The Tree That Remembers

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.

A land of snow and mountains, of burgundy-clad monks and prayer wheels--this mythical image of Tibet hides the tragedy of a forgotten people. Since the invasion of their territory by China some forty years ago, Tibetans have been struggling for cultural and political survival in a world surprisingly indifferent to their plight. Filmed in the Indian Himalayas and in Canada, A Song for Tibet tells the dramatic story of the efforts by Tibetans-in-exile, including the Dalai Lama, to save their homeland and preserve their heritage against overwhelming odds.

Exploring the question of Armenian identity, My Son Shall Be Armenian follows the initiatory voyage of filmmaker Hagop Goudsouzian, who, accompanied by five Monteal men and women of Armenian origin, returned to the land of his ancestors in search of survivors of the genocide of 1915. Through the moving testimony of those centenarians and the funny and touching accounts of his fellow travellers from the New World, Hagop Goudsouzian has crafted a dignified and poignant film on the need to make peace with the past in order to turn toward the future.