THE

STICKY

SIDE

OF

BAKLAVA

Culture shock told through the history of Houwayda, a fifty-something-year old Lebanese woman living in Montreal where she embraces a Québécois lifestyle and of her sister Joëlle who has remained deeply Lebanese. Houwayda lives a tranquil and bourgeois life with her bobo husband Pierre, a university professor. A literature specialist, she has put her academic career on hold. Though she believes that she has left behind the traditional values of her native culture, she finds herself at the heart of a joyous chaos that will end with her profoundly calling herself into question. A biting, affectionate and whimsical look at the Lebanese of Montreal and at Quebeckers.

Following the drama THE OTHER SIDE OF NOVEMBER (2016) with Marc Labrèche and Pascale Buissières, THE STICKY SIDE OF BAKLAVA, is Beirut-born Maryanne Zehil’s first comedy. Fascinated by the dialogue between North-American, European and Middle-Eastern societies, the director confided that she really wanted to use laughter as a formidable weapon capable of celebrating difference. She succeeds with this comedy of customs carried by a horde of characters as irritating as they are endearing. They are played by a host of exceptional actors: Claudia Ferri, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Raïa Haïdar, Geneviève Brouillette, Marcel Sabourin, France Castel, Manuel Tadros.