WEBINAR WITH FIDA QISHTA - FILMMAKER FROM GAZA
2021-10-09 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Saturday, Oct. 9, 11 am
WEBINAR WITH FIDA QISHTA – FILMMAKER FROM GAZA
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Fida Qishta has just returned from several months in Gaza. She will speak about current conditions there and share clips from footage filmed after her arrival and following the May 2021 Israeli military attacks on the Strip.

Fida was born and raised in Rafah in Gaza. In her previous award-winning documentary, Where Should the Birds Fly, she told the story of 10-year-old Mona Samouni in the aftermath of Israeli Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009). Join the webinar Saturday to hear how Fida has found Gaza twelve years later, as the Israeli imposed land, air, and sea blockade continues into its fifteenth year. This event is hosted by US Boats to Gaza, one of ten national campaigns in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition that sail to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, with support from the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, is proud to have lent support for Fida Qishta’s return to Gaza and to the launch of her newest film project.
LEARN MORE ABOUT FILMMAKER FIDA QISHTA HERE.
REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT HERE!

Movie: Alia's Birth: Tacoma Film Festival
2021-10-10 16:00 - 17:30, 2021-10-11 16:30 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Grand Cinema, Tacoma, 606 Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma, WA, 98402, United States
Alia’s Birth Sam Abbas US/UK/Bolivia | 2020 | 66 min A rocky relationship between a female couple forces them to spend the night apart. Through their respective journeys we experience a live recorded set by queer superstar DJ/Producer Nicole Moudaber and witness a live home birth with a resuscitation. With Poorna Jagannathan, Nikohl Boosheri, Maya Kazan, Samuel H. Levine, and Edward Akrout. Sam Abbas is an Egyptian-American filmmaker currently living in Paris. In 2018, he founded the production company ArabQ Films, and released his debut feature The Wedding across the U.S. and Middle East. The film screened in Turkey, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Egypt; countries in which it is difficult & in parts illegal to identify as gay or nonbinary. In 2020 Abbas acted as curator, director, editor, and producer and teamed with leading cinematographers from around the world to create the documentary Eremita (Anthologies).
SUNDAY OCTOBER 10 4:00 PM the grand cinema #1
MONDAY OCTOBER 11 4:30 PM the grand cinema #1

SIX SHORT FICTIONAL FILMS FROM GHANA, EGYPT, IRAN, UK AND THE US: Tacoma Film Festival
2021-10-13 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Grand Cinema, Tacoma, 606 Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma, WA, 98402, United States
Da Yie | Ghana | 20 | Anthony Nti | A foreigner in Ghana gets an assignment from his gang to find kids for a risky job that will take place later that evening. While spending the day with two energetic children, Prince and Matilda, he starts to question his decision and how it will affect their lives.

i am afraid to forget your face | Egypt | 15 | Sameh Alaa | After being separated for 82 days, Adam travels down a rough road to be reunited with the one he loves, whatever it takes.

Good Thanks, You? | United Kingdom | 13 | Molly Manning Walker | In the aftermath of an attack, Amy is left voiceless, trapped in a whirlwind of incompetence. She must find a way to confront what has happened, in order to save what matters to her most.

Witness | Iran, Islamic Republic of | 15 | Ali Asgari | A mother helps an elderly woman in a shopping mall in Tehran. A tragedy occurs, brutally confronting her with the impact of her actions.

Dọlápọ̀ Is Fine | United Kingdom | 15 | Ethosheia Hylton | Ready to leave her UK boarding school and enter the working world, a young Black woman faces pressure to change her name and natural hairstyle.

Leylak | US | 17 | Scott Aharoni, Dennis Latos | In present day Queens, New York, a Turkish gravedigger is unable to face a shattering truth, and risks losing the dearest connection left in his life.

Rendezvous with Madness Festival
2021-10-28 - 2021-11-07 | WA
Join Workman Arts and us for the virtual screening of As I Want, directed by Samaher Alqadi. This Rendezvous with Madness film program will be available for online viewing from October 29th to November 7th. As I Want documents the women’s rebellion in Egypt on the second anniversary of the revolution – along the way Alqadi re-examines societal constructs of her own childhood in Palestine and what it means to be a woman and mother in the Middle East.
FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Q&A
Watch a pre-recorded Q&A with the director of As I Want, Samaher Alqadi and the director of
We Have Not Come Here to Die, Deepa Dhanraj. Conversation moderated by filmmaker and film
programmer Aisha Jamal and available at the same link as the film.

Lebanese-American Actress Kathy Najimy in Hocus Pocus at Central Cinema
2021-10-29 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave (at 21st & Union ), Seattle, WA, 98122, United States
After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches’ reign of terror once and for all.
Starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the actress of Lebanese descent Kathy Najimy!

Film : Genre: Action,Comedy,Sci-Fi, 1993

Friday October 29th – Wednesday November 3rd
Evenings – 7:00pm
Matinees – 4:00pm
Thursday November 4th
Matinee – 5:00pm

Lebanese-American Actress Kathy Najimy in Hocus Pocus at Central Cinema
2021-10-29 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-10-30 16:00 - 18:00, 2021-10-30 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-10-31 16:00 - 18:00 UTC | Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave (at 21st & Union ), Seattle, WA, 98122, United States
After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches’ reign of terror once and for all.
Starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the actress of Lebanese descent Kathy Najimy!

Film : Genre: Action,Comedy,Sci-Fi, 1993

Lebanese-American Actress Kathy Najimy in Hocus Pocus at Central Cinema Co
2021-10-31 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave (at 21st & Union ), Seattle, WA, 98122, United States

AANM Arab Film Festival
2021-11-01 - 2021-11-07 | WA
The Arab American National Museum proudly hosts its annual Arab Film Festival (AFF), featuring fascinating new titles from one of the most prolific and creative set of filmmakers on the planet. AFF is one of the Museum’s longest-running programs, dating back to its inception in 2005.
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. Many of these films by both Arab world and Arab American artists are, with few exceptions, unlikely to reach traditional American commercial theaters. Genres include drama, comedy and documentary, in both short-form and feature lengths. Every festival film is subtitled in English, making them accessible to all.
The Arab Film Festival strives to bring you the absolute best films from the Arab world and Arab American community to your doorstep with many films making their Michigan and/or U.S. debut.
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.
This year’s Arab Film Festival will be taking place both online and in-person from November 1-7, 2021.

Damascus Dreams at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival
2021-11-10 - 2021-11-19 | WA
Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and AANM co-present Damascus Dreams as part of #reelasian25. Directed by Émilie Serri, Damascus Dreams explores and interrogates the fraught notions of dreams, and memories of “home,” moving loosely through old video footage and conversations, and dreamlike sequences. Serri gathers these stories and memories to hold against her own questions about a homeland she does not have access to. This film is available online starting November 10th at 10 AM till November 19th at 7 PM.

Queer Cinema for Palestine
2021-11-11 - 2021-11-20 | WA
TPFF is one of the coordinators of the inaugural Queer Cinema for Palestine! The festival will run from 11-20 November and host more than a dozen events across five continents, both online and in person. QCP is a first-time global queer solidarity initiative that offers a vibrant space using art and culture to oppose the ongoing violence of Israeli apartheid.
The online program will be hosted on the Toronto Queer Film Festival’s state-of-the-art platform designed with accessibility in mind. Films will be available on demand for the duration of the festival.
QCP encourages local queer, Palestine solidarity and anti-racist groups around the world to organize watch parties during the festival.
The full QCP program will be announced in early November.

Conversation with Arab American Filmmaker, Mike Mosallam
2021-11-16 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Please join us for a conversation with Arab American Producer and Actor, Mike Mosallam. His latest film is “Breaking Fast” which had its World Premiere in March 2020 and garnered major awards. In addition, he is the creator and co-Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed “All American Muslim.”

Register for the event here.

Arab Film Festival 2021
2021-11-18 - 2021-11-24 | WA
We are putting the finishing touches to AFF2021’s schedule and can’t wait to share it! In the meantime, here’s a little preview of what’s coming:

A selection of shorts from Iraq and Lebanon
Our annual Queer Lens
Award winning features including Moss Agate, Our River…Our Sky, and 200 Meters
A spotlight on documentaries directed by women
and more!

Moss Agate (Lebanon, 2021)
Beirut, summer 2019. The filmmaker experiences a descent into the abyss. His health is at stake and his film community is falling apart. His actress friend Tamara is the last one to leave…
Our River…Our Sky (Iraq, 2020)
In a typically mixed Baghdadi neighborhood in 2006, a community of ordinary people try to live their everyday lives amidst the threat of unpredictable violence. At the heart of these intersecting stories we find Sara, a single mother and novelist. With the news of Saddam Hussein’s sudden execution shortly before the New Year, Sara and her neighbors brace themselves for an uncertain future. Yet, like a miracle, each is able to sustain a fragile sense of hope.
200 Meters (Palestine, 2020)
Mustafa and his wife Salwa live 200 meters apart in villages separated by the Israeli border wall. One day he gets a call every parent dreads: his son has been injured in an accident. Rushing to cross the Israeli checkpoint, Mustafa is denied on a technicality. But a father’s love won’t give up and he will do anything to reach his son. A 200 meter distance becomes a 200 kilometer odyssey, as Mustafa, left with no choice, attempts to smuggle himself to the other side of the wall.

Free virtual screening of "Trip Along Exodus," a film directed by Hind Shoufani
2021-11-20 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
The film/poem recreates the last 70 years of Palestinian and Arab politics seen through the prism of the life of the filmmaker’s father, Dr. Elias Shoufani, a leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, an academic and leftist intellectual who was one of the leaders of the opposition to Arafat within Fatah for 20 years. The film language uses archive, poetry, family photos/8mm films, glitter, cartoons, animation, macro-photography, interviews, and other multimedia formats in a video-art amalgam—a personal and political memoir.

InFocus: Arab Cinema (2021)
2021-12-10 - 2021-12-11 | WA
We are proud to join NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as partners for this year’s virtual edition of the annual NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema program. The weekend will feature an international lineup of films by talented emerging filmmakers across three short film programs. The event will include virtual screenings, filmmaker Q&A’s and industry panels.
More details and programming information to come.

Freedom Film Series #5: To Treat Kids Like Me (Virtual)
2021-12-12 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
“To Treat Kids Like Me:” Dec 12 screening & discussion, sponsored by Donkeysaddle Projects

About this event

With severe medicine shortages and an overstretched health care system in Gaza, children in need of medical treatments can only find them outside the strip. Yet Israel’s convoluted, arbitrary permit process leaves them waiting in pain, often missing life-saving care. To Treat Kids Like Me (produced by Donkeysaddle Projects and +972 Magazine) follows the family of Mohamed Saleh and several other children in the Gaza Strip as they navigate the often Kafqaesqe process of getting permission from the Israeli army to leave the besieged strip for medical treatments that are unavailable there.
The 5th offering in DSP’s Freedom Film Series will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Jen Marlowe and special guests:

Ghada Majadli: Director of the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel department for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT); featured in To Treat Kids Like Me.
Mohamed Lafi: Public health professional working for the World Health Organization in the OPT, with a focus on access to health care for patients who need to seek care outside the OPT.
Fadi Abu Shammalah: Manager of Donkeysaddle’s Palestine Grassroots Distribution Project; has been DSP’s on-the-ground support for Mohamad Salah (who is featured in To Treat Kids Like Me)
Miranda Cleland: Communications Manager for Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP). DCIP documents cases like Mohamed’s where Israeli forces kill or injure Palestinian children.

Tickets by donation. 50% of ticket proceeds go to Palestine Grassroots Distribution Project, including Mohamad Salah’s medical care.
Co-sponsored by Just Vision & Defense for Children International-Palestine

Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, a three-part film
2022-01-27 - 2022-01-30 | WA
To kick off the winter 2022 season, we present Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, a three-part film with a focus on daily life in Palestine.
In the summer of 2002, Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travel together from the south to the north of their country of birth; they traced their trajectory on a map and called it ROUTE 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1947 to partition Palestine into two states.
As they travel, Khleifi and Sivan meet a multitude of characters, each of which has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humor, indifference, suspicion, aggression; frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all, in the collective unconscious of both societies.
JAN 26–30, 2022
PART ONE: THE SOUTH

From Ashdod to Gaza. Sivan and Khleifi begin their cinematic journey through the southern parts of Palestine-Israel, interviewing a juice seller, a candy seller, an engineer, and a manager, gaining perspectives from Israelis and Palestinians about everyday life. They visit a kibbutz, travel to Gaza, and hear residents’ understandings of the Zionist project alongside discussions of Palestinians’ right to return. Their task as filmmakers is to document, to convey what is desired and what is experienced, to distinguish people’s dreams from political projects, to hear what one wants to forget, and to listen to the other–this is how the journey begins.

Screening IN-PERSON at Trylon Cinema on Wednesday, Jan 26, 2022 at 7pm. TICKETS

Available VIRTUALLY Jan 27–30, 2022 in the US ONLY. TICKETS

Sundance Movie at NWFF: Sirens (in person)
2022-01-28 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 2, Seattle, WA, 98122, United States
Friday, Jan. 28:
6pm: Sirens (Rita Baghdadi, US, 2021, 78 min) On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, wrestle with friendship, sexuality and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars. International Documentary Feature – World Cinema: Documentary Competition

Unpacking the ArteArchive Online Film Program: Four Films
2022-02-04 - 2022-02-13 | WA
This film series includes a cult-classic from the archives, an essay film exploring the nature of archiving, and three experiments in transmission: celluloid, CGI, and the mosalsalat. They are examples of imagining otherwise, in a region where feminist histories remain on the margins.

In South West Asia and North Africa, there are historical records of women’s cinema since the 1920s. However, a lack of state funding for archival projects, as well as factors such as conflict and war, mean that we often encounter these films only through written accounts. The films themselves are inaccessible, or more often damaged or lost.
Feminist history is subversive, and often excluded from mainstream historiographies. Since the 1970s, many women have made films about archiving practice, or their own cultural histories, which have been erased from popular imagination. In more recent times, digital technology has become a mode of reconstructing stories in the absence of archival material, as well as a tool to undertake more ambitious restoration projects.

THE NOUBA WOMEN OF MOUNT CHENOUA, Assia Djebar, Algeria,1977, 115 min, 35mm-to-digital.In Arabic and French w/ English subtitles

KHTOBTOGONE, Sara Sadik, France, 2021, 16 min, digital. In French w/ English subtitles.

A FEELING GREATER THAN LOVE / SHU’OUR AKBAR MIN AL HOB, Mary Jirmanus Saba, Lebanon, 2017, 99 min, digital. In Arabic w/ English subtitles.

GHARIBA, Meriem Bennani, Morocco/U.S., 2017, 19 min, digital. In Arabic w/ English subtitles

RSVP FOR ARCHIVE FEVER ONLINE SCREENING!

Co-presented by ArteEast and Anthology Film Archives, this series is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents over 17 years of film and video programming by ArteEast. In addition to the in-person, theatrical screenings at Anthology Film Archives, the series will be presented on artearchive.org from February 4 -13. For more information, visit artearchive.org

Film: Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, the Center
2022-02-24 - 2022-02-27 | WA
To kick off the winter 2022 season, we present Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, a three-part film with a focus on daily life in Palestine.
In the summer of 2002, Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travel together from the south to the north of their country of birth; they traced their trajectory on a map and called it ROUTE 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1947 to partition Palestine into two states.
As they travel, Khleifi and Sivan meet a multitude of characters, each of which has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humor, indifference, suspicion, aggression; frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all, in the collective unconscious of both societies.
FEB 23–27, 2022
PART TWO: THE CENTER

From Lod City to the Jerusalem area. The second part of Route 181 begins in the Center for New Immigrants in Lod, as Russian musicians play melodies from Eastern Europe to greet new immigrants who have just arrived from Ethiopia. The scene is a bit chaotic, a bit mundane, and a bit perplexing. This part of the film discusses building settlements and the destruction of former towns and homes, encountering tourists, artists, scholars, and soldiers. Capturing the experiences of everyday people, this installment exposes the dangers and hope we might find in the historical narratives we tell.

Screening IN-PERSON at Trylon Cinema on Wednesday, Feb 23, 2022 at 7pm. TICKETS

Available virtually Feb 24–27, 2022 in the US ONLY. TICKETS

Mohamed Soueid Retrospective: Movie Series
2022-03-03 - 2022-03-04 | WA
Co-presented by ArteEast and Anthology Film Archives, and curated by Giovanni Vimercati, this series is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents over 17 years of film and video programming by ArteEast.

Video pioneer, cinema auteur, and television producer Mohamed Soueid has collected stories from his compatriots for most of his adult life. Widely regarded as Beirut’s first video artist, Soueid films defy categorization.
https://arteeast.org/news-events/mohamad-soueid-retrospective/
MOHAMED SOUEID RETROSPECTIVE
Online Screening: March 3-13
Free / $5 suggested donation
RSVP at artearchive.org

CINEMA FOUAD
1994, 41 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.

“A documentary on the life and ambitions of a young Lebanese cross-dresser, the video follows her journey from soldier to cabaret dancer in an effort to raise funds for her sex change operation. Shot in Beirut, CINEMA FOUAD weaves a complex and multi-layered story of sexuality, identity, and desire, and paints a compelling portrait of its subject.”
–THIRD WORLD NEWSREEL

TANGO OF YEARNING
1998, 70 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.

One of Soueid’s finest and most representative cinematographic achievements, TANGO OF
YEARNING melancholically exemplifies the relational essence of his cinema. It is at once a film about love (for cinema, for life and its characters), about Soueid’s work for the Lebanese state broadcaster Tele Liban, and about the mysterious death of the Egyptian Jewish actress Camelia.

The film’s sinuous and free-flowing shape is not so much a rejection of the linear narratives of realism, but an acknowledgment of reality’s unmoored dynamics and the role memory plays in
its construction.

NIGHTFALL / INDAMA YA’ATI AL-MASA
2000, 68 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.

“On the surface, NIGHTFALL is a semi-autobiographical reconstruction of the militant years of Fatah’s Student Brigade; a series of conversations and interviews between the director and his
old comrades, most of whom spend their time meditating their movement’s defeat in a state of drunken incoherence. Throughout NIGHTFALL, Soueid remains uncompromisingly bleak about the state of the Palestinian revolution at the turn of the new millennium. It is not just the individual militants who now suffer from a crisis of identity, but the very slogans of the struggle
itself – and thus, its history. What is to be recovered, then, from the ramblings of these old Maoists?”
– Francesco Anselmetti, SAFAR JOURNAL

MY HEART BEATS ONLY FOR HER / MA HATAFTU LI GHAYRIHA
2008, 87 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Through the story of a son reconstructing his father’s revolutionary past from a diary, Soueid draws a portrait of two generations of men, fathers and sons, who were revolutionaries of the 1970s. This is a poetic flight in time, back to when young men dreamed of changing the world
with their own hands, and forward to a present where young men just want the security of a salaried job. At the same time, MY HEART BEATS ONLY FOR HER is a film about Lebanon’s schizophrenic modern history, caught in between the neoliberal lure of financial capitalism and the internationalist dreams of revolution. Between its sudden kindness and unforeseen brutality.
Between Hong Kong and Hanoi.

THE INSOMNIA OF A SERIAL DREAMER
2020, 170 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Soueid’s magnus opus, a gargantuan flux that is both timeless and multi-temporal, THE
INSOMNIA OF A SERIAL DREAMER amalgamates the past into the present, and from the schizophrenic streets of Beirut opens onto the world: the world that a Middle East Airlines captain has traveled and now remembers from his patio, but also the world of boundless love one of Soueid’s friends has for the Egyptian singer and actress Souad Hosny. In order to fall asleep, the director asked his friends and artistic accomplices to tell him stories, resulting in a film of rarefied, oneiric beauty.

Movie: Breaking Bread
2022-03-04 | SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St, Seattle, 98109
Opens March 4, 2022

Breaking Bread illustrates what happens when people focus on the person, rather than her religion; on the public, rather than the politicians.

USA | 2020 | 85 min. | Beth Elise Hawk

Breaking Bread follows Arab and Jewish chefs in Haifa, Israel as they collaborate in the kitchen. Connected through a shared love of food, the chefs unite to celebrate their cultures and the food of their region free from political and religious boundaries. Welcome to the A-Sham Arabic Food Festival. Founded by Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s MasterChef, the festival invites Arab and Jewish chefs to celebrate their shared culinary history as they exchange stories, recipes and techniques. A celebration of the region’s diverse cuisines and people, Breaking Bread offers a mouth-watering taste of rich culinary traditions that will leave you wanting more.

In Theater: Huda's Salon
2022-03-04 | SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N,, Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
Opens March 4, 2022
SIFF Cinema Uptown
A woman’s visit to a hair salon turns into a nightmare when she is blackmailed by its owner.
Palestine | 2021 | 91 min. | Hany Abu-Assad

Reem, a young mother married to a jealous man, goes to Huda’s salon in Bethlehem. But this ordinary visit turns sour when Huda, after having put Reem in a shameful situation, blackmails her to have her work for the secret service of the occupiers, and thus betray her people.

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-03-11 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

MARCH 11, 8 P.M. (discussion)
BLIND TRUST
Blind Trust celebrates the life and work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Vamik Volkan, a five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee who has spent over four decades bringing enemy groups together in areas of conflict all over the world. This look into his pioneering fieldwork and peace-building missions in Europe, the Middle East, and the US sheds light on how large-group identity and shared trauma can both unite us and divide us for generations.
Learn more here.
with host: Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, Jonathan Kuttab
special guest: the director of the film, Molly Castelloe

MARCH 25, 8 P.M. (discussion)
OBJECTOR
Objector follows Atalya to prison and beyond, offering a unique window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of a young woman who seeks truth and takes a stand for justice.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 8, 8 P.M. (discussion)
GAZA
Gaza brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 22, 8 p.m. (discussion)
MISSION: HEBRON
and SKIES ABOVE HEBRON
In Mission: Hebron six young Israeli men who served in the army from the age of 18 give an account of their mission in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage documenting numerous appalling situations corroborates their compelling stories, from soldiers taking pot shots with rubber bullets and conducting humiliating searches of passersby to arresting ten-year-olds and turning entire households upside down. What effect did these military duties have on their moral compass? Looking back and growing older, how do they feel about this mission now?
Learn more here.
Skies above Hebron is a coming of age story depicting three boys coping, each in his own way, with physical and mental obstacles enclosing life in their Palestinian hometown of Hebron.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Movie: Homeland
2022-03-12 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
We are screening the film HOMELAND by the late Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer. It is the fourth in a series of films he produced about Palestine. We hope to screen the others in the future.
Saturday March 12, 12:00 Noon US EST; 7:00 PM Palestine Time
Please click here to register for the film.
Please click here to view the film trailer.

Arab Women's Showcase
2022-03-17 - 2022-03-20 | WA
Stay tuned for more details for AFMI’s annual Arab Women’s Showcase. March 2022

There Is A Field, a film, by Jen Marlowe
2022-03-19 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Join WAPPC and Donkeysaddle Projects on March 19th at 4pm PT for a screening of the film, “There Is A Field” followed by a discussion.

About this event

Join WAPPC and Donkeysaddle Projects on March 19th at 4pm PT for a screening of the film, “There Is A Field” followed by a discussion with members of the film team. “There Is A Field” tells the story of Asel Asleh, an unarmed teen who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization. Performed by Black Lives Matter activists, “There Is A Field” offers a uniquely personal lens for learning about intersecting systems of oppression and structural racism. This fundraising event will also include the opportunity to learn more about and support both Donkeysaddle Projects and the WAPPC’s organizing efforts to enable poor and low income people to attend the PPC Mass Rally and march on Washington DC on June 18th. (Proceeds will be split between Donkeysaddle and WAPPC)
