Co-curated by Michelle Baroody and Sharon Mansur

Showcasing Arab and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) artists and filmmakers, this set of short films challenges documentary form as well as common narratives/images of immigration and displacement. The makers featured in this segment use cinema to expand visibility both within and outside their ancestral homelands, interrogating the policies that enforce borders and mass displacement. The films in this program depict home, place, identity, and belonging, as well as loss, scattering, and letting go, and in addition to challenging the arbitrary lines on maps, they challenge the boundaries between documentary and narrative cinema and between reality and fiction. Inviting participants and audience members to consider new ways of looking at home, immigration, and exile, this film program reflects on both past and present to consider a different future, one that can be found through art practice. A short discussion with local artists and programmers will follow the films.

Presented in partnership with The Cedar Tree Project, Frozen River Film Festival, and Mizna.

The Cedar Tree Project presents, supports and amplifies​ contemporary art and artists of Arab/SWANA heritage and regions, inviting deeper understanding, empathy ​and engagement through artistic exchange. www.cedartreeproject.com

Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and SWANA artists. https://mizna.org/