ArabishWay

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-03 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

2:00 PM7:30 PM

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: The Encampments
2025-05-04 11:00 - 13:00, 2025-05-09 16:00 - 18:00, 2025-05-11 17:00 - 19:00, 2025-05-11 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-05-12 16:30 - 18:30, 2025-05-14 16:30 - 18:30 | The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, United States
THE ENCAMPMENTS follows student organizers at some of the world’s most prestigious universities as they take a historic stand against their institutions’ investments in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, igniting one of the largest student movements in history which continues to have far-reaching effects on US and world policies today.
Filmed on the ground and in real-time as these events were unfolding, THE ENCAMPMENTS features detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil and takes viewers inside America’s student uprising with incredible intimacy and urgency. Professors, whistleblowers from inside Ivy League administrations, and student activists shed light on a moment that captivated the nation’s attention and continues to make headlines today.
“What makes THE ENCAMPMENTS artistically triumphant is its sense of contemporary and historical detail, owed to both footage shot by the filmmakers, as well as by the protesters themselves. In the process, co-directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T. Workman craft a work of cinema that’s as rigorously journalistic in its arguments as it is nakedly sentimental.” – IndieWire
“This is more than a student protest—it’s a generational struggle for justice. Students have always led the charge for justice, from the sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement to the campus protests against South African apartheid. The encampments that started at Columbia are part of that legacy, inspiring millions of people around the world. The film ensures the students in US and Gaza are heard, their actions are remembered, and the fight for Palestinian liberation continues.” – Macklemore
“Khalil remains detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana amid a legal battle to prevent his deportation from the U.S. after the Trump administration ordered his removal… The legal challenge to Khalil might ultimately come down to the Supreme Court, which would decide how far the secretary of state can determine whether a permanent resident can be removed for speech.” – Axios

Movie: The Encampments
2025-05-04 12:30 - 14:00 | Vashon Theater, 17723 Vashon Highway SW, Vashon, WA, 98070

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-04 14:00 - 16:00 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

7:30 PM

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: Leila and the Wolves at the Beacon
2025-05-04 17:00 - 19:00 | The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, United States
Forty years ago, this landmark film by Lebanese director Heiny Srour (THE HOUR OF LIBERATION HAS ARRIVED) centred the less visible stories and histories of women’s resistance in Lebanon and Palestine through an audacious feminist rewriting. Now re-emerging in a new restoration, LEILA AND THE WOLVES revolves around the eponymous Leila (Nabila Zeitouni), a London-based Lebanese woman who, in pondering her future within the limits of the patriarchal imagination, begins to question the long-hidden roles that women have had in Arab history, including how they entwine with the Palestinian resistance movement.
A photography exhibition, organised by a male friend and chronicling the Palestinian struggle, intrigues Leila further. When she questions why there are only photographs of men, he responds casually that women simply weren’t present. Leila’s visceral rejection of this response sets her on a time-travelling journey from the early 1900s to the 1980s, as well as into her own future – or what it will be like if she merely accepts women’s lack of historical agency.
LEILA AND THE WOLVES weaves together fictional drama, memory, myth and archival footage (from sources ranging from the films of Palestinian director Mai Masri to the archives of UNRWA and the Imperial War Museum) to conjure images of active, activist and defiant women – a restitution of sorts, which reverberates around the world. In an interview from 2020, the filmmaker says: “Nowadays, LEILA is travelling the world again, more relevant than ever; my unconscious and the collective unconscious of the women of the Middle East spoke together throughout the extreme conditions of making this film.”
“Heiny Srour’s LEILA AND THE WOLVES is a film of monumental resolve and ambition, determined to address the contradictions within the anti-colonial struggle. With a single actress playing multiple characters in different historical moments, the film dispenses with teleological linearity to emphasize the recurrence of oppression and the consequent need for constant and multifarious opposition. Its restored relevance is not only thematic but methodological: here’s a film that defiantly disregards any moralist binary of good versus evil, us versus them, to champion the immense and composite task that is liberation from all shackles, wherever and whomever we are.” – Celluloid Liberation Front

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-04 19:30 - 21:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-05 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

7:30 PM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-05 19:30 - 21:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Arab Film Festival (some virtual)
2025-05-07 - 2025-05-11 | Virtual
Wednesday, May 7 – Sunday, May 11, 2025
AANM’s Arab Film Festival
AANM proudly hosts the annual Arab Film Festival (AFF) featuring the best of critically acclaimed and award-winning Arab American and Arab world films, many of which are unlikely to reach traditional American commercial theaters and often make their regional or national debut at AFF. This year, the festival will take place virtually and in-person.
AFF showcases Arab and Arab American films for fans of Arabic-language movies and adventurous art-film lovers seeking new perspectives and outside-the-box thinking. We pride ourselves on creating a safe space, a platform for Arab and Arab American films and filmmakers and to give a voice to Arab and Arab American artists and their stories.
Become a sponsor of AFF
ONLINE SPONSORSHIP | DOWNLOAD SPONSORSHIP FORM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-07 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-08 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-09 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

7:30 PM

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-09 19:30 - 21:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

1:30 PM4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-10 13:30 - 15:30, 2025-05-10 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-10 19:30 - 21:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

7:30 PM

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

4:30 PM7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-11 16:30 - 18:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

TICKETS
Other showtimes:

SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025, SIFF Cinema Uptown

7:30 PM

Movie: No Other Land: SIFF
2025-05-11 19:30 - 21:30 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel’s occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.

Director:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Country:Palestine, Norway
Running Time:95 min.
Producer:Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning
Cinematographers:Rachel Szor
Editors:Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Music:Julius Pollux Rothlaender
Language:Arabic, Hebrew, English
US Distributor:Cintetic Handling
International Sales:Autlook

Online Premier of Echos of Home (Live YouTube Screening)
2025-05-12 09:00 - 11:00 | Virtual
The Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) is documenting the raw, unfiltered stories of four Palestinian-American families navigating the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Directed by Shahed Khaddash, Echos from Home is a critical, real-time record of resilience, loss, and survival. These stories reflect the painful reality of thousands of Palestinian families separated by borders, politics, and war. The first episode of this docu-series starring Dina Massoud, captures the harrowing reality of leaving behind the only home you’ve ever known, enduring forced separation from family, and witnessing the unimaginable loss of loved ones before your eyes.

Screening and Discussion: The Land Speaks Arabic
2025-05-17 15:00 - 17:00 | Liberation Center, 606 MAYNARD AVE S, Seattle, WA
Join us for a screening and discussion of The Land Speaks Arabic (2007) on Saturday to commemorate 77 years of Nakba.
This documentary brings together rarely seen footage of Palestine before 1948 along with historical research, eyewitness accounts, testimonials, historical documents, and more to detail pre-1948 Palestine and the early planning and work that gave birth to Zionism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 that has come to be known as the Nakba.
Join us as we watch this documentary together and have a discussion together following it.
📅 SATURDAY, MAY 17
🕢 3 PM STARTING PROGRAM
📍LIBERATION CENTER – 606 MAYNARD AVE S, SEATTLE

Movie: From Ground Zero
2025-05-18 12:30 - 14:00 | Vashon Theater, 17723 Vashon Highway SW, Vashon, WA, 98070
Shortlisted for Best International Feature for the 2025 Academy Awards, FROM GROUND ZERO is an anthology project comprised of 22 short films created by filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by renowned Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, the initiative was created during the current 2023/2024 conflict and aims to provide a platform for young Palestinian artists to express themselves through their craft.
Each film, ranging in length from three to six minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. Using a mix of genres including fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, From Ground Zero presents a rich diversity of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.
Despite harsh filming conditions, Gaza’s vibrant artistic scene shines through this stunning anthology film, which offers an intimate and powerful portrait of daily life in modern-day Palestine – and the enduring spirit of its people.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
“The fact that this film even exists seems miraculous… [From Ground Zero] aims to humanize, to empathize, to go beyond the headlines and geopolitics. It aims to convey the hopes and dreams of everyday people, which persist even in dire circumstances.” Jennifer Green, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
“A powerful cry to the world that these filmmakers, collaborators, and people walking in the background are still there, still living under worsening conditions, and still need help. From Ground Zero is an unforgettable exhibition of the human spirit.” Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com

Seattle International Film Festival: Balconettes
2025-05-18 21:00 - 23:00 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
Want a discount on your ticket? Use code ARABISH51 for $3 when purchasing tickets!

While perhaps best known for her understated yet powerful performances in Portrait of a Lady on Fire and TÀR, Noémie Merlant showcases her equally striking talent for the WTF (weird, titillating, and fascinating) both in front of and behind the camera with her sizzling sophomore feature as director. In the thick of a near-apocalyptic heat wave in Marseille, we are introduced to our trio of cohabitating bosom buddies: neurotic, sexually frustrated writer Nicole (Sanda Codrenau), free-spirited camgirl Ruby (Souhelia Yacoub) – actress of Tunisian descent, and Élise (Merlant), an actress rapidly reaching her boiling point. A chance encounter with the brooding artist on the balcony across the way rapidly spirals into a bloody affair that threatens to haunt the girls forever—possibly literally. What begins as a sexy, sun-drenched romp reveals itself to be a blood-drenched, searing takedown of rape culture, and an equally tough and tender look at the necessity of female friendship. With this bombastic, hilarious, and heart-rending film, Merlant cements herself as not only a face, but a singular voice in contemporary cinema across the globe.

Other Showtimes:

MONDAY, MAY 19, 2025

SIFF Cinema Downtown
3:15 PM

Seattle International Film Festival: Balconettes
2025-05-19 15:15 - 17:15 | SIFF Cinema Downtown, 2100 4th Ave, Seattle, WA, 98121
Want a discount on your ticket? Use code ARABISH51 for $3 when purchasing tickets!

While perhaps best known for her understated yet powerful performances in Portrait of a Lady on Fire and TÀR, Noémie Merlant showcases her equally striking talent for the WTF (weird, titillating, and fascinating) both in front of and behind the camera with her sizzling sophomore feature as director. In the thick of a near-apocalyptic heat wave in Marseille, we are introduced to our trio of cohabitating bosom buddies: neurotic, sexually frustrated writer Nicole (Sanda Codrenau), free-spirited camgirl Ruby (Souhelia Yacoub) – actress of Tunisian descent, and Élise (Merlant), an actress rapidly reaching her boiling point. A chance encounter with the brooding artist on the balcony across the way rapidly spirals into a bloody affair that threatens to haunt the girls forever—possibly literally. What begins as a sexy, sun-drenched romp reveals itself to be a blood-drenched, searing takedown of rape culture, and an equally tough and tender look at the necessity of female friendship. With this bombastic, hilarious, and heart-rending film, Merlant cements herself as not only a face, but a singular voice in contemporary cinema across the globe.

Seattle International Film Festival: Khartoum
2025-05-19 21:30 - 23:30 | AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine St suite 400, Seattle, WA, 98101, United States
Want a discount on your ticket? Use code ARABISH51 for $3 when purchasing tickets!
What begins as a street-level documentary of five ordinary lives in Khartoum—a civil servant, a tea vendor, a resistance volunteer, and two young bottle collectors—evolves into a radically inventive chronicle of a city at the edge of collapse. Shot on donated iPhones by four Sudanese filmmakers working alongside British director Phil Cox, production was interrupted when war erupted in April 2023. The filmmakers fled Sudan and regrouped in Nairobi, where they transformed the project using green screen re-enactments, animation, and dreamlike visual reconstructions.
The film’s five interwoven stories bear witness to lives disrupted by conflict but never reduced by it. A mother sings lullabies to shield her daughter; two boys flee militias on the back of an invisible lion; a government worker hides from a regime unraveling around him. Through surreal vignettes and raw detail, Khartoum refuses the distancing lens of crisis coverage.
So while Khartoum began as a vérité documentary shot in Sudan, it became a diasporic production: completed in exile, shaped by displacement, and creatively reassembled across borders. A collaborative act of remembrance and resistance, it is not simply about a city under siege—it is made by those who fled it, carrying its stories with them.
Other Showtimes:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025 – AMC Pacific Place

1:30 PM

Seattle International Film Festival: Khartoum
2025-05-21 13:30 - 15:30 | AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine St suite 400, Seattle, WA, 98101, United States
Want a discount on your ticket? Use code ARABISH51 for $3 when purchasing tickets!
What begins as a street-level documentary of five ordinary lives in Khartoum—a civil servant, a tea vendor, a resistance volunteer, and two young bottle collectors—evolves into a radically inventive chronicle of a city at the edge of collapse. Shot on donated iPhones by four Sudanese filmmakers working alongside British director Phil Cox, production was interrupted when war erupted in April 2023. The filmmakers fled Sudan and regrouped in Nairobi, where they transformed the project using green screen re-enactments, animation, and dreamlike visual reconstructions.
The film’s five interwoven stories bear witness to lives disrupted by conflict but never reduced by it. A mother sings lullabies to shield her daughter; two boys flee militias on the back of an invisible lion; a government worker hides from a regime unraveling around him. Through surreal vignettes and raw detail, Khartoum refuses the distancing lens of crisis coverage.
So while Khartoum began as a vérité documentary shot in Sudan, it became a diasporic production: completed in exile, shaped by displacement, and creatively reassembled across borders. A collaborative act of remembrance and resistance, it is not simply about a city under siege—it is made by those who fled it, carrying its stories with them.
