| Concrete Valley | |
| Director: | Antoine Bourges |
| Producer: | Shehrezade Mian |
| Starring: | Hussam Douhna Amani Ibrahim Abdullah Nadaf Aliya Kanani |
| Music: | Nawars Nader |
| Cinematography: | Nikolay Michaylov |
| Editing: | Lindsay Allikas |
| Studio: | General Use Markhor Pictures |
| Distributor: | MDFF |
| Runtime: | 90 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English Arabic |
Concrete Valley is a Canadian drama film, directed by Antoine Bourges and released in 2022.[1] The film centres on a family of Syrian immigrants to Canada who are struggling to establish themselves in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The film has a cast of predominantly amateur actors.[2]
The film was written by Bourges and Teyama Alkamli, based in part on interviews with the cast about their own real experiences as immigrants.[2] It stars Hussam Douhna as Rashid, who was a doctor in Syria but has been humiliated by his inability to use his skills in his new home; Amani Ibrahim as his wife Fahra, who finds meaning by participating in a volunteer neighbourhood cleanup crew; and Abdullah Nadaf as their son Ammar.[1] Aliya Kanani, the main professional actress in the cast, has a supporting role as the leader of the community cleanup group.[1]
The film premiered in the Wavelengths program at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[3] It was later screened at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival in February 2023,[4] before going into commercial release in July.[5]
Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail positively reviewed the film, writing that "the performers’ sometimes stilted, halting line-readings circumvent a sense of amateurism due to the film’s central thematic preoccupations – every character here is learning to live a new life, unsure of themselves, their language, their place. The result is rather thrilling, with Bourges, his co-writer Teyama Alkamli and his cast building a different kind of cinematic storytelling right before our eyes."[5]