{"id":23211,"date":"2025-08-07T01:07:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/?page_id=23211"},"modified":"2025-10-28T17:40:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:40:43","slug":"once-upon-my-mother","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/once-upon-my-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"ONCE UPON MY MOTHER"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1757202532392{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

ONCE UPON MY MOTHER<\/h1>\n

(Ma M\u00e8re, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan)<\/h2>\n

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<\/h2>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”custom” css=”” accent_color=”#660084″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/3″][mk_content_box heading=”CINEMA COMPETITION”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1757192560268{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

RENOIR THEATER<\/p>\n

Comedy, Drama<\/h3>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/mk_content_box][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][mk_custom_box corner_radius=”15″ bg_color=”#dbcce2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1761673239020{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2<\/strong>
\n5:15 pm (Screening ends at 6:55 pm)
\nFollowed by a conversation with writer\/director Ken Scott\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/mk_custom_box][mk_padding_divider size=”10″][mk_image src=”https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/order-tickets.jpg” image_size=”full” link=”https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.eventive.org\/schedule\/68d7a6a63344a1c797b6ab37″ target=”_blank” align=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][mk_content_box heading=”PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH:”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1758903119830{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

Menemsha Films
\nGaumont<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/mk_content_box][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_separator color=”custom” border_width=”2″ css=”” accent_color=”#ea1300″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1757202471963{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]West Coast Premiere <\/span><\/strong>|\u00a0France |\u00a02025\u00a0|\u00a0Comedy, Drama |\u00a0102\u00a0min\u00a0|\u00a0In French with English subtitles<\/p>\n

Directed by: <\/strong>Ken Scott
\nWritten by: <\/strong>Ken Scott
\nBased on the Book by:<\/strong> Roland Perez
\nProduced by: <\/strong>Sophie Tepper (\u00c9g\u00e9rie Productions), Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont), Christian Larouche (Christal Films), Amazon MGM studios
\nCinematography:\u00a0<\/strong>Guillaume Schiffman
\nOriginal Score: <\/strong>Nicolas Err\u00e8ra
\nFilm Editing:<\/strong> Dorian Rigal-Ansous, Yvann Thibaudeau
\nCast:<\/strong> Le\u00efla Bekhti (Esther Perez),\u00a0Jonathan Cohen (Roland Perez),\u00a0Jos\u00e9phine Japy (Litzie Gozlan), Sylvie Vartan (herself), Jeanne Balibar (Mrs Fleury), Naim Naji (Roland Perez, 5-7 years old), Lionel Dray (Maklouf Perez), Milo Machado-Graner (Roland Perez, 12-15 years old), Anne Le Ny (Mrs. Vergepoche)
\n<\/strong>International Sales: <\/strong>Gaumont
\nUS Distributor:<\/strong> Menemsha Films
\nUS Release Date:<\/strong> TBA<\/p>\n

Synopsis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Adapted from Roland Perez’s autobiographical novel\u00a0Ma m\u00e8re, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan<\/em>, Ken Scott<\/strong>‘s 2025 French box-office mega-hit tells the story of an unrelenting Sephardic Jewish mother who, against all odds, is fiercely determined to move mountains to assure that her youngest son will lead the fullest of lives, despite his handicap. Spanning decades of challenges and both major and minor “miracles”, the heart-rending tale focuses on one man’s incredible journey and the greatest of loves. As Rudyard Kipling once said, “God could not be everywhere, therefore he made mothers.”<\/p>\n

Director’s biography<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A native of Quebec, Ken Scott<\/strong> first made a name for himself as the screenwriter of Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Pouliot<\/strong>‘s Seducing Doctor Lewis<\/em>, which premiered in the 2003 Cannes\u2019 Directors\u2019 Fortnight. That was followed by Charles Binam\u00e9’s The Rocket<\/em> (2005). Both scripts were nominated for Genie Awards for Best Original Screenplay. In 2009, he moved into the director’s chair with Sticky Fingers<\/em> (2009). His second directorial feature, Starbuck<\/em> (2012), finally won him and co-writer Martin Petit that Best Original Screenplay Genie, and racked up a slew of prizes and nominations at film festivals the world over \u2014 in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Toronto, Valladolid, Vancouver and the Alpe d’Huez Comedy Film Festival. His subsequent films include Delivery Man<\/em> (2013); Unfinished Business<\/em> (2015); The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir<\/em> (2018), which nabbed the Audience Award at the Barcelona-Sant Jordi Film Festival; and Goodbye Happiness<\/em> (2021), which won the Public Prize at La Gala Quebec Cinema.<\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][mk_image src=”https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/screenshot-2025-09-28-at-10.00.31.png” image_size=”full” link=”https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/win-a-trip-to-paris\/” target=”_blank” align=”center”][mk_image src=”https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/once-upon-my-mother.jpg” image_size=”full” frame_style=”gray_border” align=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][mk_padding_divider][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1757202532392{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”] ONCE UPON MY MOTHER (Ma M\u00e8re, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan)   [\/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”custom” css=”” accent_color=”#660084″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/3″][mk_content_box heading=”CINEMA COMPETITION”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1757192560268{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”] RENOIR THEATER Comedy, Drama [\/vc_column_text][\/mk_content_box][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][mk_custom_box corner_radius=”15″ bg_color=”#dbcce2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1761673239020{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”] SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2 5:15 pm (Screening ends at 6:55 pm) Followed by a conversation with writer\/director Ken Scott\u00a0 [\/vc_column_text][\/mk_custom_box][mk_padding_divider […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23211","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23211"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25144,"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23211\/revisions\/25144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}