Route 181: Fragments of a Journey In Palestine-Israel, a three-part film
2022-01-27 - 2022-01-30
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
