The World of Samer Najari and Dominique Chila:

He is of Syrian origin; she is from Quebec. They have been working together as filmmakers for nearly 20 years, depicting the world through meaningful and poetic films. Here, we revisit their first two shorts, and a documentary that takes us to Jordan, a place of transit for the director himself exiled 25 years earlier. A retrospective with commentary by the two directors, it will be topped with a reading of the screenplay from Rituels sous un ciel écarlate, currently in post production, a story of daily life where hope survives despite tragedy, Recreating the streets of Damascus in a unique and poetic artistic way, it promises to take one’s breath away.

The script reading is directed by Bruno Paradis. Actors: Jonathan Boies, Maude Cournoyer, Sara Létourneau and Sola Nkani.

Samer Najari and Dominique Chila have worked together for almost two decades. Following film studies at Concordia University, they completed a residency at Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains, in France, during which they produced several multidisciplinary works. In 2013, the couple directed the feature film Arwad, selected, among others, in official competition at the 2014 Rotterdam International Film Festival. They are currently working on the short film Rituels sous un ciel écarlate and writing their second feature Un goût amer d’éternité.