Sabah (a love story)
Directer: Ruba Nadda
Starring: Arsinée Khanjian, Arsinee Khanjian, Fadia Nadda, Jeff Seymou, Roula Said, Setta Keshishian
Countries: Canada
Genre: Drama
Year: 2005
Type: Color
Language: English and Arabic w/English Subtitles
Length: 90 mins.
Aspect Ratio:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information

Synopsis
Director Ruba Nadda brings new life to the classic dilemma of family, culture, and forbidden love in a witty drama that blends Syrian tradition with Western modernism.

In Sabah, Arsinée Khanjian (Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Code Unknown) plays the title character, an unmarried 40-year-old woman of Syrian birth who lives in Toronto with her traditional and sometimes overbearing, but loving, Muslim family. When Sabah falls hard for Stephen (Shawn Doyle), a nice Canadian guy she meets at a local swimming pool, she has no choice but to hide him from her family as she attempts to live up to their expectations. Sabah’s clandestine suitor, as it turns out, is a carpenter with no religious belief. As the affair heats up, the ensuing clash of cultures threatens to shatter the entire family.

An entertaining, Syrian My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Sabah is acclaimed director Ruba Nadda’s (Unsettled, I Always Come to You) wonderfully humorous, touching and timely romantic story about tradition, assimilation, and love. Can a family trapped in its past find a way to move forward together?

director: Ruba Nadda
producer: Tracey Boulton
executive producers: ATOM EGOYAN and SIMONE URDAL
editor: Teresa Hannigan
screenwriter: Ruba Nadda
cinematographer: Luc Montpellier
music: Geoff Bennett, Longo Hai, Ben Johannesen
with: Arsinee Khanjian, Setta Keshishian, Roula Said, Fadia Nadda, Jeff Seymour

Critical Acclaim
"A classically playful, cinematic love story.- Globe and Mail

Awards
Official Selection

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
Top 10 List

Rotterdam International Film Festival