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12th Annual San Diego Arab Film Festival

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7:30 PM, ongoing daily from March 3, 2023 until March 12, 2023.

Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art (MOPA @ SDMA) in Balboa Park

individual screenings at $15 (discounted to $10 for students), 3-ticket packages for $40 and passes for all 8 screenings for $80

Arabic dinners (including vegetarian option) will be available each evening for $15

The San Diego Arab Film Festival (SDAFF) is a project of KARAMA, a local non-profit that promotes understanding of the issues of the Arab and Islamic world and of the Palestinian issue in particular. In 2012, its inaugural year, the Festival screened 3 feature films and 5 short films from six countries. The Festival has grown steadily. The 2023 edition includes 8 features and 8 short films from across the Arab world and the Arrab diaspora.

KARAMA’S goal is to grow the San Diego Arab Film Festival into a major cultural event that enhances the identity, perception, and understanding of Arabs and the Arab world. More information about KARAMA is available at www.karamanow.org.

Tickets are on sale now, including individual screenings at $15 (discounted to $10 for students), 3-ticket packages for $40 and passes for all 8 screenings for $80. Arabic dinners (including vegetarian option) will be available each evening for $15.

Visit: sandiegoaff.org
San Diego Arab Film Festival on Facebook / Instagram

The start time for films vary:

"ALAM" By Firas Khoury - Friday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Tamer is a Palestinian teenager living in Israel. He and his friends lead a typical high school student’s life until the arrival of the beautiful Maysaa’. To seduce her, Tamer agrees to take part in a mysterious flag operation on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day which is a mourning day for Palestinians.

"THE DAM" By Ali Cherri - Saturday, March 4 at 6:15 p.m.

Sudan, near the Merowe Dam. Maher works in a traditional brickyard fed by the waters of the Nile. Every evening, he secretly wanders off into the desert to build a mysterious construction made of mud. While the Sudanese people rise to claim their freedom, his creation slowly starts to take a life of its own…

"MEMORY BOX" By Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige - Saturday, March 4 at 8:30 p.m.

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.

"OUR RIVER....OUR SKY" By Maysoon Pachachi - Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

OUR RIVER…OUR SKY is an ensemble film of intersecting stories that takes place in the last week of 2006 – between Christmas and New Year. It tells the stories of ordinary Iraqis trying to live their everyday lives amidst intense unpredictable sectarian violence. The central character of the film – described by KQED (USA) as a “fiction writer played with great charm and heart by Darina Al Joundi” is a single mother and novelist, who struggles to make sense of the fragmentation of her world. Shortly before the New Year, following the unexpected news of Saddam Hussein’s execution, Sara and her neighbors brace themselves for an uncertain future while trying to sustain a fragile sense of hope.

"UNDER THE FIG TREES" By Erige Sehiri - Saturday, March 11 at 6 p.m.

Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections.

"JACIR" By Waheed AlQawasmi - Saturday, March 11 at 8:30 p.m.

From Aleppo to the Ghetto. Jacir follows the life of a young Syrian refugee (Malek Rahbani) on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee as he faces the hard truth in chasing the American dream, while living in poverty, witnessing social injustice and his neighbor’s (Lorraine Bracco) opioid addiction.

"LIFE SUITS ME WELL" By Al Hadi Ulad Mohand - Sunday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m.

It is the mid-1990s. In a small town in the north of Morocco, Fouad is the only employee of the local post office. When he is stricken from neurological disease, his life changes, and a new life begins for Fouad, his wife, and their children. Their home will be filled with love, sorrow, and memories. While Fouad is slowly dying, his family members rediscover themselves. As time goes by, the wounds begin to surface – but the desire to live is inextinguishable.

"MEDITERRANEAN FEVER" By Maha Haj - Sunday, March 12 at 7:45 p.m.

The drama revolves around an aspiring but depressed writer living in Haifa who befriends his small-time crook neighbour in the hope he will help him with a sinister scheme. Amer Hlehel and Ashraf Farah lead the cast.

There is a short film festival schedule too!

This year the Festival offers short films from across the Arab world representing a range of styles and genres. The final line up includes films that have been screened at Cannes as well as other international festivals. They include "Hibernate" and "From the Mountain" from Syria, "Merge" from Saudi Arabia," "Ashes (Cendres) from Tunisia, "Bouchaib" from Morocco, "Warsha" from Lebanon, "Hamza: Chasing the Ghost Chasing Me" from Palestine and "Virtual Voice" from Sudan and Qatar.

Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art (MOPA @ SDMA) in Balboa Park

1649 El Prado

San Diego, California 92101

619-238-7559

info@mopa.org

The mission of the Museum of Photographic Arts is to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection, and preservation of photography, film and video. Since its founding in 1983, the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) has been devoted to collecting, conserving and exhibiting the entire spectrum of the photographic medium. The museum’s endeavors consistently address cultural, historical and social issues through its exhibitions and public tours. The Museum of Photographic Arts is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a member-supported, private, non-profit institution. Additional support for museum programs is provided in part by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, the Weingart-Price Fund, the San Diego Foundation, Patrons of the Prado and the National Endowment for the Arts. MOPA is located in Balboa Park in the Casa De Balboa building, east of the main traffic circle and central fountain. Gallery Admissions: MOPA has a pay-what-you-wish admission policy. Recommended pricing is $8 adults $7 seniors and retired military $6 students FREE to members, active military & dependents, and children 12 & under FREE to school groups with advanced reservation San Diego Residents' Free Tuesdays San Diego City and County residents and all active military members get in FREE, every second TUESDAY of the month. Please bring your ID. Hours of Operation: Tuesday - Sunday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Summer Hours: Thursday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. through the summer. Closed: Mondays, Martin Luther King Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Holiday Hours: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Includes: President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve)