''Brotherhood (Ikhwène)'' is a short film, directed by Meryam Joobeur and released in September 2018."Portrait de Regard: Meryam Joobeur"
''

Voir ''Voir'' was a francophone alternative weekly newspaper in Montreal, Quebec, published by Communications Voir. ''Voir'' was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986. The first issue of the newspaper was published on 27 November 1986. Later o ...

'', March 16, 2019.

Summary

The film explores the tensions within a Tunisian family when the biggest son, who has been away for one year, returns home with a new Syrian wife who wears the full

niqab A niqāb, niqab, or niqaab (; ), also known as a ruband () or rubandah (), is a long garment worn by some Muslim women in order to cover their entire body and face, excluding their eyes. It is an interpretation in Islam of the concept of ...

, igniting his father's suspicions that his son has been working for the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

Production

The film's title was chosen to reflect both the familial connotations of the word "brotherhood" and its use in the name of the controversial Islamist organization

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

. Joobeur's feature directorial debut '' Who Do I Belong To (Mé el Aïn)'', premiering in 2024, centres on a similar scenario but features some key story differences, including changing the central character from a father to a mother.Eric Lavallée
"A Bond That Breaks: Meryam Joobeur’s “Motherhood” Readying For Festival Launch in ’23"
''Ion Cinema'', June 20, 2022.

Accolades

The film premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

, where it won the award for Best Canadian Short Film. In December 2018, it was named in the TIFF's year-end

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema". ''Welland Tribune'', November 23, ...

list. At the

21st Quebec Cinema Awards The 21st Quebec Cinema Awards, the 21st overall ceremony in the history of the Quebec Cinema Awards, were held on June 2, 2019, in Montreal. Cinematographer Pierre Mignot also received the Iris Tribute. The ceremony marked the first time that four ...

in 2019, the film won the

Prix Iris Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who ...

for Best Short Film. The film received a nomination for the Best Live Action Short Film at the

92nd Academy Awards The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 2019 and took place on February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:00 ...

."Montreal-based filmmaker Meryam Joobeur gets Oscar nomination"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Montreal, January 13, 2020.

References

External links

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MUBI
{{Prix Iris for Best Short Film 2018 films Qatari drama films Swedish drama short films Arabic-language Canadian films Tunisian short films Tunisian drama films Canadian drama short films 2010s Canadian films 2010s Swedish films Best Live Action Short Film Jutra and Iris Award winners Films directed by Meryam Joobeur Qatari short films