Conversation: Philippe Falardeau’s ‘Monsieur Lazhar’

After the suicide of a teacher in a Montreal middle-school, a class of shocked and grieving students is thrown together with a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, with tragic secrets of his own, who becomes their new teacher.

The film, “Monsieur Lazhar,” directed by Philippe Falardeau and adapted from a play, tells a story of cultural gaps and emotional chasms in one small classroom and out into the wider world.

“Monsieur Lazhar” received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film and opens in U.S. theaters Friday, April 13.

Falardeau stopped by our newsroom on Thursday to talk about his film.