| Jasmine Road | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Warren Sulatycky |
| Written by | Warren Sulatycky |
| Produced by | Caitlyn Sponheimer |
| Starring | Greg Ellwand Aixa Kay Melody Mokhtari Caitlyn Sponheimer |
| Cinematography | Wes Legge |
| Edited by | Geoff Ashenhurst |
| Music by | Suad Bushnaq |
Production company | Raging River Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Languages | English Arabic |
Jasmine Road is a Canadian drama film, directed by Warren Sulatycky and released in 2020. [1] The film stars Greg Ellwand as Mac Bagley, a rancher in rural southern Alberta who has been emotionally closed off since the death of his wife; after his schoolteacher daughter Loretta (Caitlyn Sponheimer) learns that her student Heba (Melody Mokhtari), a Syrian refugee who came to Canada with her mother Layla (Aixa Kay) and uncle Salem (Ahmed Muslimani), needs to find a new place to live, she invites the family to stay at the ranch, with Mac's initial resistance to the idea giving way to acceptance and a new lease on life as he gets to know them. [1]
The film premiered at the 2020 Calgary International Film Festival, [2] and was subsequently screened as the opening gala of the 2020 Edmonton International Film Festival. [3]
According to Sulatycky, the film was originally conceived as two separate ideas, one for a film about a grieving rancher and another for a film about what happens to refugee families after they've begun to establish themselves in Canada, but the concepts didn't really come together until he decided to combine them. [4]
The film won the award for Best Canadian Feature at Edmonton, and an Audience Choice award at the 2021 Central Alberta Film Festival. [5]
The film received five Rosie Award nominations from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association, for Best Feature Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Sound and Best Costume Design. [6] Sulatycky won the award for Best Screenplay. [7]
Aixa Kay received an ACTRA Award nomination for Best Actress from the Vancouver chapter of UBCP/ACTRA. [8]
Suad Bushnaq received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Score at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022. [9]