Au chic Resto Pop
Tahani Rached has just won Quebec's highest film award. To mark the occasion, we present some of her outstanding films, which are concerned with both social issues and a form of salutary enchantment.
Tahani Rached creates a new form of socio-musical documentary.
This feature-length film about poverty in Montreal is set against a soundtrack that includes rap, blues, rock, and country and western music. The film deals with the universal themes of hunger, hope and love and is named after an actual Montreal restaurant that's been serving those in need for over 25 years. (NFB)
Tahani Rached
Born in Cairo in 1947, Tahani Rached moved to Montreal in 1966. She entered the École des Beaux-Arts. She then turned to community work, before discovering the art of videography through her contact with New York artists such as Robert Kramer. She made her first documentary, Pour faire changement, in the early 1970s. A few videos and union documentaries later, in 1980 she made her first feature film, Les voleurs de job, about immigrant working conditions. She then joined the NFB, where she made films for almost twenty-five years. During this period, she made films in Quebec, Lebanon, Haiti and Egypt. After leaving the NFB in 2004, she returned to her native country, where she made three films about Egyptian society and history.
Photo: Collections of the Cinémathèque québécoise
