Ma Mere, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan (Once Upon My Mother)(HKJFF2025)

A vibrant dramedy, Ma Mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan explores the fierce, sometimes overbearing love between a Moroccan Jewish mother and her disabled son. In 1960s France, Esther refuses to accept Roland’s medical fate, while he finds escape and identity through the music of Sylvie Vartan. Blending nostalgia, humor, and tenderness, Ken Scott paints a portrait of maternal devotiond that’s as infuriating as it is inspiring—filled with humor and tenderness.