Imagine What’s Possible – AFMI in 2019
Over 20 years ago, we started the Arab Film Festival to challenge hurtful media stereotypes and provide talented Arab filmmakers with a platform to show a real depiction of the Arab world. And our commitment has continued to grow over the years: we expanded into AFMI to fight bigotry and hate with powerful art and storytelling that foster empathy and understanding of our common humanity, and to support Arab filmmakers in the US. We are still a long way from
AFF2019: The Ten Best Moments
This year's Arab Film Festival was record-breaking. Relive all the excitement through AFF2019 best moments. From sold out shows to filmmakers' Q&A, let's celebrate the best of Arab Cinema together. Photos from Opening Night at the Castro Theatre 1) Historic Turnout for Opening Night The first of AFF2019 best moments was this year's Arab Film Festival's Opening Night in San Francisco - we saw a historic turnout! The crowd at the iconic Castro Theatre came out in droves
Arab Documentary Films at AFF2019
At AFMI, we are no stranger to Arab documentary films. They are a constant staple of our Arab Film Festival as well as our screenings throughout the year. Documentary films are a great tool to capture and share true stories with others. This year we are presenting 13 Arab documentary films of feature length, as well as 12 Arab documentary films in short form. These Arab documentary films cover numerous topics from war and sexism, to soccer and beer brewing.
Queer Lens – LBGTQ+ films at AFF2019
At this year's Arab Film Festival, we will be presenting a total of 5 shorts programs with a range of different themes. We've always found short films to be an incredible way to highlight diverse voices and new talent. This year we are particularly excited to present our inaugural Queer Lens: LBGTQ+ Showcase! This 2 hour program of award-winning films is all about queer Arabs, by queer filmmakers. By virtue of this program we aim to celebrate the multi-dimensional formations
North African Films at the 23rd Arab Film Festival
At this year's Arab Film Festival we will be presenting 17 North African films from 9 different countries! We're so excited by the North African films presence at this year's festival and we're especially excited to be highlighting these North African films from countries we don't often receive submissions from such as Sudan, Libya and Mauritania. Here are all of North African film which will be screening throughout AFF2019. Film still from aKasha From Sudan we will be
A Journey Through the Films of Elia Suleiman
As the 2019 Arab Film Festival nears, we cannot wait for opening night on October 11th where we will be showing It Must Be Heaven, the newest film from the incredibly talented Palestinian director and actor Elia Suleiman - get your tickets here. In preparation, we're taking a look at the life and career of the man behind the camera. Film still from It Must be Heaven, featuring the director Elia Suleiman Elia Suleiman was born in 1960
YallaPunk: Interview with Founder Rana Fayez
Rana Fayez is the founder and director of YallaPunk, a nonprofit organization that is redefining and reclaiming the narrative for South Asian North African (SWANA) people through multidisciplinary arts. YallaPunk will be holding their third annual arts festival from August 29th through September 1st in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to creating YallaPunk, Rana lived a past life as a reporter and spent over ten years booking shows. She holds a bachelors degree in journalism from Virginia Tech and a masters from
Arab Films at TIFF 2019
Wrapping up the late summer international film festivals is the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) which will be held in Toronto, Canada from September 5-15th. This year the festival has programmed yet another large and strong selection of Arab films at TIFF. The selection of Arab Films at TIFF 2019 includes 13 feature films and 2 shorts, representing stories from 10 Arab countries and the diaspora. In this selection you will find work from well known filmmakers and actors such as
Arab Films at Venice Film Festival 2019
Next in our end of summer international festival series is the list of Arab Films at Venice Film Festival 2019. This year, the Venice Film Festival - the oldest film festival in the world - will take place from August 28th to September 7th in Venice, Italy. Between the festival's official selection and the adjacent independent events, an incredible selection of Arab Films at Venice Film Festival will be screening throughout the week. And that's not all! This year also
Arabic Netflix Original Series
Today we are focusing on Arabic Netflix Original Series. Diversity is one of the biggest current hot button topics in the film and media industry as audiences, filmmakers, celebrities and others call for greater representation, both on and off screen. While change is slow and imperfect, we are starting to see the outcome of those vocal efforts with the release of more diverse content. For Arabs specifically, we can see that change in representation in the United States with the
