Co-presented by the Arab American National Museum<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/4f01238d83ac597802b6b6f6bb2c1c07.png" width="251"> This is a selection of short films originally programmed for the 27th Arab Film Festival in 2023. While they were originally meant to reside in separate programs with different themes, together as one program they still compliment each other well, exploring stories of diasporic Arab life across the United States and Canada. Each filmmaker's individual approach to this topic and their unique styles each bring something different to the table.

A closeted Arab wholesale perfume seller, attempting to mask his identity with excessive amounts of Polo Sport Adjacent cologne, is knocked off centre when a charming customer sees through his act.

English

Eitr

A closeted Arab perfume seller attempts to mask his identity but he's knocked off centre when a charming customer sees through his act.

A passionate Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the U.S. attempting to sell the sweet he’s spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. As he roams the streets of Brooklyn, he bumps into a savvy Indian ladoo maker, who’s figured out how to appeal to one of New York’s health-conscious Brooklynites. About the Filmmaker: <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/d3e8f625f8516dd8ca762dfc2203b2d2.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="129">Maryam Mir is a writer/director currently pursuing her MFA in Film Production at NYU Tisch, where she is an Ang Lee Scholar. As a Kashmiri-Canadian born in Germany, raised in Bahrain, with Kenyan ancestry, Maryam has always found inspiration in stories that center the immigrant experience in all its joy, delight and magic. She is a UCP Thousand Miles Project Workshop Participant '22, a NYFA Canadian Women Artists’ Awardee '22 and a Gotham Marcie Bloom Fellow '23. Her latest short film, Sweet Refuge, starring Laith Nakli and Mahira Kakkar, was recently awarded a Jury Award at the Director's Guild of America Student Film Awards, an Canadian Woman Artists' Award from the New York Foundation of the Arts and a distribution grant from the Islamic Scholarship Fund.

Sweet Refuge

A passionate baklava baker encounters a savvy ladoo maker on the streets of Brooklyn.

Tensions rise at home when Salma's family braces for a visit from Lebanese relatives. After not having seen them in over 20 years, her mother and teta return to Middle Eastern traditions in order to impress. However, as a high school senior struggling with her own identity, Salma must choose between being the daughter her mother wants to present to them, and being herself. About the Filmmaker:<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/5f06a18c8ddb325f21d42c0a4508deae.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="126">Lara Bedewi is a first-generation Arab American writer, director, and multimedia artist from Philadelphia whose films explore vulnerability and belonging through the lens of culture, ancestry, and community. Lara is a 2021 George and Rose B. Ashe Arts Scholarship recipient and was selected as a 2022 BlackStar Film Festival official screener. She is a 2023 Cinema &amp; Television BIPOC Filmmaker Grant awardee and recently screened her work at the Drexel University Film &amp; Television showcase.

To'oborni

When relatives come to visit from their homeland, Salma must choose between being the daughter her mother wants to present to them, and being herself.

An Arab American boy is awoken to his family's otherness when he is alerted to his father's thick accent. Once it has been heard, he cannot be unheard. About the Filmmaker:<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/064e5c52eba36c1be645e57ec906a3f3.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="134">Ramiel Petros is a writer and director based in NY and LA. His work has played at numerous festivals, as well as being selected as semi-finalist for the student Academy Awards and shortlisted for the Student BAFTA Awards. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch school of the arts, and was a Creative Culture Fellow at the Jacob Burns Film Center. Ramiel is currently in production on a documentary feature.

An Arab Family

An Arab American boy is awoken to his family's otherness when he is alerted to his father's thick accent. Once it has been heard, he cannot be unheard.

Yanni, a teenage Quebecer of Algerian descent, lives in a small town with his single mother. When a muslim family moves into town, he is forced by Nicolas, his bully, to commit a hateful act towards them. To Nicolas, this may only be a sick joke, but for Yanni it is the opportunity to prove to his oppressor that he is on his side, hoping to not be his victim anymore. This film also tells the story of a teenager in search of his identity, lost between his origins and his adoptive country About the filmmaker:<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/06224cb12e2e1fc7f8669d330d01e0ad.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="130">Rachid Allaoua is a Montreal based director of Algerian descent. After receiving a degree in Cinema from l’Université du Québec à Montréal, he directed several short films which focused on characters coming from ethnic minorities.

Yanni

A Canadian-Arab teen is forced to commit a hateful act against a new Muslim family by his bully.

BEZUNA explores the complexities of fleeing a war-zone through the analysis of peripheral details. Through interweaving different narratives, the film presents the raw and broken feelings of a child and a cat whose lives will never be the same. Festivals &amp; Awards: Athens International Film and Video Festival - Jury Special Mention About the Filmmaker: <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/12b1c94ec49213537dc5e5c9e4a3142e.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="128">Saif Alsaegh is a United States-based filmmaker from Baghdad. Much of Saif’s work deals with the contrast between the landscape of his youth in Baghdad growing up as part of the indigenous Chaldean minority in the nineties and early 2000s, and the U.S. landscape where he currently lives. His films have screened in festivals and venues including Cinéma du Réel, Kurzfilm Hamburg, Kassel Dokfest, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Gene Siskel Film Center. He received his MFA in film from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Bezuna

Bezuna explores the complexities of fleeing a war-zone through the analysis of peripheral details.

An unseen Arab-American narrator obsesses over the relentless glow of a street lamp outside his bedroom window. His frustration and sleeplessness reveal a longing for connection and the complexities of second generation American identity. About the Filmmakers: <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/454bad79dbd78972d818b0798db5e845.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="133">Lily &amp; Ahmed are a married independent filmmaking duo based in Pittsburgh, PA. Lily – American, Russian, and Armenian – grew up between Washington, D.C., and Cairo, Egypt. Ahmed – Egyptian, Dutch, and American – was born and raised in Cairo. Their work emphasizes identity and place, highlighting feminism, cultural dislocation, and domestic relationships. Their films are noted for their use of voiceover narration and mixed media. Their work has screened at festivals around the world including Arab Film &amp; Media Institute’s Arab Film Festival and Uppsala Short Film Festival (where they were nominated for the Ingmar Bergman Award). Together they founded the production company Studio Ragheb.

The Street Lamp Outside My Apartment Window

An unseen Arab-American narrator obsesses over the relentless glow of a street lamp outside his bedroom window.

Trying to freeze time is an illusion. Whatever we do, life unfolds in one direction. Memory is a Dying Horse is yet another desperate attempt to challenge the irreversibility of time. A sparse, raw, somehow childish collage of reminiscences filmed on Super 8 between Syria, France and Canada. The film is accompanied with musical experimentation by Stefan Christoff. About the Filmmaker: <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/08dad8317b0cbdbc7482d3761725466a.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="127">Samer Najari lived in Damascus until he moved to Montreal in 1994. He has obtained a BFA in film production at Concordia University in 2000 and completed a residency at Le Fresnoy in France in 2003. His short films and feature film have been presented and prized in different international festivals.

Memory is a Dying Horse

A sparse, raw, somehow childish collage of reminiscences filmed on Super 8 between Syria, France and Canada.

North America

AFF 2023 - Short Films

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