Arab Film Fest Film Collab!
2020-12-03 - 2020-12-13 | WA
Four Arab film + cultural orgs from across the country are partnering this year to bring you a virtual Arab Film Fest, beginning on December 3, 2020.
The Arab American National Museum (AANM), Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI), ArteEast and Mizna collectively present the Arab Film Fest Collab December 3–13, 2020. With programs highlighting Afro-Arab and Black SWANA voices and narratives, 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. While films are in Arabic, French, Somali or English, every festival offering is subtitled in English.
All-Access passes are $90 and individual tickets for select films will also be available. All details here.
#AFFC2020

Arab Film Fest Collab Opening Night
2020-12-03 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Arab Film Fest Collab will open with Najwa Najjar’s much anticipated Between Heaven and Earth. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
There will also be a special welcome from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib!
Inspired by true events, Najjar’s film focuses on Salma and Tamer who live in Occupied Palestine and have decided to divorce after five years of marriage. For the first time, Tamer is given a three-day permit to cross the Israeli checkpoint to file for divorce in the courts of Nazareth. However, things do not go as planned when the court’s clerk refuses to process the divorce after he confronts them with a secret about Tamer’s father’s past––an affair with an Iraqi Jewish woman in the 1950s. With only 72 hours to find this woman and finalize the divorce documents before Tamer’s permit expires, the couple sets out on a journey that takes them between the present and the past.
Please note: After this content becomes available December 3rd at 4:00 pm PST, you’ll have 7 days to start watching. Once you begin, you’ll have 48 hours to finish watching.
Questions? Learn How to Fest

Story Time the ArabishWay: Colors
2020-12-04 13:00 - 13:30
During this fun and engaging story time, you will hear the colors in Arabic while enjoying stories in a colloquial Levantine dialect, hearing songs in Arabic and doing a fun craft.
Geared for ages 3 to 6 but great for all aged learners.
This is part of the Palestine Writes Conference!
Check out the full program here.
And be sure to register and support here.

Story Time the ArabishWay: Numbers/Days of the Week
2020-12-05 08:00 - 08:30
During this fun and engaging story time, you will hear the numbers and the days of the week in Arabic while enjoying stories in a colloquial Levantine dialect, hearing songs in Arabic and doing a fun craft.
Geared for ages 3 to 6 but great for all aged learners.
This is part of the Palestine Writes Conference!
Check out the full program here.
And be sure to register and support here.

Story Time the ArabishWay: Animals
2020-12-05 09:30 - 10:00
During this fun and engaging story time, you will learn the names of some animals in Arabic while enjoying stories in a colloquial Levantine dialect, hearing songs in Arabic and doing a fun craft.
Geared for ages 3 to 6 but great for all aged learners.
This is part of the Palestine Writes Conference!
Check out the full program here.
And be sure to register and support here.

Middle Eastern Sweets with Nadia Tommalieh
2020-12-05 15:00 - 17:00, 2020-12-12 13:00 - 15:00
Whenever NADIA TOMMALIEH graces the kitchen at the Pantry, she brings with her the stories of her beautiful home and family in the form of delicious and heart-warming food. The holidays are the perfect time to dig into some of her favorite sweet treats yourself, and to share them with those you love. You’ll make ka’ak asawer (Palestinian date cookies) along with toasty barazek (sesame and pistachio cookies) and delicate, ghraybeh (shortbread cookies with orange blossom water).
This is a live, hands-on cooking class held in your kitchen via Zoom. Class is meant to be as interactive as it would be at our table, with the instructor teaching you how to prepare each recipe. Each class ticket is for one kitchen, and we welcome group cooking on the same screen. All recipes are designed for four servings.

InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema program
2020-12-12 12:00 - 21:00
We are proud to join NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as presenting partners for this year’s virtual edition of the annual NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema program, powered by Seed&Spark. 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.
The second program of the evening is InFocus: Arab Cinema, a compelling program of short films we curated in partnership with NFMLA to showcase Arab storytellers from across the world, featuring stories that cinematically capture resilience and community amidst the hardships of immigration, political instability and personal loss.
The night concludes with InFocus: Middle Eastern Cinema, a selection of striking short films from Middle Eastern filmmakers who have made their work all over the world – Lebanon, Israel, Iran and the US. They tell thrilling and thoughtful stories of taking risks, finding and embracing authenticity, the struggle of persecution and the strength of those who fight it.
SCHEDULE DETAILS
Program #1: InFocus: Dutch Cinema
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Suggested Screening Time
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM – Audience Q&A
Program #2: InFocus: Arab Cinema
2:45 PM – 4:45 PM – Suggested Screening Time
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Audience Q&A
Program #3: InFocus: Middle Eastern Cinema
6:15 PM – 7:45 PM – Suggested Screening Time
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Audience Q&A
Grab your virtual seat!

Palestine Museum US Virtual Gala & Art Auction
2020-12-13 13:00 - 15:00
Telling the Palestinian Story Through the Arts
Please join us to support the mission of the Palestine Museum US. A full program will be published shortly.
Please click here to register and purchase tickets for the Event.

On Demand NWFF Movie: Mayor
2020-12-27 - 2021-01-12
Mayor is a real-life political saga following Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine. Rich with detailed observation and a surprising amount of humor, Mayor offers a portrait of dignity amidst the madness and absurdity of endless occupation while posing a question: how do you run a city when you don’t have a country?

YEAR
2020

RUNTIME
89 mins

LANGUAGE
English, Arabic

COUNTRY
United States, United Kingdom

RATING
NR

Sur La Table: Online Taste of Morocco
2021-01-06 16:00 - 18:00
Menu
Click here for prep packet and shopping list

Braised Chicken with Dried Fruit and Couscous
Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta and Mint

Instructor: BB

Movie: Where Should the Birds Fly
2021-01-09 09:00 - 11:30
To register for this event please click here.
To view the film trailer please click here.
The screening of the film will be followed by Q&As and discussions with film director Fida Qishta.
About the Film
Where Should the Birds Fly is the first film about Gaza made by Palestinians living the reality of Israel’s siege and blockade of this tiny enclave. It is the story of two young women, survivors of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. Mona Samouni, now nineteen years old and the filmmaker, Fida Qishta, now thirty-five. They represent the spirit and future of Palestinians. It reveals the strength and hope, the humanity and humor that flourishes among the people of Gaza. Few films document so powerfully and personally the impact of modern warfare and sanctions on a civilian population.

P&P Live! Koa Beck — White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind - with Ruby Hamad
2021-01-11 15:00 - 17:00
A timely and impassioned exploration of how our society has commodified feminism and continues to systemically shut out women of color–perfect for fans of White Fragility and Good and Mad .

Join the important conversation about race, empowerment, and inclusion in the United States with this powerful new feminist classic and rousing call for change. Koa Beck, writer and former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, boldly examines the history of feminism, from the true mission of the suffragettes to the rise of corporate feminism with clear-eyed scrutiny and meticulous detail. She also examines overlooked communities–including Native American, Muslim, transgender, and more–and their difficult and ongoing struggles for social change.
Koa Beck is the former editor-in-chief of Jezebel. Previously, she was the executive editor at Vogue and cohost of “The #MeToo Memos” on WNYC’s The Takeaway. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Observer, The Guardian, and Esquire, among others. For her reporting prowess, she has been interviewed by the BBC and has appeared on many panels about gender and identity at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and Columbia Journalism School to name a few.
Ruby Hamad is a journalist, author, and academic completing a Ph.D. in media studies at UNSW (Australia). Her Guardian article, ‘How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Color, ‘ became a global flashpoint for discussions of white feminism and racism and inspired her debut book, White Tears/Brown Scars, which has received critical acclaim in her home country of Australia. Her writing has also featured in Prospect Magazine, The New Arab, and more.
CLICK HERE to join the Live! event
Monday, January 11, 2021 – 6 p.m (EST?)

This is Not a Movie: ROBERT FISK and the Politics of Truth
2021-01-13 17:00 - 2021-01-17 23:30
January 13, 2021 |This is Not a Movie: ROBERT FISK and the Politics of Truth
Followed by a Q & A with filmmaker Yung Chang!
We are proud to co-present a special tribute screening to the late Robert Fisk, in partnership with the Middle East Children’s Alliance.
Robert Fisk died on October 30, 2020 in Ireland at the age of 74.
ABOUT THE FILM:
For more than 40 years, journalist Robert Fisk has reported on some of the most violent and divisive conflicts in the world. Yung Chang’s This Is Not a Movie captures Fisk in action—feet on the ground, notebook in hand, as he travels into landscapes devastated by war, ferreting out the facts and firing reports back home to reach an audience of millions.
After this content becomes available January 13th at 5:00 pm PST, you’ll have 4 days to start watching. Once you begin, you’ll have 24 hours to finish watching the film. The January 13th at 5:00 pm live stream can be viewed anytime until January 17th at 11:45 pm.

Movie: Sands of Sorrow
2021-01-16 09:00 - 10:00
This event is free but does require registration.
To register for this event please click here.
To view the film trailer please click here.
The screening of the film will be followed by discussions with the audience.
About the Film
After returning from a trip to the Middle East in 1950, Dorothy Thompson, a civil rights advocate and journalist, introduces this film and emphasizes the need for providing immediate relief to suffering Palestinian refugees to avoid starvation and “ugly political consequences.” The film was produced by a charitable organization called the Council for Relief of Palestinian Arab Refugees. It is believed to be the first documentary film to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the aftermath of the 1948 Nakba. It was mainly intended to encourage Americans to donate for the relief effort. Black and white film, directed by Theodore A. Morde and narrated by John S. Martin. Runtime is 28 minutes.

ARCE Open Public Lecture: Panel Discussion of the Lecture Anxieties about Race in Egyptology and Egyptomania, 1890-1960
2021-01-16 10:00 - 12:00
Registration is required
Presented by: Donald Reid, Salima Ikram, Vanessa Davies, Fayza Haikal, Eve M. Troutt Powell, & Annissa Malvoisin
Info about the lecture:
Despite ideals of scientific and scholarly objectivity, both Egyptologists and non-specialists have often projected their own racial anxieties back into ancient Egypt. Recurrent attempts to prove that the ancient Egyptians were white or Black, for example, reveal more about modern societies than about ancient Egypt. The panel will discuss the history of how such debates have played out among modern Western and Egyptian scholars, artists, and writers, and how interpretations of ancient Egypt are intertwined with personal beliefs and prejudices.

To prepare for the program, audience members should listen to this lecture HERE, given at Harvard in 2017 in advance.

Virtual Artist Talks - A Conversation with Mohammed Al Haj
2021-01-17 09:00 - 10:00
The Palestine Museum US will feature Mohammed Al Haj, a young Gazan artist in its artists’ talk series. Al Haj will share his unique sculptural technique and speak about his current solo exhibition. A student will speak about the sculpture workshops he began and teaches in a Gaza refugee camp. Audience discussion will follow.

the Pantry Sunday Supper: Classic Kofta with Nadia Tommalieh
2021-01-17 16:00 - 18:00
Whatever your Sunday traditions may be, let cooking with your loved ones be a part of it! Our Sunday Supper series aims to get your whole household cooking together, whipping up a comforting meal to be shared at your table. “Sawani” is the Arabic word for trays, and refers to many kinds of baked trays of comfort food found across the Arab world. In this class NADIA TOMMALIEH will teach you about her family’s favorite sawani: Kofta! You’ll learn how to mix and form kofta for kofta bil bandora (baked lamb and beef patties with potatoes and tomato sauce) with ruz bil she’iryeh (vermicelli rice). We will finish with muhalabia bil bortokal (layered milk and orange pudding) for dessert.
This is a live, hands-on cooking class held in your kitchen via Zoom. Class is meant to be as interactive as it would be at our table, with the instructor teaching you how to prepare each recipe. Each class ticket is for one kitchen, and we welcome group cooking on the same screen. All recipes are designed for four servings.

Free Screening of the Film "Martin Luther King in Palestine"
2021-01-18 09:00 - 11:00
SYNOPSIS
Martin Luther King in Palestine follows an African American gospel group led by Stanford professor and King scholar Clay Carson who travel to Palestine in March of 2011 to perform an original play about MLK written by Carson. While there, the small choir of political neophytes quickly discover the repressive conditions Palestinians endure daily under the Occupation, and empathy develops between peoples who have a shared history of oppression.An elderly Palestinian refugee couple in a final standoff with the israeli authorities to maintain their lifestyle in Roshmia; the last natural valley in Haifa. Yousef and his wife Amna,who originally descents from the Gypsies of Palestine, have lived in a shack all alone in their eighties since 1956 in what seems to be a life of serenity; far away from the loudness of modern life. Life remains peaceful in Roshmia until the israeli authorities endorse a new road project and order to confiscate their land, demolish the shack and throw them out. A friend of the couple tries to secure a compensation from the municipality but the shack is Yousef’s home that he insists on keeping; living in bliss and comfort as ever, however the negotiations continue and tension grows among the three. Furthermore, and besides the physical displacement and despair they are nearly facing, Yousef and Amna are about to go on separate ways.

Making and Cooking Grape Leaves (Warak ElEnab) with Sereen
2021-01-22 11:00 - 13:00
Highline College Arabic Club
Presents
Making and Cooking Grape Leaves (Warak ElEnab) with Sereen
Come and see how to make the famous Arabic Grape Leaves dish Palestinian Style with one of our students, Sereen.
Arabic Club Group Page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hcarabicclub
Live on Zoom: https://highline.zoom.us/j/82828994329
January 22, 2021 at 11 AM
Sponsored by Highline College &

Whose Struggle for What? Sexual Minorities and Social Movements in Africa
2021-01-22 12:00 - 13:30
Have popular political protests in Tunisia, Ethiopia, and Sudan in the past decade allowed sexual minorities to imagine cultivating a world beyond the violence and injustices to which they have been subjected?

Serawit Debele is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany.

Additional co-sponsor: Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
PLEASE NOTE: THE DATE OF THIS EVENT HAS MOVED TO FRIDAY, JANUARY 22. If you already registered for this event on the original date of January 20, you do not need to re-register.

Gaza Lockdown Remote Theatre- Short Plays Written and Performed by Gaza Children
2021-01-24 09:00 - 10:30
Gaza Lockdown Remote Theatre – Short Plays Written and Performed by Gaza Children
The Hands Up Project (London, UK) works with children in Gaza on learning English and drama. Children write their own plays and perform them in English. In this one hour program we will be showing a few of the remote theatre plays, each under 5 minutes, including some live performance, technology and electricity in Gaza permitting.

VIRTUAL TALK | Street Sounds: Listening to Everyday Life in Modern Egypt
2021-01-25 12:30 - 14:00
Presenter: Ziad Fahmy is Professor of Modern Middle East History, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University. He is the author of Street Sounds: Listening to Everyday Life in Modern Egypt (Stanford, 2020); and Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture (Stanford, 2011). He is currently writing his third book, tentatively titled, Broadcasting Identity: Radio and the Making of Modern Egypt, 1925-1952.
Zoom online. Register at: washington.zoom.us…
Monday, Jan 25, 2021, 12:30 – 2 p.m.

P&P Live! Eman Quotah — BRIDE OF THE SEA - with Susan Muaddi Darraj
2021-01-25 17:00 - 19:00
During a snowy Cleveland February, newlywed university students Muneer and Saeedah are expecting their first child, and he is harboring a secret: The word “divorce” is whispering in his ear. Soon, their marriage will end, and Muneer will return to Saudi Arabia, while Saeedah remains in Cleveland with their daughter, Hanadi. Consumed by a growing fear of losing her child, Saeedah disappears with the little girl, leaving Muneer to desperately search for his daughter for years. The repercussions of the abduction ripple outward, not only changing the lives of Hanadi and her parents, but also their interwoven family and friends—those who must choose sides and hide their own deeply guarded secrets.
Eman Quotah’s Bride of the Sea is a spellbinding debut of colliding cultures, immigration, religion, and family; an intimate portrait of loss and healing; and, ultimately, a testament to the ways we find ourselves inside love, distance, and heartbreak.
Quotah will be in conversation with Susan Muaddi Darraj, author of the short story collection A Curious Land: Stories from Home, which won the 2016 AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, the 2016 Arab American Book Award, and was shortlisted for a Palestine Book Award. In 2019, she launched the viral #TweetYourThobe social media campaign to promote Palestinian culture.
This event is presented in partnership with the Middle East Institute. MEI’s Arts & Culture Center facilitates cross-cultural understanding by promoting the work of Middle Eastern artists, hosting them in conversation, and MEI’s Arts & Culture Center facilitates cross-cultural understanding by promoting the work of Middle Eastern artists, hosting them in conversation, and connecting them with American counterparts connecting them with American counterparts.
Monday, January 25, 2021 – 8 p.m.

Lion Rock Visiting Writers Series @ Central Washington University (Online)
2021-01-26 18:00 - 19:30
Lion Rock Visiting Writers Series @ Central Washington University (Online)

Dujie Tahat (he/they) is a Filipino-Jordanian immigrant living in Washington state. They are the author of Here I Am O My God and Salat, winner of the Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Award. With Luther Hughes and Gabrielle Bates, they cohost The Poet Salon podcast. dujietahat.com
Jourdan Imani Keith is an essayist, playwright, naturalist, educator, and storyteller whose work blends the textures of political, personal and natural landscapes to offer voices from the margins of American lives. Keith has performed nationally and internationally, including on TEDx. Jourdan Keith is Founder and Director of Urban Wilderness Project. jourdankeith.wordpress.com

Online Book Launch: Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine by Jeff Halper
2021-01-27 11:00 - 12:30
Please join Jeff Halper and chair Yasmin Alibhai Brown for the launch event of his latest book Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State, published by Pluto Press and co-hosted by The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

POSTED ONFRI, JAN 22, 2021
Online Book Launch: Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine by Jeff Halper

Please join Jeff Halper and chair Yasmin Alibhai Brown for the launch event of his latest book Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State, published by Pluto Press and co-hosted by The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

For decades we have spoken of the ‘Israel-Palestine conflict’, but what if our understanding of the issue has been wrong all along? This book explores how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement’s project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence.EVENT DETAILS
Jeff Halper argues that the only way out of a colonial situation is decolonization: the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination and control and their replacement by a single democratic state, in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews forge a new civil society and a shared political community.
To show how this can be done, Halper uses the 10-point program of the One Democratic State Campaign as a guide for thinking through the process of decolonization to its post-colonial conclusion. Halper’s unflinching reframing will empower activists fighting for the rights of the Palestinians and democracy for all.
Jeff Halper is the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a founding member of the One Democratic State Campaign. He is the author of War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification (Pluto, 2015), An Israeli in Palestine (Pluto, 2010), Obstacles to Peace (ICAHD, 2003 and subsequent editions) and Redemption and Revival: The Jewish Yishuv in Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century (Westview, 1991).
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a prominent political and social commentator, a journalist, an author and an Orwell Prize and National Press Awards winner. A regular columnist for the i and feature writer for the Sunday Times Magazine, she is the editor of Biteback’s Provocations series, for which she wrote Refusing the Veil in 2014 and In Defence of Political Correctness in 2018. Her other works include Exotic England, which tells the story of a nation that has always been diverse and hybrid

ARCE NY Chapter: Aesop, Egypt, and the Origins and Reception of Fables
2021-01-28 11:00 - 12:00

Smithsonian Sampler Series: Tatreez
2021-01-29 12:00 - 14:00
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
For generations, Palestinian women have gathered with their daughters to work collectively on embroidery projects, bonding with one another over a cup of tea. Guided by Wafa Ghnaim, who began her training in embroidery with her mother at age 2, learn the basic Palestinian cross-stitch and how to create a tatreez sampler, using a standard size sheet of Aida cloth fabric and one that can incorporate numerous patterns and eventually become a wall-hanging.
If you have already begun a tatreez sampler, this workshop will teach you traditional patterns and stitching strategies to further develop your piece. You are not required to take all three workshops in this winter series (Jan. 29; Feb. 26; and March 12)—you may take one, or all. The purpose of the sampler series is to develop your stitching skills, introduce you to new patterns throughout the region’s history, as well as learn more about textiles produced in the Holy Land throughout the centuries.
Open to students of all skill levels, learn the history and meaning behind traditional Palestinian patterns, basics of transferring a pattern to fabric, threading a needle, various cross-stitching methodologies, how to keep the back of your cloth clean, color theory and design, project planning, and motif repetition. No experience is required.
Download the supply list for this class

Share a Language: Arabic - Virtual Event via Tinley Park Public Library
2021-01-30 08:00 - 08:30
Event by Tinley Park Public Library

Online: us02web.zoom.us

Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 8 AM PST – 8:30 AM PST

Tickets
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_V0muwOBIRuWGySEnf_w-1Q

Public · Anyone on or off Facebook

Ages 3-8 years with adult(s): Enrich your day by joining this storytime offered by a native speaker of Arabic. Signup required through Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_iilYKUo9Sl-WqomUgA2umQ

Movie: Jenin, Jenin - Live Stream
2021-01-30 09:00 - 11:00
To register for this event please click here.
To view the film trailer please click here.
The screening of the film will be followed by Q&A discussion with film Director Mohammad Bakri.
About the Film
Muhammad Bakri’s film “Jenin, Jenin” caused a storm in Israel and even made it to the Supreme Court (which made a decision banning its release).
The film deals with the events of Jenin in April 2002, when the Israeli Army invaded the West Bank town and the refugee camp as part of the so-called “Operation Defensive Shield.”
Palestinians as well as human rights groups accuse Israel of war crimes committed during the siege and invasion of the Palestinian refugee camp in April 2002. “Jenin Jenin” demonstrates the extent of Israeli oppression and terror and the effects they have left behind.
