Event Info
MONSIEUR LAZHAR:
Monsieur Lazhar
posted by Vic Theatre
The Academy Award™ Nominated, Genie Aw...
7 & 9:15pm
Event Description
Monsieur Lazhar
posted by Vic Theatre
The Academy Award™ Nominated, Genie Award Sweeping
Check out the trailer: http://youtu.be/-pBm9keEBAY
Starring:
Fellag, Sophie Nelisse, Emilien Neron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart
Directed by:
Philippe Falardeau
Rated PG: coarse language; theme of suicide
In Montreal, an elementary school teacher dies abruptly. Having learned of the incident in the newspaper, Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, goes to the school to offer his services as a substitute teacher. Quickly hired to replace the deceased, he finds himself
in an establishment in crisis, while going through his own personal tragedy.
The cultural gap between Bachir and his class is made immediately apparent when he gives them a dictation exercise that is beyond their reach. Little by little, Bachir learns to better know this group of shaken but endearing
kids, among whom are Alice and Simon, two charismatic pupils particularly affected by their teacher’s death. While the class goes through the healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful past; nor do they suspect that he is at risk of being deported at any moment.
Adapted from a play by Evelyne de la Cheneliere, Monsieur Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression.
After Congorama and It’s Not Me, I Swear!, Philippe Falardeau returns to the socially engaged filmmaking that marked his beginnings with The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge. Using great sensitivity and humor, the
filmmaker follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.
AWARDS:
2011 Locarno International Film Festival, Locarno
(UBS Audience Award, Variety Piazza Grande Prize)
2011 Festival international du film francophone de Namur, Namur (Special Jury Prize, Audience Award)
2011 Valladolid International Film Festival, Valladolid
(FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, Best Screenplay)
2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto
(Best Canadian Film)
2011 Canadian Genies
(6 Awards including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress)
2011 Academy Awards ™
(Nomainated: Best Foreign Language Film)
Tickets $10 + HST (memberships not required)
Venue
808 Douglas St (at Humboldt)
since 2011