The Cinematheque

VIFF 2021

Disconnected from her Syrian heritage, filmmaker Émilie Serri grew up in Canada. In the liminal crevices between reality and myth, dream and nightmare, past and future, rests a homeland that is almost accessible. In an effort to repatriate to this place that once was and yet can never be, Serri conjures elegant and poignant images, transcending a sense of realism. Through the testimony of other Syrians, family photographs, home videos, archival material, and illusory production, the diasporic impacts of conflict come to the fore. Deeply personal, Damascus Dreams invigorates the form of documentary, focusing on questions of memory, loss, and identity, ultimately finding communal resonance around subtle feelings that are otherwise difficult to articulate.

True North: A celebration of the extraordinary creativity and craft being demonstrated by Canadian storytellers from coast to coast.