Neighbours

<img src="https://data.ajff.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/web_embed_Laurel_JuryInCompetition_02.png" style="max-width: 20%; width: 20%; border-width: 0px; margin-left: 10px; float: right;" />In this poignant coming-of-age drama deftly blending humor and pathos, a Kurdish boy learns a cruel lesson in intolerance amid swelling nationalism along the ’80s Turkish-Syrian border. Young Sero is very fond of his neighbors, the last Jewish family in a village that once epitomized peaceful coexistence. But a forceful new teacher at his Arab school inflames anti-Zionist hatred and fidelity to tyrannical dictator Assad. As Sero attempts to comprehend his shifting world, impressionable classmates are indoctrinated in the dangerous rhetoric of fascism. Eliciting superb performances from a multilingual cast, writer-director Mano Khalil draws from his past circumstances while drawing parallels to the Syrian strife of present.