Nadim’s parents struggle to understand the carefree and westernized lifestyle of their daughter Sahar. With tension high and tolerance low, the household remains at a standstill, waiting for her to come home.

When films hover extremely sensitive issues like religion, faith or races, it always makes us think twice before featuring it. But in Alexander Farah’s ‘Sahar’ we gained confidence that the film brought forward the issues at the right angle, to break as much offense as possible while opening eyes on the issues themselves rather than the surroundings.

The film was my graduation project from Emily Carr University of Art & Design. It was inspired by my fascination with first-world country honour killings. The Shafia Murder trials was a huge motivation towards producing this project. I hope it sheds light and perspective on not only the immigrant experience, by the universally fragile and complex nature of family dynamics.

This was a story very close to us as well as it was well present in the Montreal media since the Shafia’s resided in Montreal (just a neighborhood away from us). It leaves us incredulous that such things would happen in a country like our, but the situation and Alexander’s film sheds light on the abusive cases – where something can be done to help family members in need, before it’s too late.