My Son Shall Be Armenian

Entre 1915 et 1923, un million et demi d'Arméniens furent massacrés par l'armée turque. Depuis, ce peuple lutte pour la reconnaissance officielle de ce qui fut le premier génocide du XXe siècle. Questionnant de façon intime l'identité arménienne, Mon fils sera arménien, de Hagop Goudsouzian, retrace le voyage initiatique de six Canadiens d'origine arménienne sur la terre de leurs ancêtres, et leurs rencontres avec des survivants du génocide. À travers les témoignages émouvants de ces vigoureux centenaires et ceux, cocasses et touchants, des voyageurs du Nouveau Monde, le cinéaste signe un film digne et poignant sur le besoin de faire la paix avec le passé pour mieux se tourner vers l'avenir.

Soorgul and Amir were two of many Afghan children sent to Tajikistan during the Soviet occupation of their country. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the civil wars that broke out on both sides of the border left the children stranded. They were meant to be in Tajikistan only temporarily, to attend school. Instead, they became stranded there, unable to leave the country until Canada accepted them as refugees. It took 16 years before they could return home. In The Sweetest Embrace Soorgul and Amir return to their country in search of their families. They travel in NGO vehicles (until it becomes too dangerous), then local vans - and finally, when rock-strewn roads become completely impassable, finish their journey on foot through some of Afghanistan's highest mountains. But when their paths diverge, their futures become filled with unexpected and unpredictable turns as they seek to find resolution in their lives. The Sweetest Embrace tells an intimate story set against one of the world's most harsh and yet beautiful landscapes, in a land where life has been shaped by war and hardship but where spirit remains resilient.

Growing up in the small Lebanese town of Abey, Pierre Sidaoui had a carefree childhood. But civil war forced him and his family to flee their hometown in 1982, the first in a series of moves that would ultimately separate him from his parents, brother and sisters. He arrived in Montreal at the age of 30 and has made the city his home. A decade later, Sidaoui pauses to reflect. His precious family photos, carefully kept in a shoebox, bring forth a flood of memories--of family, landscapes, music and war. Sidaoui's father, who found refuge in Mexico, remains a constant inspiration. Through his father's journals, poems and letters, Pierre rediscovers the joyful and profound nature of the man who raised him. A Scent of Mint is a touching meditation on the pursuit of happiness and the immigrant experience. Shot in Montreal, the film's images draw an unlikely parallel between a Lebanese village and a Canadian metropolis. The relationship between the two places reminds us that no matter what happens, our true home lives within ourselves.