5’24”

2020

From the Garden of Eden, to French formal gardens, English gardens, Zen/Japanese rock gardens, Baha’i gardens, and Islamic gardens, gardens reflect history, culture, and heritage. They are some of the rare places where intimacy, gatherings, fun, and religion coexist. Jardins Paradise ironically diverts the image of the garden as the embodiment of some paradisiacal Eden; it highlights the civic inventiveness of communities stigmatized by a lack of greenery in their neighborhood, as well as the contribution of ethnocultural diversity to the urban landscape.

The film imagines young members of the Arab diaspora in Montreal using the means at hand to develop a secular and democratic version of the Islamic style garden.