Wednesday marks the tragic anniversary of the fatal shooting at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Now, a Montreal-based filmmaker is bringing the victims’ voices to the big screen in a new documentary.
The Mosque: A Community’s Struggle will be shown in theatres Wednesday night in Quebec City and Montreal.
Three years ago, six men were killed and many others injured when a gunman stormed the mosque during evening prayers.
Writer and director Ariel Nasr said it was his experience as a filmmaker in Afghanistan that compelled him to reach out to victims and family members of the attack in Quebec City.
“I had come from a place where I was working with a lot of communities who were traumatized by terror and by violence. I didn’t think I would see that again when I came back to Canada,” Nasr explained.
Working in collaboration with the mosque, Nasr began filming the documentary at the end of 2017 and continued throughout the sentencing trial of the convicted shooter.
“I knew that while for the rest of Quebec it may have seemed like an isolated event, I knew that the community would be struggling with the trauma and wondering if this could happen again,” Nasr said.
Zebida Bendjadou, a member of the mosque, left evening prayers with a friend that fateful night just 45 minutes before the shooting. Once at home, they learned her friend’s husband had been killed. Three years later, she says the pain is still there.
“When we go to the mosque, despite the renovations, we still see evidence of the shooting,” she said.
“We still see bullet holes in the carpet. It’s devastating.”
Bendjadou was born in Algeria but has lived in Quebec City for 37 years and says it has always been peaceful.
“Before the shooting, it was a Quebec where we lived in peace. There was some minor friction, but that is normal,” said Bendjadou.
But that night — Jan. 29, 2017 — she says something was broken. That’s why she chose to be part of Nasr’s documentary. She wants to share a message of hope and reconciliation.
“I hope there is an awakening. We’re here, we’re different, but that difference is enriching,” she said.