La Valle des Larmes (
The Valley of Tears
)
{
95 MIN / Canada
}
DIR: Maryanne Ze'hil
Marie (Nathalie COUPAL), a Montreal publisher specializing in memoirs by war survivors, receives an anonymous document, the condensed story of Ali, a young Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Intrigued, Marie begins a search for the author’s identity. She enlists the help of Joseph (Joseph ANTAKI), a Lebanese man who is painting her office. A strange relationship develops between the pair, who are from very different backgrounds. Then Joseph suddenly disappears. Torn apart by her difficult mission, Marie starts a journey into the past. In a small Lebanese village, in the heart of a bloodstained culture whose unspoken issues are infinitely enigmatic, Marie will eventually find the key to every mystery.
Mei Mei
{
6 MIN / USA
}
DIR: Dmae Roberts
Mei Mei
is a short film adapted from Dmae Roberts’ radio documentary 'Mei Mei, A Daughter's Song” first heard on NPR in 1989. Using the original radio piece as a soundtrack, the film mixes dramatized and archival footage, historical photographs and illustrations to tell the story of Dmae asking her mom, Chu-Yin Roberts about her childhood in Taiwan when she was sold as a child during WWII, suffering abuse, starvation and how she was saved by a female Buddha. This is the first film of a larger half-hour film adaption of the award-winning radio piece.
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