TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Writer-director Arshile Egoyan has perfectly captured a turning point in life for two young Armenian girls from Lebanon in his short film Before They Joined Us. Taline (Lorie Berberian) and her younger sister Garine (Ava Andreakos) are being driven to the airport by their parents. In 1975, civil war broke out in Lebanon, and their parents found a way to get the children out. They are being sent to live with family in Montreal.
During the drive, their parents are incredibly anxious, while Taline and Garine are seemingly not understanding that this is a one way trip, and that their parents may not be able to join them. Taline is spending her time tormenting her younger sister with smartass answers to her questions. Their father, played by Shrant Srabian, is stern and forcefully instructing them how to stay safe during the trip and how to meet their Aunts in Canada.

“…civil war broke out in Lebanon, and their parents found a way to get the children out.”
The family receiving them are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the girls know nothing about the rules of living under that faith. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses believed that the world would end on December 31st, 1975, so the future is even more uncertain for the girls if the apocalypse is coming.
The cinematography inside the car and in the house in Montreal is tight and dark, mostly close-ups and odd angles, giving the already tense situation an even more anxious atmosphere. Egoyan is the son of filmmaker Atom Egoyan, and his mother, Arsinée Khanjian, plays a small part in this film. The story told in Before They Joined Us is inspired by the real-life experiences of his mother and aunt. Egoyan conveys in 10 short minutes the frantic sadness of a family separating and the apprehension of going to a strange new place to people in different ways.
Before They Joined Us screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.