04/06/2017
film
Father, Son and the Holy Jihad
directed by Stéphane Malterre, France/ Belgium/ Syria 2015, 120'
- This movie tells the unique story of the Ayachis, a French Muslim family from Aix-en-Provence who traded their peaceful lives for revolution and Jihad in Syria in the name of Allah.
- The Ayachis are no ordinary Jihadists. Their path and ideas couldn't be further from the clichés to which they're associated. This family, headed by a Syrian father, was hailed as a model of Muslim integration in France in the 80's, notably in a televised documentary. The father, imam Bassam Ayachi, was exiled to France in the 70's. He descends from an old and prestigious family of the Syrian Sunni aristocracy.
- His son, Abdelrahman Ayachi, brilliant student at the university of Aix-en-Provence then Brussels, founded a small computer business. Then he became a famous warlord in Syria. He doesn't follow Ben Laden's example, but that of Che Guevara! The Ayachi family fights against Bachar El Assad but also against ISIS.
- Walking the line between Middle-East and Europe, father and son both preach the benefits of Sharia and polygamy...but they also praise democracy values, those of 1789 or May 1968.
- Through the story of this family like no other, this movie evokes the complex relationship between two worlds: West and East, whose intimate relationship is shaping our society and civilisation. This film follows the steps of the father, son, mother and sister. Stéphane Malterre, the director, follows them between Syria, France and Belgium.
- Admission free
