self and the other. Hiba has worked with acclaimed filmmakers and stage directors in Lebanon, Canada, and the States. She recently developed the script for the upcoming music concert of the Canadian Arabic Orchestra. She is currently developing an
      immersive piece taking place “off stage” and working on producing her second independent short film.

    Speakers:

    Sara Mesfer (The Girls Who Burned the Night)
    • Sara Mesfer

      Sara Mesfer is a Saudi Director based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She holds a bachelor degree in Cinematic Art from Effat University, Saudi Arabia.

      She started her journey working in different roles in films that participated in local and international film festivals. In 2018 she wrote and directed her first short film “Balcony”. In 2019 she Wrote and Produced “Quareer Chapter Three” A short film that is part of a Collective Feature Film that highlights five different stages of a woman’s life in Saudi Arabia.

      Sara Wrote and Directed her short “The Girls who Burned The Night” Which got the Jury Special Mention award in Cairo international Film festival in its 42nd edition. Sara’s latest is her participation as a Writer and Director of “Al Dabah” in “Becoming” Omnibus Feature with four female directors by the support of Red Sea international film Festival in 2020.

    Suzannah Mirghani (Al-Sit)
    • Suzannah Mirghani

      Suzannah Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and media studies/museum studies graduate. Sudanese-Russian, she is interested in stories about the complexity of identity. Suzannah is the writer, director, and producer of AL-SIT (2020, Sudan/Qatar), screening on Netflix Middle East, and winner of the Canal+ Award at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in 2021 as well as 6 Academy Award qualifying prizes at Tampere Film Festival; LA Shorts; BronzeLens; New Orleans Film Festival; AFI Fest; and Interfilm Berlin. Her latest short is the experimental documentary/social media satire VIRTUAL VOICE (2021), which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Suzannah is working on her first feature COTTON QUEEN, which won the ArteKino Award at L’Atelier de la Cinefondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

    Malas Twins (One of Us Left the Photo)
  • TAFF2022: Canadian Short Film Screening + Canadian Filmmakers Roundtable

    TAFF2022: Canadian Short Film Screening + Canadian Filmmakers Roundtable

    Event Details
    May 29, 2022
    12:00 pm EDT
    Paradise Theatre, 1006 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M6H 1M2

    Join us for a screening of Canadian short films followed by a panel discussion around opportunities and challenges making films in Canada and beyond.

    Screenings:

    Brown Bread & Apricots
    • Brown Bread & Apricots

      Country: Jordan, Canada
      Director: Serene Husni
      Length: 8 mins
      Synopsis: In the absence of his parents, an unruly teenager is presented with a crucial test of character devised by his eldest sister. Instead of being punished for skipping school, he is entrusted with managing the family allowance for two weeks. To feed his siblings, he resorts to something he knew in his heart: in a Palestinian house, the pantry is never bare. Borrowing from classic elements of Palestinian storytelling—namely repetition, trickery, and an obsession with food—Brown Bread & Apricots is a story about a Palestinian family in exile.

    Visions of Basra
    • Visions of Basra

      Country: Canada
      Director: Noor Gatih
      Length: 5 mins
      Synopsis: Visions of Basra explores my mother’s fragmented memories of her homeland by exploring her photographs, colours and words. Each moving visual appears to be imperfect or out of focus the more detailed her recollections become.

    Nur El Qulub//نورالقلوب
    • Nur El Qulub//نورالقلوب

      Country: Canada
      Director: Sawsan Alsaraf
      Length: 8 mins
      Synopsis: Nur Al Qulub is an exploration of the spiritual dimension of shadow and light. Drawing from the director’s experiences as the end-of-life support person for many near and dear people in her life, this project seeks to ask questions about spiritual truth, transitions, and the unknown. Dwelling on the threshold of spaces of darkness leading to the light, shadow work and discomfort, and the material and the spiritual, Nur Al Qulub references AlSaraf’s deepest realizations around the meaning of life – and death.

    Don’t Forget The Water
    • Don’t Forget The Water//لا تنسى التسمية

      Country: Canada
      Director: Christina Hajjar
      Length: 5 mins
      Synopsis: A phone conversation sets the diasporic table as a disembodied figure prepares Qahwah Arabi / Arabic Coffee. Here, the contradictions inherent in Google Translate’s instant camera feature are made visible through glitched mistranslations. Using these flaws as a prompt, the communication between a mother and a daughter considers ambiguity as a source of embodied knowledge.

    Festina Lente
    • Festina Lente

      Country: Canada
      Director: Baya Medhaffar
      Length: 21 mins
      Synopsis: Combining two contradictory terms in a single phrase is called an oxymoron. Circumventing the obvious, shaking up the logic, proceeding in gusts, claiming the impossible, such is the method that Baya Medhaffar has chosen and, adopting an ancient motto, she makes it clear right from the title: “Make haste slowly”. There are several explanations for this speed proclaimed yet slowed all at once. Her film is mostly made of edited, assembled images from other films; thus, all the emergencies from other works reach a climax here, but as they overlap, they also call for their patient and detailed examination. The dishevelled editing is combined to a superimposition technique that makes scales collide, that associate separated figures and backgrounds, and that ties together in the same frame seemingly unrelated dynamics and lines of forces.

    Panel:

    Canadian Filmmakers Roundtable

    Through this discussion, filmmakers will reflect on their creative journeys, opportunities and challenges making films in Canada and beyond.

    Moderator:

    Nashwa Lina Khan, Community Educator, Facilitator, and Researcher
    • Nashwa Lina Khan

      Nashwa Lina Khan is a community educator, facilitator, and researcher. She is also a writer and poet and occasionally dabbles in installation and archive that uses narrative methodologies. She holds a Masters of Environmental Studies from York University with areas of concentration focused on narrative methodologies, community and public health, refugee, and forced migration studies and is currently a PhD student at York University in Environment and Urban Change. Her work has been published in a variety of places including Vice, Rewire, This Magazine, and The New York Times. She is the host and producer of two podcasts, Muslim Rumspringa and Habibti Please.

    Speakers:

    Sawsan Al Saraf, Filmmaker
    • Sawsan AlSaraf

      Sawsan AlSaraf (Canadian, b. Iraq) is a visual and multimedia artist who lives and works in Montreal, Canada, AlSaraf has moved between the Middle East and North America since 1977.  In her work, she draws her references from her life experiences as an expatriate Iraqi woman. She holds a BFA in Studio Arts rom Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and an MFA in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

    Noor Gatih, Filmmaker
    • Noor Gatih

      Noor Gatih is an Iraqi filmmaker and photographer based in Toronto. Her practice explores gender and generational patterns within family archives, film, and photography, and her work has been exhibited at Collusion Books, Gallery 44, Wave Art Collective and Gallery 1265. Recently, she was selected for a 2021 mentorship opportunity at Made In Her Image (hosted by Panavision), an organization that provides training and resources for women of colour pursuing a career in film production. 

    Christina Hajjar, Filmmaker
    • Christina Hajjar

      Christina Hajjar is a Lebanese artist, writer, and cultural worker based in Winnipeg on Treaty 1 Territory. Her practice considers intergenerational inheritance, domesticity, and place through diaspora, body archives, and cultural iconography. As a queer femme and first-generation subject, she is invested in the poetics of process, translation, and collaborative labour. Her work involves photography, film, performance, installation, publishing, and curation.

      Hajjar was a recipient of the 2020 PLATFORM Photography Award and received an honourable mention for the 2021 Emerging Digital Artists Award. Her film Don’t Forget the Water won the Jury Award and the Audience Choice Award for Best Manitoba Short Film at Gimli Film Festival. Hajjar curates the SWANA Film Festival, presenting South West Asian and North African short films from around the world.

      Hajjar is a Managing Editor of Carnation Zine (publishing art and writing on diaspora and displacement) and qumra journal (publishing reflections on world cinema). She is senior editor of Herizons (Canada’s foremost feminist magazine). She is the creator of Diaspora Daughter, Diaspora Dyke zine, which won Best Artzine at the Broken Pencil Zine Awards. Her writing has appeared in BlackFlash Magazine, C MagazineThe UniterCV2Prairie Fire, and PaperWait.

    Serene Husni, Filmmaker
    • Serene Husni

      Serene Husni is a documentarian, mentor, and Arabic-English translator. She holds an MFA in Documentary Media awarded with distinction from the Toronto Metropolitan University, and her directorial debut, “Zinco” (2013) won the “Audience Award for Best Short Documentary” from the Franco-Arab Film Festival. Her short, “Brown Bread & Apricots” (2021) won the Qayqub Award for “Best Canadian Short Film” from the Toronto Arab Film Festival. She is a co-writer and co-editor of the feature documentary “Eulogy for The Dead Sea” (2022), directed by Polina Teif, which traces the environmental impacts of settler colonialism on the disappearing body of water and the communities that live around it. She is currently in post production on her first feature documentary, a city symphony in four movements, titled “Jenin & the Colony”.

  • TAFF2022: Navigating Production in Times of Crisis: Filmmaking amid Lebanon’s Collapse

    TAFF2022: Navigating Production in Times of Crisis: Filmmaking amid Lebanon’s Collapse

    Event Details
    May 27, 2022
    12:00 pm EDT
    Virtual

    Watch

    Arab filmmakers have always faced a multitude of challenges in producing their films. These challenges have only intensified with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and the escalation of conflict and crisis in the Arab region. Despite these challenges, the Arab film scene continues to grow and diversify with more and more filmmakers emerging with innovative works and even gaining international recognition.

    This apparent contradiction is especially glaring in Lebanon — a country that is currently enduring one of the worst socioeconomic crises the world has seen since the mid-nineteenth century. Despite
    that, Lebanon is still among the top nations in the region to produce acclaimed feature and short films. How do we account for this seeming inconsistency and what can we learn from it?

    During this panel, three Lebanese filmmakers will share their experiences of making feature films while enduring and witnessing the complete collapse of their country. How are the struggles that face these filmmakers reflected in the films themselves? More generally, how can a recognition of the realities that film production is grounded in nuance and reshape the understanding of the films we consume?

    Moderator:

    Zeina Tarraf, Assistant Professor, Media Studies, American University of Beirut
    • Zeina Tarraf

      Zeina Tarraf is an assistant professor of media studies at the American University of Beirut where she teaches courses on Arab media and society, war and media, and visual culture. Her
      current book project examines how public feelings are produced and circulated in Lebanon during moments of protracted national crisis. She is also working on a new book project that considers how film industries in the Arab world are positioned within transnational circuits of financing, production, and circulation.

    Speakers:

    Mounia Akl, Filmmaker
    • Mounia Akl

      Mounia Akl is a director and writer from Lebanon living between Beirut and New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from ALBA and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®. Her first feature film, Costa Brava Lebanon (Sundance Labs, Cannes Residency), premiered in 2021 at the Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival (Netpac Award) and BFI London Film Festival (Audience Award) amongst others. It was inspired by her short film Submarine (Official selection at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, TIFF 2016). Apart from directing, Mounia has also taught a lab in Directing at Columbia University, New York, and directing at the NHSI film summer institute at Northwestern University, Chicago. Mounia is currently developing new projects (TV and Film) between Paris, Beirut and LA where she also was recently a Ted Talk Women speaker.

    Roy Arida, Filmmaker
    • Roy Arida

      Roy Arida is a director and producer. Born in Beirut, Roy studied cinema at la Fémis, Paris, in the directing department. Since he graduated, he has been pursuing his work as a director still in between France and Lebanon, with an equal interest for fiction and documentary In 2012, Roy founded STANK, a production house based in Paris. Roy has two films in this year’s Festival – Under the Concrete, which he directed; and Khamsin, which he produced.

    Elie Khalifé, Filmmaker
    • Elie Khalifé

      Elie Khalifé is a Lebanese director, screenwriter and producer whose career spans over two decades and multiple award-winning projects.   Elie studied film at the Geneva University of Art and Design (ESAV-HEAD).  Lebanon is both the backdrop and inspiration to his work.

      Elie’s body of work is primarily based on his own material and showcases his comedic streak with award-winning shorts like “Taxi Service” (1996), “Merci Natex” (1998) and his first feature “Yanoosak” (2010).   Elie also directed “Single Married Divorced” (2015), a highly popular comedy.  “State of Agitation” (2020) is his third feature film and the first in which he acts.

  • TAFF2022: Screening “Elektra, My Love (Elektra, Ya Gharami)” + Talk with Dalal Al-Bizri

    TAFF2022: Screening “Elektra, My Love (Elektra, Ya Gharami)” + Talk with Dalal Al-Bizri

    Event Details
    May 29, 2022
    7:30 pm EDT
    Paradise Theatre, 1006 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M6H 1M2

    The screening is followed by a conversation with Dalal Bizri.

    Screenings:

    Elektra, My Love (Elektra, Ya Gharami)
    • Elektra, My Love (Elektra, Ya Gharami)

      Country: Lebanon, Germany
      Director: Hisham Bizri
      Length: 89 mins
      Synopsis: A kammerspiel-film set in the moody, cavernous ruin of the Piccadilly Theater, Beirut’s extravagant art palace destroyed after the Lebanese Civil War.

    Speaker:

    Dalal Al-Bizri, Lebanese researcher and writer
    • Dalal Al-Bizri

      Dalal Al-Bizri, Lebanese researcher and writer. She specializes in contemporary Islamic movements and authored several studies on women’s issues. She served as lecturer in Political Sociology at the Lebanese University and spent ten years as researcher in Egypt.

  • TAFF2022: Screening “You Resemble Me” + Panel on “The Language of Belonging”

    TAFF2022: Screening “You Resemble Me” + Panel on “The Language of Belonging”

    Event Details

    May 28, 2022
    7:30 pm EDT
    Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5

    Join us for a screening of “You Resemble Me” followed by a panel on “The Language of Belonging” where Jasmin Zine and Amir Al-Azraki will join Nehal El-Hadi in a moderated discussion exploring Islamophobia, radicalization, and barriers to belonging for Muslim youth in disapora.

    Screening:

    You Resemble Me
    • You Resemble Me

      Country: France, Egypt, United States
      Director: Dina Amer
      Length: 90 mins
      Synopsis: When the bond is broken between two sisters, a little girl transforms into someone new in the name of belonging and resistance. Director Dina Amer takes one of the darkest tales of our time, the story of Muslim terror in the West, and deconstructs it in a story about family, love, sisterhood, and fractured identity.


    Panel:

    The Language of Belonging

    Moderator:

    Nehal El-Hadi, Science + Technology Editor, The Conversation Canada
    • Nehal El-Hadi

      Nehal El-Hadi investigates the relationships between the body (racialised, gendered), place (urban, virtual), and technology (internet, health).

      She completed a Ph.D. in Planning at the University of Toronto, where her research examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life.

      As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist.

      Nehal advocates for the responsible, accountable, and ethical treatment of user-generated content in the fields of journalism, planning, and healthcare.

      Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, and several anthologies and edited collections.

      Nehal is the Science+Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada, an academic news site, and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine, a biannual print publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design. She currently holds a residency at Toronto’s Theatre Centre, where she is developing a live arts event that explores surveillance, privacy, and consent.

      Nehal sits on the Board of Directors of FiXT POINT Arts & Media and Provocation Ideas Festival. She is a member of the Digital Communities Advisory Panel at the Centre for Free Expression. She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the City Institute at York University.

    Speakers:

    Jasmin Zine, Professor of Sociology and Religion & Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University
    • Jasmin Zine

      Jasmin Zine is a Professor of Sociology and Religion & Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University. She served as a consultant on combating Islamophobia for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Council of Europe (COE), and the Office for the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODHIR/OSCE). Her recent book: Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation (2022, McGill -Queens University Press) explores the experiences of the millennial generation of Canadian Muslim youth who came of age during the global war on terror and times of heightened anti-Muslim racism. She is author of a major report on the Canadian Islamophobia industry that examines the networks of hate and bigotry that purvey and monetize Islamophobia. She is a sought-after media commentator and has given numerous invited talks and keynotes in Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Berlin, Madrid, Cordoba, Nairobi, Uppsala, as well as in Pakistan and across the U.S.  

    Amir Al-Azraki, playwright, literary translator, Assistant Professor at University of Waterloo
    • Amir Al-Azraki

      Amir Al-Azraki is an Arab-Canadian playwright, literary translator, Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Studies in Islamic and Arab Cultures Program, at Renison University College, University of Waterloo. Among his plays are: Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from IraqThe Mug, and The Widow. Al-Azraki is the author of The Discourse of War in Contemporary Theatre (in Arabic), co-editor and co-translator of Contemporary Plays from Iraq, “A Rehearsal for Revolution”: An Approach to Theatre of the Oppressed (in Arabic), and co-editor and co-translator of Arabic poetry by female poets in ConsequenceThe CommonPoetry Foundation and Talking Writing. He is currently translating Representations of the Other: The Image of Black People in the Medieval Arab Imaginary by a Bahraini critic Nader Kadhim.

    Co-presented with Provocation Ideas Festival

    PIF Logo
  • TAFF2024: Producer Accelerator

    TAFF2024: Producer Accelerator

    Event Details
    June 23, 2024
    10:00 am – 6:00 pm EDT
    Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2R4

    Join us for a day of immersive learning and networking at the Toronto Arab Film’s exclusive industry event, tailored specifically for directors and producers. Dive into insightful panels and connect with like-minded professionals at our networking socials. Elevate your craft, expand your network, and unlock new opportunities in the vibrant world of Arab cinema in Canada and beyond.

    10:00 am – 10:45 am Breakfast

    11:00 am – 12:00 pm Panel: Feature Film Funding in Canada

    Speakers:

    Christina Piovesan
    • Christina Piovesan

      Christina Piovesan is the founder and principal of First Generation Films, a film and tv production company based in Toronto. Past films include the Cannes Winner Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; The Whistleblower directed by Larysa Kondracki, Mouthpiece directed by Patricia Rozema, Paper Year, written and directed by Rebecca Addelman and American Woman directed by Semi Chellas which had its Canadian premiere as a Gala Presentation at TIFF 2019. Her collaboration with Elevation Productions, the production arm of Elevation Pictures, has Christina in post-production on The Exchange directed by Dan Mazer and French Exit directed by Azazel Jacobs. Most recently, Christina was producer on The Nest directed by Sean Durkin which had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival

    Shant Joshi
    • Shant Joshi

      Shant Joshi is an award-winning producer and president of Fae Pictures, based in New York and Toronto, on a mission to decolonize Hollywood. His credits include award winners at Sundance (Framing Agnes), Red Sea (In Flames), Iris Prize (Scaring Women at Night), Durban (Runs in the Family), premieres at Cannes, Toronto, Canneseries (Streams Flow From A River), Aspen (I Live Here), Palm Springs (Diaspora), Hot Docs, Black Star (Noor and Layla), Bentonville, and BFI London, and nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards (Queen Tut). He was also an executive producer on Nisha Pahuja’s Academy Award ® nominated film To Kill A Tiger, an impact producer on John Greyson’s TEDDY Award-winning film International Dawn Chorus Day, and an associate producer on Ingrid Veninger’s Canadian Screen Award-nominated film Porcupine Lake.

      Shant currently sits on CMPA’s Restructuring, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Committee, and previously was Co-Chair of the BIPOC TV & Film Board, and co-founder of the Future of Film Showcase.

      He is an alum of the Canadian Film Centre, Rotterdam Lab, and Osgoode Hall Law School, and was named a MIPTV Producer to Watch, Reelworld Trailblazer, nominated for an Indiescreen Award, and to York University’s Top 30 Changemakers under 30.

    Aeschylus Poulus
    • Aeschylus Poulus

      Aeschylus Poulus launched Hawkeye Pictures as the Executive Producer on the feature film SLEEPING GIANT.  Prior to Hawkeye, Aeschylus was a Producer at Foundry Films (CAIRO TIME, THE BANG BANG CLUB), where he co-produced Ruba Nadda’s thriller INESCAPABLE, starring Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, and Kate Melville’s acclaimed PICTURE DAY, starring Sundance award-winner Tatiana Maslany; and at Blue Ice where he co-produced the mini-series The Book of Negroes and the thriller OCTOBER GALE, starring Patricia Clarkson. Aeschylus actively forges relationships with domestic and international partners, broadcasters and distributors. 

    12:15 pm – 01:15 pm Panel: Producer Development in Canada & Beyond

    Speakers:

    Shonna Foster
    • Shonna Foster

      Shonna Foster is a highly visual director whose work truthfully centers story and character. She is passionately invested in telling stories that prioritize, investigate, and celebrate Black and POC experiences, and which explore universal themes through relatable characters with strong points of view. 

      A graduate from York University’s Creative Ensemble Theatre Conservatory (BFA Honors), Shonna is described as an ‘actor’s director’ who is all-in, highly committed and collaborative in her approach to the work. She is known for her ability to direct raw talent in scenes with high emotional stakes, and has a strong ability to create compelling imagery through her work in scripted narrative, documentary and branded content. In addition, her passion combined with her reputation for working closely with writers elevates her tenacity for discovering and leaning into compelling stories that lift off the page.

      Shonna made her directorial debut with the short film Residue which debuted at the Reelworld Film Festival, and was also licensed for national television broadcast and streaming through CBC’s Gem. Residue was featured on Breakfast Television, CBC Arts, CHCH TV, TO Indie and Black on Both Sides. Her second film Mothers: Out of A Pandemic, a documentary short Executive Produced by Jennifer Podemski and Lauren Grant is currently in the 2023/2024 festival circuit and won the “Best Long Form Short Documentary Film” at the Toronto Documentary Feature & Short Film Festival. Shonna has also directed impactful branded content, including the Gold Series x Pantene campaign which won MLS and Procter & Gamble the Grocer Impact Award.

      As a director, Shonna has successfully completed one-on-one mentorships and director observer-shadowing positions with some of the industry’s leading directors and producers in Canada and the US on various television and film productions.  Her impressive resume highlights almost two decade of key positions and executive positions she has held at award-winning production companies, distribution companies and deeply rooted organizations in Canada’s film and television industry. Shonna has worked on productions for Paramount Pictures/Elevation Pictures, Sony Pictures/Lifetime, Warner/OWN, CBC, Reel One Entertainment, Pier 21 Films, and Bell Media. As a highly regarded team member and sought after asset, Shonna’s all encompassing employment experiences have made her a director who comes with a thorough understanding of the production process and pipeline.  A producer’s dream! 

      Shonna credits her parents’ and Grandparents love of film, television, and music for planting the seed in her developing an understanding of storytelling and deep appreciation and passion for the art of the moving image from a very young age. Whether she was engaged in an extracurricular creative activity or working on set as a child actor, Shonna would watch performers, directors, and crew work at their craft with both intrigue and fascination. She knew from a young age that the world of film and television was where she felt most at home.

      Shonna deeply loves the process of creating and feels equally at home in rehearsal, on set, in a writers room, and in an editing suite. She hopes to leave this world with a body of work that is impactful, motivating, transcends time, elevates the Black community and shifts the world just a little bit. She believes this is best achieved through fostering truthful and meaningful connections with other human beings globally and through the process of collaborating on important works of art – one episode, film, and commercial at a time.

    Coral Aiken
    • Coral Aiken

      Coral Aiken is a director, producer, and hobby gardener based in Toronto. Through her company Aiken Heart Films (AHF), founded in 2014, Coral has been supporting Canadian filmmakers to create short films and narrative features for over a decade.

      Coral’s films have screened in competition at Cannes Cinéfondation, TIFF, Sarajevo, Seattle, Buenos Aires, in the Locarno Academy, and on Nowness.com. AHF is currently in post on The Well, the highly anticipated, narrative feature debut from Oscar-nominated director Hubert Davis. The Well will be released globally by XYZ Films.

      Directed by the acclaimed Canadian director Valerie Buhagiar, Carmen (2022) is Aiken Heart’s first international co-production. Shot in Malta and starring Natascha McElhone, Carmen premiered at the Whistler Film Festival in 2021 winning best cinematography in the Borsos competition, and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.

      Coral Aiken studied as a director at York University, MFA and at Berlinale Talents. She is an alumna of TIFF Studio, and EAVE. Coral teaches at LIFT, York University and the Canadian Film Centre. 

      Coral is represented by the United Talent Agency as a line producer and has worked for clients including Lionsgate, Elevation Pictures, Lisa Pictures, Discovery Channel, National Film Board of Canada, Scythia Films, Film Forge, MDFF, and Babe Nation Creations.

    Dan Montgomery
    • Dan Montgomery

      Dan Montgomery, b. 1985, is a Toronto-based producer of film and commercials. In 2009 he co-founded the production company MDFF. His short and feature length films have screened at some of the world’s top festivals including: the New York Film Festival, Cannes Critics’ Week, Berlinale, Venice, Locarno, SXSW and TIFF. His 2022 feature, THE MAIDEN, premiered in competition as part of Giornate degli Autori at the 79th Venice Film Festival where it won the Cinema of the Future Award. His most recent feature MATT AND MARA had its world premiere at the 74th Berlinale as part of the competition program Encounters.

      As a freelance commercial line producer, he has worked for such production companies as Animals, Merchant, CANADA, Radioaktivefilm, Eleanor, Smuggler, Steam, Colossale, OPC,  Furlined, Love Song, Tool of North America, Revolver, Asymetric, Suneeva, as well as various ad agencies: Energy BBDO, Preacher, Rethink, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Deutsch LA, GUT, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY, Cossette, FCB, Leo Burnett, Anomaly, Juliet, The Hive, lg2, Wunderman Thompson, Motive, TAXI, Erich & Kallman, among others.

      In addition to producing films, he has also co-run a monthly screening series in Toronto since 2013, MDFF Selects now presented at the TIFF Lightbox.

    01:15 pm – 02:15 pm Lunch

    02:15 pm – 03:15 pm Mentorship Meetings

    Filmmakers interested in applying to the mentorship meetings must indicate their interest via this form. Limited spaces available.

    3:30-4:30pm: Panel: Impact Producing & the Power of Community

    Speakers:

    Sholeh Fabbri
    • Sholeh Alemi Fabbri

      Sholeh Alemi Fabbri has been producing award-winning content for two decades and has received three Canadian Screen Award nominations. For seven years as the Executive Producer of Entertainment Tonight Canada, Sholeh built the ET Canada brand for broadcast and online. Her award-winning special Canada Together: In Concert showcased superstars including Shania Twain, Lady A, and Christopher Plummer raising over $300,000 for Food Banks Canada and music industry personnel impacted by the Covid-19 shutdowns. Working with HitPlay Productions on Last of the Right Whales about the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, marks Sholeh’s return to documentary storytelling. She is currently developing Eclipse, a feature film with co-producer Heather Haldane (Maudie) as well as other projects on her growing slate. Sholeh sits on two boards including Story Money Impact, a charity which connects mediamakers to changemakers and Artists for Peace and Justice (Canada), a non-profit organization that supports access to education for impoverished youth in Haiti. Being able to transform inspiration into impact is incredibly rewarding and why Sholeh launched Good Measure Productions.

    Anna Fahr
    • Anna Fahr

      Anna Fahr is a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, educator, and founder of Morning Bird Pictures Inc. (formerly Sepasi Films, est. 2003), a production company dedicated to creating films with social impact that focus on the contemporary Middle East and its diaspora.

      Anna’s last narrative short, Transit Game examines the refugee crisis in Lebanon against the backdrop of the Syrian war. The film screened in over fifty international festivals since premiering in the fall of 2014, winning prizes in Berlin, San Francisco and Florence, among others.

      Anna’s first independent feature-length documentary, Khaneh Ma: These Places We Call Home, examines questions of cultural identity and dual-nationality from the vantage point of three generations of Iranians living in Iran, Canada, and Germany. The film screened in international festivals worldwide and was theatrically released in Montreal.

      Anna’s latest projects include two interactive web documentaries that focus on experiences of exile and migration through a female lens. Migrant Mothers of Syria was financed by the Bell Fund and produced in collaboration with Emmy award-winning new media company, Stitch Media. The webdoc recently premiered as part of the Academy Award qualifying Doc Edge Festival’s Exhibition program and won a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Digital Media at the 2020 Yorkton Film Festival. My Life in Limbo was financed by the Canada Council for the Arts and premiered at Montreal Digital WebFest 2020, winning the Jury Prize.

      Anna is currently in post-production on the feature-length narrative film, Valley of Exile (Prod. Morning Bird Pictures, Six Island Productions, Hawkeye Pictures) with financing from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council and in development on Places in Between (Prod. Clique Pictures, Rep. Great North Artists Management) with financing from the Harold Greenberg Fund and Telefilm Canada.

      Anna holds a BFA in Film Production from Concordia University in Montreal, an MFA in Screenwriting from Hollins University in Virginia and an MA in Film and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University.

      For more information about Anna’s current projects in development, please contact: info@annafahr.com

    Chrisann Hessing
    • Chrisann Hessing

      Chrisann Hessing is a documentary filmmaker and impact producer based in Toronto. She has produced award-winning short films that have screened at Hot Docs, RIDM, Global Impact Film Festival and the London Asian Film Festival. Her work has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council, Inspirit Foundation, BravoFACT! Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent and Telefilm Canada.

      Chrisann’s short film, Turning Tables, won Best Short Documentary at the 43rd American Indian Film Festival, and has screened in over 30 film festivals internationally.

      Her debut feature, We Will Be Brave, premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival and won Audience Choice Feature Film at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival in 2023.

      She is passionate about using visual storytelling as a tool to educate, raise awareness, and inspire positive change, and has collaborated with a number of community arts organizations including TIFF, JAYU, and the Doc Institute. She currently sits on the board of POV Magazine.

      She previously worked as Festival Manager at Breakthroughs Film Festival, the only festival in Canada devoted exclusively to short films made by emerging women & non binary directors

      Currently, Chrisann works as an Associate Impact Producer at Ring Five Impact Docs, a boutique impact producing and grassroots distribution company based in Toronto.

    Yazmeen Kanji
    • Yazmeen Kanji

      Yazmeen Kanji is a Muslim Indo-Caribbean filmmaker, the Advocacy and Outreach Lead at BIPOC TV & Film, as well as the founder of Films With A Cause – a consulting startup for authentic storytelling practices. She graduated as a Dean’s Scholar from the University of Toronto in 2020, where she studied Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs, Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity and Cinema Studies. Throughout her undergrad, Yazmeen was offered grants to work on research projects exploring the social and political consequences of misrepresenting marginalized communities. Yazmeen is a Hot Docs Accelerator Fellow, a member of the Transmedia Zone and Social Ventures Zone at TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University) and a cohort member of Inspirit’s Narrative Change Lab alongside other Muslim creatives and content creators.

      Her first documentary, From Syria To Hope (2019), explores the resettlement of Syrian refugee families and was awarded Best Short Doc at the 2019 Toronto Short Film Festival. Yazmeen directed With Love From Munera (2020), about a young storyteller’s healing journey, which premiered at the 2020 Inside Out Film Festival and was an official selection at TIFF Next Wave 2021 and the 2021 Breakthroughs Film Festival. With Love From Munera won the Audience Choice Award at the Breakthroughs Film Festival and Yazmeen was a guest on CBC Metro Morning to discuss the film’s success. With Love From Munera is available to stream on the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox site and has screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox numerous times. Yazmeen has directed video series for organizations including World Table (2020) about refugee chefs for Matthew House and an anti-hate series for the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, highlighting Muslim women and non-binary people who have faced discrimination within and beyond their communities. Yazmeen also directed Eadie’s first music video, L.O.E (Loyalty Over Everything), released in June 2021.  

      Yazmeen supported Charles Officer’s production company, Canesugar Filmworks, and projects directed by the Oscar nominated Sami Khan. Yazmeen has worked on CBC original series including The Porter and Zarqa as the Social Media Manager, as well as a cultural consultant on a number of documentaries.

      Yazmeen’s first narrative short about an Indo-Caribbean Muslim teen who daydreams throughout her day will be released in the Fall of 2023, partially funded by the Ontario Arts Council. Yazmeen is in development on her first feature film funded by the Hot Docs Cross Currents Fund and executive produced by Charles Officer and Jake Yanowski – a documentary following the journey of one of the first recipients of a Bone Marrow Transplant to be potentially cured of Sickle Cell Disease in Canada.

      Alongside her filmmaking work, Yazmeen publicly speaks about the importance of representing communities of her intersections and works in consulting capacities on productions to ensure stories and marketing campaigns portray historically marginalized communities in meaningful ways.

    04:30 pm – 06:00 pm Social

    Breakfast & lunch included

    Special thanks to our community partner DGC Ontario and venue partner Centre for Social Innovation

    DGC Ontario Logo
    Centre For Social Innovation (CSI) Logo