''Peace by Chocolate'' is a 2021 Canadian drama film, directed, produced, edited, and co-written by Jonathan Keijser.Nick Vivarelli
"Syrian Refugee Drama ‘Peace by Chocolate,’ Starring Hatem Ali, to Bow at Tribeca, UTA Selling"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', May 3, 2021. The film is based on the true story of the Hadhads, a family from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

who moved to Canada as refugees from the Syrian civil war, settling in

Antigonish , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.pn ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and establishing the

Peace by Chocolate Peace by Chocolate is a Syrian-Canadian chocolatier company, based in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to being forced to flee from Syria during the country's civil war in 2012, the company's CEO and Founder Tareq Hadhad’s father, Es ...

artisanal chocolate shop.Brooklyn Currie
"Peace by Chocolate film to debut at NYC's Tribeca Film Festival"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

Nova Scotia, May 3, 2021. The film stars

Hatem Ali Hatem Ali ( ar, حاتم علي) (2 June 1962 – 29 December 2020) was a Syrian television and cinema director, writer and actor. Biography Ali was born in Fiq, Golan Heights, then his family was forced to move to Damascus after Israel occupi ...

as patriarch Issam Hadhad and Ayham Abou Ammar as Tareq Hadhad. It was Ali's final film role before his death in December 2020. The cast also includes Yara Sabri as Shahnaz Hadhad, Najlaa Al Khamri as Alaa Hadhad,

Mark Camacho Mark Camacho (born April 12, 1964) is a Canadian film, television and voice actor. Career He has starred in live-action films, but is best known for his voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in ''Arthur'', Lyle in '' Animal Crackers'', Dad ...

as their Canadian immigration sponsor Frank Gallant and Laurent Pitre as an employee of the chocolate factory, as well as a brief appearance by

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

reenacting his real-life meeting with the Hadhad family in 2016. The film premiered on June 18, 2021, at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

, and had its Canadian premiere on July 1 at the Lavazza Drive-In Film Festival, a special edition of the

Italian Contemporary Film Festival The ICFF is a not-for-profit, publicly attended film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, programming international films and taking place during the summer. Founded in 2012, ICFF has grown from a four-day, single-venue festival of 18 films, to ...

which was staged at

Ontario Place Ontario Place is an entertainment venue, event venue, and park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue is located on three artificial landscaped islands just off-shore in Lake Ontario, south of Exhibition Place, and southwest of Downtown Toronto. ...

. At Lavazza, it was one of two winners of the Jury Award, alongside the Hong Kong film ''Septet: The Story of Hong Kong''.

Reception

''Peace by Chocolate'' received positive reviews. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an 86% approval rating, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.

References

External links

* 2021 films 2021 drama films Canadian drama films Films shot in Nova Scotia Films set in Nova Scotia Canadian films based on actual events 2020s Canadian films Films about immigration in Canada {{2020s-Canada-film-stub