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WATCH THE FESTIVAL TRAILER
NEW: Listen to the KQED Interview
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SA 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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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.
In addition to the latest documentaries about regions marked by conflict, this year's non-fiction works are also inspired by the diversity and multifaceted nature of the Arab world. In documentaries about music, family histories, and unusual meetings, multiple stories of converging worlds are woven together. A documentary about the revival of a traditional folkloric music, for example, or a report on the first Hip Hop Festival in Morocco, both express a concern about the future and about the changing nature of artistic expression in Arab countries. This focus is extended in films that show the counter cultures of a new generation within Arab societies, one which seems to be gaining in artistic maturity in these defining selections of the 2007 program.
In keeping with this increasingly diverse representation, a majority of the films in our program are made by women. Looking ahead, we are excited about the first appearance of the Arab Film Festival in Los Angeles, which will offer an unprecedented selection of our Bay Area programming in Southern California.
Only with the help of tireless volunteers and generous board members can we hope to continue transforming this cultural gathering into a Bay Area international film festival, proud to welcome many filmmakers who are eager to connect with an American audience that often seems beyond their reach. I want to thank each one of the dedicated individuals and organizations whose hard work and support define the Arab Film Festival and testify to the need for showing these films outside the Arab world.
Our vision as a festival is to build sensitivity and a better understanding for multiculturalism, and to create an openness for new expressions on film. Screenings and special programs in high schools, universities, and with partner organizations strengthen our outreach and educational impact and serve that vision. Exposure and knowledge are our best allies against fundamentalism and the denial of free expression.
Sonia El-Feki
Artistic Director
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