Canadian Premiere
In an abandoned Parisian complex, three undocumented men from different backgrounds — Yi-En from China, Junior from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Hamzah from Palestine — squat in a derelict apartment. Outside their sparse accommodations, the three wander the streets and evade immigration officials while attending language classes and sharing meals. Occasionally, they also dream of home, which in Yi-En’s case is another Paris: Tianducheng, a vast housing estate in China explicitly modeled after the City of Light. As the three go about their days, we see Paris from ever more unlikely vantage points.
At once a luminous city symphony and a stirring drama of dislocation, Paris Paris is a film that asks what it truly means to belong somewhere. Gorgeously composed and full of deadpan humour and surreal touches, Isabelle Tollenaere’s film lingers on each small event — from the changing of a lightbulb to the wanderings of a stray cat — as a source of wonderment. Moving to the unhurried rhythms of its characters’ lives, the film finds beauty in the everyday.
Community Partner
Chen Yi-En, Mahmoud Beshtawi, David Mutamba
Belgium
2026
In French, English, and Mandarin with English subtitles
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Credits & Director
Producer
Bo de Group, Hans Everaert
Screenwriter
Isabelle Tollenaere
Cinematography
Thomas Verijke
Editor
Isabelle Tollenaere
Production Design
Jente Verbist
Isabelle Tollenaere
Isabelle Tollenaere is a Belgian filmmaker whose hybrid short and feature length films are simultaneously poetic, political, and playful. Her practice focuses on the interplay between the rapid transformation of our physical world and the human experience of time and memory. Her films have been widely presented and awarded at festivals including the Venice Film Festival, Berlinale Forum (Caligari Film Prize, 2020), IFFR (FIPRESCI Award, 2015), Centre Pompidou, Viennale, Visions Du Réel, FID Marseille, IDFA, CPH:DOX, and IndieLisboa (Special Jury Prize, 2020). Paris Paris (2026) is her first scripted feature film.
Filmography: Battles (2015); Victoria (2020)
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