Where do we draw the line between love and devotion? An intimate and haunting portrayal of a quest for love and acceptance at any cost, "Q" depicts the insidious influence of a secretive matriarchal religious order in Lebanon on three generations of women in the Chehab family.

Filmmaker Jude Chehab documents the unspoken ties and consequences of loyalty that have bonded her mother, grandmother,and herself to a secretive matriarchal religious order. A masterful portrait of the toll that decades of unrequited love, lost hope, abuse, and despair takes on a person, "Q" is a multigenerational tale of the eternal search for meaning. A love story of a different kind, this documentary delicately portrays the complexities of the unseen power that intermesh the lives of those who love a woman whose heart is in the hands of someone else.

"Q" is a graceful, assured, and affectingly personal first feature from Jude Chehab." –  Alliance of Women Film Journalists

WINNER Albert Maysles Award for Best New

Documentary Director (Tribeca Festival)

WINNER Grand Jury Award for Best International First Feature (Sheffield DocFest)

This screening of Q is the Philadelphia premiere. A rough cut of the film was screened at the William and Louise Greaves Seminar hosted by BlackStar. Now join us to see the full and final cut with the filmmaker, Jude Chehab in attendance. 

About the Filmmaker: 

Jude Chehab is a multi-award winning DP and feature filmmaker based between New York and Beirut.

Jude's cinematic interests have led her to explore the esoteric, the spiritual, and the unspoken. She developed a richly layered visual and intimate personal shooting style under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami's final student group. Jude has been credited in collaborations with the BBC, Refinery29, Oxfam GB, and Doctors Without Borders.

She has worked as a Director of Photography internationally, contributing to films in Somalia, Sudan, and Pakistan. Most recently, she served as an Associate Producer on Sesame Street's newest show for Syrian refugees.

Jude's work has garnered fellowships from organizations such as CAAM, NeXtDoc, Points North Institute, Firelight Media, and Close-Up. "Q" is her first feature documentary and has received support from IDA, ITVS, TFI, Sundance. She was also awarded First Prize in the Docs in Progress program at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival.

Join us the next day for a Special Learning Session - Resisting the Western Gaze