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WATCH THE FESTIVAL TRAILER
NEW: Listen to the KQED Interview
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As we prepare to unveil the 11th Annual Arab Film Festival lineup, I am delighted at the community's excitement and anticipation for another season showcasing Arab films in the Bay Area and for our inaugural year in Los Angeles. With a record number of films and guest filmmakers, premieres, and our very own first-time Noor Awards, the film festival boldly enters its second decade.
The San Francisco Opening Night film Making Of, by internationally celebrated director, Nouri Bouzid, finds surprising creativity and idealism in a young Tunisian man as he struggles with societal neglect and an ideology of violence. Lebanese film Falafel, the Los Angeles Centerpiece Screening, and A Perfect Day also depict young men wandering in urban landscapes; in these two films, the setting is modern-day Beirut. Two fascinating period pieces are Flower of Oblivion from Tunisia, and A Muslim Childhood, set in the Moroccan city of Tangiers. These films look back at, respectively, the saga of one lost woman's addiction to opium and a young boy's discovery of the liberating world of cinema. The Last Man and What A Wonderful World are both unique films from highly original directors: In the first-ever Lebanese vampire film, Ghassan Salhab expresses a latent malaise underlying the lives of people in an anonymous, concrete city. A similar alienation transpires in the stylized and occasionally playful scenes of Faouzi Bensaid's neo-noir tale about a hired hit man in Morocco.
Read more...
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SAN FRANCISCO OPENING NIGHT
Thursday, October 18th
Clay Theatre, 2261 Fillmore St.
San Francisco
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| 7:00pm |
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West Coast premiere of Making Of by renowned Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid, Winner of Best Film at the Carthage Film Festival.
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| 10:00pm |
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After Party at Medjool
2522 Mission St. @ 21st
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$25 Screening and Party
$10 Party Only
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AWARDS NIGHT AT THE CASTRO
Thursday, October 25th
Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St.
San Francisco
| 6:15pm |
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Noor Awards Reception
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| 8:00pm |
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Cut and Paste, a romantic comedy by Egyptian director Hala Khalil.
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$25 Reception and Screening
$15 Screening only
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LOS ANGELES KICK-OFF PARTY
Thursday, November 1st
Boardner's Club, Hollywood
1652 North Cherokee Ave.
9:30pm Kick-Off Party
$30 at door, $20 pre-purchased, Free for Festival Pass holders
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