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Public: March 28, 10am
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Presented by Bread Garden Market, Little Village, and FilmScene
DIALOGUE: Filmmaker Rita Baghdadi in person!
Vino Vérité returns in May with a hard-rocking tale of complicated friendships, sexual awakening, and finding a voice set amidst the tumult of the streets of Beirut. Director Rita Baghdadi will be in person to share this Sundance crowdpleaser.
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $20 public / $15 members / $10 students. Includes wine tasting, film, dessert and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Screening
8:30 Q&A + Reception with filmmakers, wine and dessert
"Utterly charming. This documentary builds a world you want to explore further." - Hollywood Reporter
"A roof-raising rock-doc with heart to match its decibels." - Screen International
"Inspiring. Baghdadi refuses to surrender to a doom-and-gloom atmosphere, underscoring optimism through the women’s shared sense of purpose." - Variety
ABOUT SIRENS
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality, and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars. In this brisk, real-life rock opera, director Baghdadi reveals the tender heart behind the black leather exterior through the complicated love between the two charismatic front women. Both rivals and muses, Lilas and Shery focus their riffs on the frustrations and joy of growing up in a society with harsh judgement for their music, gender expression, and politics. Set against this backdrop of a country in ongoing political and societal flux, the roar from these sirens rises with an entire generation finding the power in their voice.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Rita Baghdadi is an award-winning Moroccan-American documentary filmmaker whose work has been supported by Sundance, Tribeca, Netflix, HBO, Film Independent, and the International Documentary Association. Her feature documentary directorial debut, My Country No More, was awarded Best Feature at the 2018 Big Sky Film Festival. Baghdadi is the co-founder of Lady & Bird Films and is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Her latest film, Sirens, is a coming-of-age story about the guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, which premiered in the World Cinema Documentary competition of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Sundance Film Festival (2022) — World Premiere
True/False Film Festival (2022) — Official Selection
CPH:DOX Film Festival (2022) — Official Selection
"Sparkling, live-wire chemistry. Sirens is a smartly crafted, hugely entertaining." - Paste Magazine
"Sirens is a powerful reminder that punk isn’t dead if you know where to look." - Indiewire