January 13, 2012

MPAC along with the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan is hosting a screening and panel discussion of Academy Award-nominated director Rachid Bouchareb's film "London River" on Friday, Jan. 13, in Dearborn, MI, at AMC Star Fairlane 21. 

The acclaimed film is set against the backdrop of the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks, and follows Elisabeth (BAFTA winner, Academy Award® nominee Brenda Blethyn) as she travels from her farming community to London in the aftermath of the bombings to search for her daughter. Elisabeth is disturbed by the predominantly Muslim neighborhood where her daughter lives.  Her fear and prejudice escalate when she discovers that her daughter was converting to Islam and as she keeps crossing paths with Ousmane (Berlin's Silver Bear winner, Sotigui Kouyaté), a West African who has come from France to find his missing son. Putting aside their cultural differences, they give each other the strength to continue the search and maintain their faith in humanity.

Bouchareb, the Paris-born child of Algerian parents, has built a career making films that touch on issues of ethnicity, religious intolerance, displacement, kinship and community.

“All my films are concerned with the subject of meetings between different people, from different countries and different worlds," he said.

MPAC is honored to hold a screening of this important film in a community that has been the focus of much scrutiny and attention in the past few months. "London River" opens the door for much-need interfaith dialogue and discussion about where we as humanity have come from and where we are going. 

A panel discsussion will follow the screening with Saeed Khan a lecturer in Near Eastern Studies at Wayne State University who specializes in ethnic identity politics and the history and development of Muslim diaspora communities in the United States and Europe.  

WHEN: Friday, Jan. 13 at

WHERE: AMC Star Fairlane 21
18900 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI 48126
(888) AMC 4FUN

FOR MORE INFORMATION: 
Please contact Deana Nassaar, MPAC's Hollywood Liaison, at deana@mpac.org or 323.258.6722.