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 | 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 | 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)

Film: Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, the North
2022-03-24 - 2022-03-27 | 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.
MARCH 23–27, 2022
PART TWO: THE NORTH

In the North, Khleifi and Sivan drive from the city of Rosh HaAyin to the Lebanese border on a brand new highway alongside the new wall built to physically separate Palestinians and Israelis. Traveling through new settlements and the ruins of old villages, the filmmakers continue to interview residents with various ideologies and lives, examining the violence and mundane reality of settler colonialism. In this final section, the film ends on the border with Lebanon, gesturing toward the impact that 1947’s Resolution 181 has had on that country.

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

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

Arab Film Series Online: Spaces of Exception (available online)
2022-03-24 - 2022-03-27 | WA
Arab Film Series Online: Spaces of Exception
Films available 12 a.m. ET Thursday, March 24 to 11:59 p.m. ET Sunday, March 27
Free with RSVP
Marking the 46th commemoration of Land Day this March, the Arab Film Series is proud to present Spaces of Exception, directed by Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny. Profiling the American Indian reservation alongside the Palestinian refugee camp, this work is an attempt to understand the significance of the land – its memory and divisions – and the conditions for life, community, and sovereignty.
Shot from 2014 to 2017 in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota, as well as in Lebanon and the West Bank, this film comes out of the long-term multimedia project The Native and the Refugee, which has been presented in Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, England, France, Guatemala, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Portugal, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, within the refugee camps and reservations where the film was shot, and at venues including cinemas, museums and universities.
The screening will be accompanied by a discussion with the filmmakers.
98 minutes / 2019 / Switzerland, United States, United Arab Emirates / Documentary / English

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-03-25 20:00 - 21:00 | 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 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: Ali, Fear Eats the Soul (in person)
2022-03-25 20:00 - 21:30, 2022-03-28 19:30 - 21:00 | The Beacon, 4405 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA, 98118, United States
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s homage to All that Heaven Allows has since become one of his most powerful love stories. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul unravels a love affair between two unlikely characters: a lonely German widow in her sixties and a Moroccan immigrant worker in his thirties. When the couple spontaneously marries, they face constant bigotry and criticism, but their own insecurities about their future may be insurmountable.

Arab Film Fest Collab (AFFC)
2022-04-07 - 2022-04-17 | WA
The Arab American National Museum (AANM), the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI), ArteEast, and Mizna proudly present the Arab Film Fest Collab (AFFC) from April 7-17, 2022. The AFFC is a collectively produced virtual film festival, screening independent Arab cinema for audiences across the United States.
With programs featuring films, panel discussions, and performances from Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA), the AFFC aims to capture the diverse narratives and complexity of the Arab world. Genres include drama, science-fiction, comedy and documentary, in both short-form and feature lengths. Screening the work of filmmakers from countries like Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, and Morocco, the AFFC exhibits all films in their original languages with English subtitles.

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-04-08 20:00 - 21:00 | 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

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:

SIFF - Arab movies and movies involving Arabs
2022-04-14 - 2022-04-24 | WA
SIFF was quite disappointing this year when it comes to Arab films. Here are the three Arab films I found:
A Tale of Love and Desire (Tunesia)
Where: In person only: Tuesday, April 19, 6:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Wednesday, April 20th at 3:30pm at Majestic Bay.
Sparks fly between literature students Ahmed and Farah in Leyla Bouzid’s seductive sophomore feature, when their study of erotic Arabic poetry moves beyond the classroom.
https://www.siff.net/festival/a-tale-of-love-and-desire
Costa Brava, Lebanon
Where: In person only: Friday, April 15, 1:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Saturday, April 16th at 8:00pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown
A family moves from the squalor of Beirut to a green oasis: an off-the-grid chicken farm miles away. Then one day the squalor comes looking for them as plans are announced for a landfill right next door.
https://www.siff.net/festival/costa-brava-lebanon

Feathers
Where: In person only: Saturday, April 16, 9:00pm at AMC Pacific Place and Monday, April 18th at 3:30pm at Ark Lodge Cinemas
Egyptian patriarchy and misogyny are the targets and absurdism is the weapon as a man, via a birthday-party magician, is transformed into a chicken and his downtrodden wife realizes this may be a change for the better.
https://www.siff.net/festival/feathers-x27287
——————————————————————————————–
And I hesitate to list these because they do not center Arab voices but they involve Arabs. Please watch trailers and read before deciding to watch these movies. They seem to be sympathetic to the Arab world but still come from the colonizer’s point of view.

Ahed’s Knee
Where: Virtual and Sunday, April 17, 8:30pm at AMC Pacific Place and Tuesday, April 19th at 3:00pm at Ark Lodge Cinemas
In this emotionally charged semi-autobiographical movie, Israeli writer/director Nadav Lapid’s alter ego fights against state pressure and for artistic freedom as he is working on a film about a Palestinian activist.
https://www.siff.net/festival/aheds-knee

The Olive Trees of Justice
Where: Virtual and Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 2:30pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown

The only French film shot on location during the Algerian War, The Olive Trees of Justice also won the inaugural Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. American-born director James Blue (from Portland, OR), working with a mainly non-professional cast, clandestinely filmed in Algiers and the surrounding countryside under the pretext that he was making a documentary about the wine industry. Jean (Pierre Prothon), Algerian-born but long a resident of Paris, returns home to visit his dying father (Jean Pélégri, author of the autobiographical novel on which the film is based). His father, a pioneering colonist, once owned a prosperous vineyard, long since lost to creditors. In frequent flashbacks, Jean nostalgically remembers his idyllic childhood on the farm with Arab friends but realizes those days are gone. Amid tanks and bomb-disposal units prowling the city streets, Jean looks up old friends, encountering colonial oppression and racial inequity that he barely notices. Little seen at the time of its release just after Algeria achieved independence, this neorealist gem deserves rediscovery.

https://www.siff.net/festival/the-olive-trees-of-justice
The First 54 Years, an Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation
Where: In person only: Where: Virtual and Monday, April 18, 6:00pm at at Ark Lodge Cinemas and Thursday, April 21st at 1:00pm at AMC Pacific Place
Testimony from Israeli soldiers, speaking out for the first time as part of the “Breaking the Silence” project, is pieced together to reveal how their nation’s occupation of Palestinian territory has lasted so long.
https://www.siff.net/festival/the-first-54-years-an-abbreviated-manual-for-military-occupation

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-04-22 20:00 - 21:00 | 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

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:

Mizna Film Series: RESTORED/RECOVERED: ALGERIAN FILMMAKING IN DIASPORA: NAHLA
2022-04-28 - 2022-05-01 | WA
The spring 2022 season of the Mizna Film Series highlights recently restored works by Algerian filmmakers in diaspora. Curated by Mizna’s Film Programming Coordinator Ahmed Abdulmageed, the two-month segment presents films produced during the global leftist movements in the 1970s. This selection celebrates Algerian filmmakers and their collaborators, Farouk Beloufa, Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy, who captured the political complexities of the moment, as well as the rhythmic and aesthetic make-up of their diasporas, by breaking away from traditional filmic forms.
APRIL 27–MAY 1 2022: NAHLA (dir. 1979, Farouk Beloufa)
In April, Mizna presents Nahla, Farouk Beloufa’s only feature film, which follows a group of leftist friends in Beirut at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. An exploration of war through journalism, photography, and cinematography, Nahla is a political film and a love story. The film stars the Lebanese actor Yasmine Khlat and features a soundtrack composed by the renowned Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani.
Available virtually April 28–May 1, 2022 in the US ONLY. TICKETS

Free Virtual Screening of the Film: 1920: The other side of the Palestinian story
2022-04-30 09:00 - 11:00 | WA
SYNOPSIS
A land without a people, and a people without a land” is how the relationship between Palestine and the Jewish people was described by Christian writers in the 1800s. And the 20th-century history of the Middle East has largely been written through these eyes.

Directed by Ashraf Mashharawi
Click here to register for this event.

Saturday, April 30, 2022
12:00 PM 2:00 PM ET

Film director will join us after the film to answer questions and participate in audience discussion.

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-05-06 20:00 - 21:00 | 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

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: The Door (in person and online streaming) - part of a collection of short films!
2022-05-19 - 2022-05-30 | WA
THE DOOR
(as part of a collection of short films)

REEM MORSI / CANADA (2018)
When a Syrian refugee family is forcefully confronted with grief, they attempt to face an
overwhelming loss in unexpected ways.

Thu, May 12th, 7:00 PM @ The Pickford Film Center (Bellingham)
[Available May 19, 12:00 AM – May 30, 2:00 AM, 2022] Stream online…

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-05-20 20:00 - 21:00 | 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

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:

Arab Film Series: ArteEast
2022-05-25 | WA
Arab Film Series online is pleased to present INTIMATE DISTANCE – a Mother’s Day special program on the meaning of motherhood and womanhood from the perspective of two renowned artists and filmmakers Mona Hatoum and Marianne Khoury.
Hatoum’s personal short film Measures of Distance conveys the intimate relationship between mother and daughter through their exchanged letters during Hatoum’s life in exile, it also reflects a tremendous sense of loss as a result of exile and separation caused by war.
In her feature length autobiographical documentary Let’s Talk, Marianne Khoury reflects on her own family history, and her complex relationship with her mother through an intimate and candid conversation between her and her daughter – exploring what it means to be a woman, mother, and an artist in the face of personal, artistic, and national crisis.

Mizna Film Series: RESTORED/RECOVERED: ALGERIAN FILMMAKING IN DIASPORA: DJOUHRA ABOUDA AND ALAIN BONNAMY RETROSPECTIVE
2022-05-26 - 2022-05-29 | WA
The spring 2022 season of the Mizna Film Series highlights recently restored works by Algerian filmmakers in diaspora. Curated by Mizna’s Film Programming Coordinator Ahmed Abdulmageed, the two-month segment presents films produced during the global leftist movements in the 1970s. This selection celebrates Algerian filmmakers and their collaborators, Farouk Beloufa, Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy, who captured the political complexities of the moment, as well as the rhythmic and aesthetic make-up of their diasporas, by breaking away from traditional filmic forms.
MAY 25–29 2022: NAHLA (dir. 1979, Farouk Beloufa)
In May, the Mizna Film Series highlights the work of Djouhra Abouda and Alain Bonnamy. Their films push the formal boundaries of filmmaking by combining experimental aesthetics with political and social commentary and action. While working in Paris, Abouda and Bonnamy made two experimental short films, Algérie Couleurs (1972) and Ciné-Cité (1974), and the feature-length Ali au pays des merveilles (1976). All three films were recently restored and digitized through the efforts of the Talitha Association, and Léa Morin.
Screening IN-PERSON at Trylon Cinema on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 7pm. TICKETS

Available virtually May 26–29, 2022 in the US ONLY. TICKETS

Arab Women's Showcase: AFMI
2022-05-26 - 2022-05-30 | WA
Arab Women in the Arts is AFMI’s annual showcase to honor generations of Arab women who have excelled in and revolutionized all forms of artistic expression.

The 2022 Arab Women in the Arts edition includes short and feature films, poetry readings, musical performances alongside a virtual gallery featuring paintings, photographs, fiber art and illustrations. The program will also include talkbacks and discussions with the artists about their work and their personal stories of empowerment.
This showcase runs from May 26-30th, with a highlight on the work of the late Lebanese filmmaker Randal Chahal Sabbag.
All programming available virtually with two in-person events in New York City and San Francisco.
For more information and to reserve your spot, visit the event site.

Civilized People: online movie streaming
2022-05-27 - 2022-05-29 | WA
During the civil war, many elites fled the country for safe harbor in Europe’s capitals, leaving behind apartments and villas in the care of domestic labor imported from Egypt, the Philippines and Sri-Lanka. These stories of survival have never been recorded, let alone inspired a fiction film. With scathing humor, Civilized People draws the portrait of a war-tormented Beirut neighborhood, at the mercy of the mood swings of a sniper. The plot weaves the tribulations of a Muslim militia fighter and a Christian maid, with the misadventures of a high-society lady who, undaunted by checkpoints and shelling, decides to fly back for a tryst with her lover. Civilized People premiered at Venice (official selection); it screened and at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the Nestor Almendros award (New York, 2000). The film’s sharp critique of Lebanese elites created an uproar in Lebanon, and was banned from being screened.

Pioneering Arab Women in Music: online movie streaming
2022-05-27 - 2022-05-29 | WA
A portrait of Sama’ Abdulhadi – the Palestinian techno queen, blasting around the globe. An emblematic artist of the Palestinian underground scene, Abdulhadi is one of the first DJs and electronic music producers to emerge from the region.
About the filmmaker:
Jan Beddegenoodts is a director & documentary film maker with a background as a photographer and the mayor of Cameltown. The last 10 years he has been creating films about resistance, rave culture and everything in between art and activism. He uses a cinematographic style to portray people with their passion and struggles. His work zooms in on a micro-reality to bring urgent matters to a world wide audience. You can watch his films online at www.cameltown.org

Free virtual screening of the documentary film "Going Home," directed by Omar Al-Qattan
2022-05-28 09:00 - 11:00 | WA
To register for this event please click here.
About the Film
1995; 48 Minutes, English and Arabic with English Subtitles.
“Gives a thorough insight into the historical events surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, filmed through the eyes of a former British General reliving the battles and considering the role of the British in the conflict.” —Cantilevers
In late 1947, Palestine is a country in the throes of war between Palestine’s Arabs and Jews. The British government is officially responsible for maintaining law and order but it quickly loses control and decides to abandon the country on May 15th 1948, leaving behind a war which was to lead to the tragic dispossession of over three quarter million Palestinian Arabs of their homes and the creation of the state of Israel. One man, Major Derek Cooper, witnessed those final days of the Mandate as an officer in the British army responsible for the protection of the Arab city of Jaffa. His experiences there marked him so deeply that he continued to work on behalf of Palestine’s refugees for most of his life. The film tells the story of his return to Palestine/Israel in the summer of 1995.
Going Home tells the story of Cooper’s return to Israel in the summer of 1995. In an effort to capture the past, Cooper and his wife revisit famous sites and talk to Palestinians and Israelis about the events of 1948. This film is a compelling look back at the beginning of a conflict that would last for generations to come.

Film Online Screening: Liwan: A Story of Cultural Resistance
2022-06-04 09:00 - 10:30 | WA
“Liwan” is a documentary about the cultural space of the same name in Nazareth. Producer and Director Doris Hakim first met the founders of Liwan – Sami Jabali, Sally Azzam and Silke Wanner – back in 2016, when an exhibition she was to put on in Nazareth was banned. They came out to support her, and she immediately fell in love with them and with Liwan.

To register for this event please click here.
To view the film trailer please click here.

Second Intifada - 20 Years On: Film Series: Online
2022-06-09 - 2022-06-12 | WA
The Second Intifada heralded a particularly fresh, urgent and experimental approach to filmmaking, in tune with the uprisings to which they contributed. Working at a distance from both the main political organizations and, often, the aesthetic insistences of Global Northern art cinema funding, filmmakers took advantage of accessible technologies to forge new notions of freedom. The prolific body of work from this period does not just defiantly catalogue heightened colonial aggressions and appropriations, it does so with a wit and eclecticism of approach that touched diverse audiences at home and internationally.
Featuring works by Ayreen Anastas, Nahed Awwad, Enas I. Al-Muthaffar, Annemarie Jacir, and Larissa Sansour

Celebrating Pride + Luminance: A Mizna Tribute to Etel Adnan
2022-06-23 - 2022-06-26 | WA
As part of Mizna’s Pride programming, we celebrate the life and legacy of the prolific artist, writer, and philosopher Etel Adnan in a series of film and literary programs.

Adnan’s thoughtful and fierce approach to her practice serves as an inspiration and will continue to have a deep impact. Mizna’s summer programs in film and literature will highlight the work of Adnan and the ways her significant contributions to the cultural realm continue to radiate in her absence.
Available virtually June 23– 26, 2022 WORLDWIDE. Tickets are pay what you can. TICKETS

Shall I Compare You to a Summer's Day? (Bashtaalak sa’at) [In-Person Only]
2022-06-23 20:30 - 22:30 | Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 2, Seattle, WA, 98122, United States
About the film:

(Mohammad Shawky Hassan, Egypt, Lebanon & Germany, 2022, 66 min, in English and Arabic with English subtitles)
** US premiere! Co-presented by Goethe Pop Up Seattle & Three Dollar Bill Cinema **
In celebration of Seattle Pride, we are proud to partner with Three Dollar Bill Cinema to present the US premiere of Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day, the arty, sensual, and short first feature film by Egyptian video artist and filmmaker Mohammad Shawky Hassan. Imaginatively shot in blue-screen studios in Berlin, Shall I Compare You is set in a time that is part tongue-in-cheek mythical past, part relentlessly contemporary, all queer, and all Cairo. When our mistress of ceremonies (the Egyptian singer, actor, and powerful diva Donia Massoud) undertakes to tell the story of a queer romance, she is diverted endlessly among the intersecting and diverging tales of the men of Club Scheherezade. This storybook Club is in an Egypt where gay and queer people can date, kiss, argue, and hold hands without (or almost without) fear. The fact that this freedom must be fantastical is the determinedly cheerful movie’s sucker punch
The movie’s light tone belies an artistic seriousness of intent, and the everyday intimacies of the men before the screen are given the weight of legend by fable-like chapter titles from the Arabian Nights and by song, mostly decontextualized Egyptian pop, sung earnestly by the men themselves or by Massoud. Slyly carnal, Shall I Compare You almost literally goes inside relationships, hookups, and the space between while finding wonderful opportunities for solidarity among its characters
In the film’s slippery, giddily artificial structure, Hassan employs what has been called a queer dramaturgy, characterized by a subversive joy in digression and sexuality not unrelated, perhaps, to that of the original Arabian Nights. Shall I Compare You brings a gloriously peculiar perspective to a complex of relationships that are limned by Grindr, tempted and troubled by polyamory, and full, always, of sincerity and heart. (Martin Schwartz)
