Le Grand Voyage (Middle East Film Festival)

Ismaël Ferroukhi, France, 2004

at Eager Auditorum, Sullivan Bldg, Worcester State

“It's a tribute to my parents and the 97 percent of Muslims that we never hear about in the Western world," says director Ferroukhi about this film which depicts the road trip of French-Morroccan Reda and his devout Muslim father to Mecca. The father convinces his reluctant teenage son to drive them from their home in France to Saudia Arabia on his once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage, the hajj. The film has won awards and been featured in film festivals from Milwaukee to Venice to Marrakesh and Jerusalem.