Samer Najari

Directing

Samer Najari

Moscow, USSR

Samer NAJARI (1976, Russia) was born in Moscow to a Syrian father and a Lebanese mother. He began his studies in architecture at the Uni­versity of Damascus at the age of 18. Since immigrating to Canada in 1994, he has completed a BFA in Film Production at Concordia Uni­versity. In 2001 he took part in a two-year residency at the Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France. Since his return to Canada, Samer Najari has directed two internationally acclaimed short films. Arwad is his first fea­ture-length film and is co-directed by Dominique Chila.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Arwad poster
7.0

A deep feeling of nostalgia takes hold of Ali following his mother's death, causing him to slowly drift away from family life. Although Gabrielle senses her husband's distress, she fails to console him. In an attempt to reconnect with his roots, Ali travels to Arwad, an island located off the Syrian coast. Leaving Montreal and his family behind, he is accompanied by Marie, his mistress, who is discovering the island for the first time. After an unexpected turn of events, the confrontation between Gabrielle and Marie will become inevitable.

Arwad

2013

Arwad poster
7.0

A deep feeling of nostalgia takes hold of Ali following his mother's death, causing him to slowly drift away from family life. Although Gabrielle senses her husband's distress, she fails to console him. In an attempt to reconnect with his roots, Ali travels to Arwad, an island located off the Syrian coast. Leaving Montreal and his family behind, he is accompanied by Marie, his mistress, who is discovering the island for the first time. After an unexpected turn of events, the confrontation between Gabrielle and Marie will become inevitable.

Arwad

2013

Arwad poster
7.0

A deep feeling of nostalgia takes hold of Ali following his mother's death, causing him to slowly drift away from family life. Although Gabrielle senses her husband's distress, she fails to console him. In an attempt to reconnect with his roots, Ali travels to Arwad, an island located off the Syrian coast. Leaving Montreal and his family behind, he is accompanied by Marie, his mistress, who is discovering the island for the first time. After an unexpected turn of events, the confrontation between Gabrielle and Marie will become inevitable.

Arwad

2013

Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees poster
NR

It is through the voice of Salim, newly arrived in Canada, that we follow the journey of six immigrants who, cramped in a van, earn their living by distributing advertising leaflets. Despite their diverse origins, they share the same nostalgia for their native land and the same daily worries, which they approach with scathing humor. Among them is a young boy of Russian origin, Sacha. The biting cold and the endless stairs will get the better of his tenacity. However, Sacha will come to surprisingly break the routine of Salim and his companions...

Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees

2009

Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees poster
NR

It is through the voice of Salim, newly arrived in Canada, that we follow the journey of six immigrants who, cramped in a van, earn their living by distributing advertising leaflets. Despite their diverse origins, they share the same nostalgia for their native land and the same daily worries, which they approach with scathing humor. Among them is a young boy of Russian origin, Sacha. The biting cold and the endless stairs will get the better of his tenacity. However, Sacha will come to surprisingly break the routine of Salim and his companions...

Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees

2009

Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky poster
NR

A lone gunman perched on a rooftop grows bored while awaiting his next victim. A mother records a video for an audition for a televised singing competition. A young girl carries water containers and must cross a dangerous area before nightfall. Distant explosions echo, nothing alarming. Time stands still, allowing the three figures to find refuge in their luminous dreams. The sun will set soon, carrying them away. Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky tells the tale of a daily life where hope survives despite the tragedy that attempts to engulf it.

Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky

2024

Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky poster
NR

A lone gunman perched on a rooftop grows bored while awaiting his next victim. A mother records a video for an audition for a televised singing competition. A young girl carries water containers and must cross a dangerous area before nightfall. Distant explosions echo, nothing alarming. Time stands still, allowing the three figures to find refuge in their luminous dreams. The sun will set soon, carrying them away. Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky tells the tale of a daily life where hope survives despite the tragedy that attempts to engulf it.

Rituals Under a Scarlet Sky

2024

Le petit oiseau va sortir poster
NR

Built around 3 portrait sessions where young people become photographers before giving their lives during various suicide operations, LE PETIT OISEAU VA SORTIR attempts to present the contrast between the banality of the photographic gesture and the seriousness of the gesture that the 3 main protagonists are preparing to perpetrate.

Le petit oiseau va sortir

2006

Le petit oiseau va sortir poster
NR

Built around 3 portrait sessions where young people become photographers before giving their lives during various suicide operations, LE PETIT OISEAU VA SORTIR attempts to present the contrast between the banality of the photographic gesture and the seriousness of the gesture that the 3 main protagonists are preparing to perpetrate.

Le petit oiseau va sortir

2006

Memory is a Dying Horse poster
NR

Trying to freeze time is an illusion. Whatever we do, life unfolds in one direction. Memory is a Dying Horse is yet another desperate attempt to challenge the irreversibility of time. A sparse, raw, somehow childish collage of reminiscences filmed on Super 8 between Syria, France and Canada. The film is accompanied with musical experimentation by Stefan Christoff.

Memory is a Dying Horse

2021

Nous irons à la plage, tu feras une sieste, je compterai les nuages poster
NR

The only link between the images in the film is my desire to put them together. A collection of images and emotions.

Nous irons à la plage, tu feras une sieste, je compterai les nuages

2002

How far this road take us? poster
NR

"In the fall of 1994, I left Syria for a new country. On my way, I spent a night in Amman, carrying my sorrows and my hopes in a suitcase. After Twenty-five years in Montreal, I witness, helplessly, my old country being torn by civil war. Today I'm revisiting Amman, also with a suitcase". Samer Najari

How far this road take us?

2021

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Un Goût amer d’éternité