Film shows ‘we are just normal people’
Syrian director explains his community isn’t different from other Montrealers
For his media and communications course at Concordia University, George Karkour set out to make a light, apolitical film about his SyrianCanadian friends and family, many of whom happen to live in the downtown apartment building adjoining the Place Alexis Nihon shopping centre.
Karkour, 23, decided to put the documentary up on YouTube a few days ago, partly as an antidote to some of the negative stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims he has seen in the media, and partly just to share his work with friends.
In just three days, the film, called Welcome to Alexis Nihon, has had more than 8,500 views.
As tension builds over events in Syria, Karkour is hoping his film will show people in Quebec and beyond that his community is diverse, fun-loving and open-minded, and, in fact, not much different from other Montrealers.
“My people are not extremists,” Karkour says at the end of the documentary. “Yes, we might believe in God and we have our beliefs, but we accept all people as they are. … My building has Druze, Sunnis, Alawite and Christian residents, but it’s not the building which unites us. What makes us one is that we’re all Syrians.”
The film touches briefly on a controversy that erupted last winter when the La Métropole newspaper ran a column criticizing the administration of Place Alexis Nihon for eschewing traditional Christmas decorations and not playing religious Christmas music.
Under the headline Place Alexis Nihon cède aux Isla- mistes (Place Alexis Nihon yields to Islamists), the article garnered more than 100 comments on the newspaper’s website, most of which expressed fear that Quebec is losing its identity because it is too accommodating to other cultures and religions.
Karkour’s film does not tackle the reasonable accommodation debate head-on. Instead, the film simply shows people in Karkour’s building answering questions in Arabic (with English subtitles), chatting on their balconies, dancing to music videos or gathering in the Place Alexis Nihon food court. The film pokes gentle fun at the idea that these people — a middleage bridge teacher, Karkour’s good-natured parents, his fun-loving friends — could be associated with extremism.
Karkour, who moved to Montreal from Damascus at 17 with his parents, also wanted to show that many people from the Middle East have progressive views on issues such as interfaith marriage and gay rights.
“Syria is in a war, our friends and family are at risk, there are political divisions,” Karkour said in an interview. “Here (at Place Alexis Nihon) we have different political opinions and multiple religions but we can still live in the same building.”
Robert Leriche, manager of the Place Alexis Nihon apartment building, said the film’s message seems positive.
“It is a message of love and peace, of people talking to each other and living together. … There is nothing bad in this message,” said Leriche, who appears briefly in the film.
Leriche noted the 400-unit building is home to people of many ethnic and religious backgrounds, “just like any other building in downtown Montreal.”
Karkour hopes his film can counter some of the xenophobia that he says is “rampant in the western world.”
“The media can write lies, but we have nothing to do with extremism. People read and hear these things and it plays into everything, when somebody applies for a job, or tries to make friends. We are just normal people,” he said.