Q
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 potently documents the unspoken ties and consequences of loyalty that have bonded her mother, grandmother, and herself to the mysterious organization. A masterful portrait of the toll that decades of unrequited love, lost hope, abuse, and despair take 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 unseen power that intermesh the lives of those who love a woman whose heart is in the hands of someone else.
Interview with Director/Producer Jude Chehab
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The film is a responsibility. A responsibility towards the faith but also towards myself. I grew up with this group and with my mother’s understanding of our place in the world. The group is prioritized over your family. I made this film to question her. To question the things, she taught me. The minute I distanced myself from the group I realized they aren’t the religion and that process began for me far earlier than it did for my mother. I abandoned what she believed, but through Q, the journey discovers strange truths, difficult to express, save through the medium of cinema; maybe she had already abandoned me, her children and her husband long before I was born.
I made this film to prove to her an alternative within Islam exists, the Islam of beauty she showed me. I have grown up with the group and am well aware that their interpretation of Islam is a limited one and focuses greatly on maintaining the group rather than the religion. My position is to bring Mom to this awareness. I made this film to save my mother. I made this film to remind her of the God she told me about, one that isn’t afraid of thought, movement, colors, poetry and ultimately, life.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film brings people into a world rarely seen, it speaks a very mysterious language and allows the audience to learn this new language. It is an intimacy with Muslim women like never before.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Cinema deals with the subjective, but true cinema is a chimera; it holds the familiar, the recognizable, the immediately human and most intimate in a flash, a second, a moment, a frame. Q is a question, and it is a question which transcends the lens of its subject; like looking through a keyhole into a wide expanse beyond; it opens and frames at heart a profound exploration of love, loss, faith and obsession. This story is unique but it is not an isolated one.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The film has changed a lot in the making. When I started I really thought the film would be an expose about the group and it turned into something way more true to the story, a familial kaleidoscopic look into the consequences of such a group, the heart of the attachment.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We've received incredible feedback so far, people are very moved by the work. I think the film forces you to question but also gives space for viewers to paint things in their own colors.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
We did receive a bit of backlash from members of the group after the premiere, they hadn't seen it yet so that was what was the most difficult. I'd hope that they'd see the film with an open heart, before jumping to conclusions. It really reminded me of the importance of speaking truth to power, the film may make some people uncomfortable but I ask them to sit in that discomfort. It's okay to challenge how we think and perceive that which we are used to.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I'm hoping to broaden our audience. I'd love for more people to seek out the film and be part of the conversation we are starting around the film.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We are looking for the right distributors and buyers to come along to help platform Q.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Q came to address an incredible need. Through the spiritual abuse revealed in the film, we expand into larger ideas of womanhood and faith in the modern age. Q speaks directly to a Muslim audience, as much as it does to a secular one. For the Arab-speaking and the 1.5 Billion Muslims in the world, my story is unique, but not an isolated one. It exposes the evils within our community that haven’t been addressed and remains taboo in many instances, with women and entire communities sometimes afraid to speak up against it. It educates those who may have a distorted view of Islam and the role of Muslim women in specific, with real-world insights into the lives of strong, independent, free-thinking Muslim women, who’ve lived through wars and crossed oceans in pursuit of their hopes and dreams. The benchmark for Q is an entire generation of disaffected Muslim youth who feel disconnected from the past and unable to see a future for their faith. The film will resonate with women extremely strongly, and because of the nature of the narrative, will cross beyond the boundaries of race and generational divides. The film's ultimate theme of love is both cathartic and redemptive; as a key underpinning of the feature, it’s a theme that will travel and translate far beyond our humble home in Beirut.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How can we love the things that hurt us?
Would you like to add anything else?
Just some info on Q: The film world premiered at Tribeca in June and won the Albert Maysles award for Best New Documentary Director as well as the Grand Jury Award for Best First Feature at Sheffield Docfest! Vogue Magazine named it one of the best documentaries of 2023! https://www.vogue.com/article/best-documentaries-2023
Interview: October 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Q
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 potently documents the unspoken ties and consequences of loyalty that have bonded her mother, grandmother, and herself to the mysterious organization. A masterful portrait of the toll that decades of unrequited love, lost hope, abuse, and despair take 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 unseen power that intermesh the lives of those who love a woman whose heart is in the hands of someone else.
Length: 1:32:56
Director: Jude Chehab
Producer: Jude Chehab, Fahd Ahmed
Writer: Jude Chehab
About the writer, director and producer:
JUDE CHEHAB is a Lebanese-American filmmaker whose cinematic interests have drawn her to the exploration of the esoteric, the spiritual and the unspoken. A richly layered visual and intimate personal shooting style developed under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami’s final student group. Jude has been credited in collaborations with the BBC, Hot Docs, and Sesame Workshop. Her work has been awarded fellowships through: CAAM, NeXtDoc, Points North Institute, Firelight Media, and Chicken & Egg. Jude’s first feature documentary has been supported by: IDA, ITVS, TFI, and the Sundance Institute and went on to win the Albert Maysles award for Best New Documentary Director at Tribeca and the Grand Jury Award for Best First Feature at Sheffield DocFest. In 2021, Filmmaker Magazine named her one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
Looking for: distributors, buyers
Twitter: @JudeSChehab
Instagram: @judechehab, @qthedocumentary
Hashtags used: #qthedocumentary
Website: www.judechehab.com, www.qthedocumentary.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Chehab Films, Chicken and Egg Pictures
Funders: www.documentaries.org/films/q/
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Indie Memphis, New Orleans Film Festival, Unorthodocs (Wexner Center), Arab Film Festival (San Fransisco), Houston Cinema Arts Fest, Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival