2025 MENA Film Festival

Pause Bundle

Expired February 12, 2024 8:00 AM
Already unlocked? for access
8 films in package
He's Dead Now
Hazem is distraught after his family secrets are made public when his mother decides to expose his late father’s sexual affairs during his funeral rites.
The Cut
Shot in the old medina of Casablanca, Morocco, during the festivities of Eid al-Adha, The Cut is a short film exploring the Muslim tradition of animal sacrifice. Following the multiple stages of the ceremony leading up to the sacrifice, the film depicts the mystical atmosphere of the festival, emphasising on the gestures associated with the ritual and the labour of hands as they execute the passage from life to death.
Eid Mubarak
Iman, a privileged Pakistani girl, goes with her family to buy a goat, as is the tradition in Pakistan before Eid al-Azha. She picks the cutest one, and takes it home. She spends all of her time with the goat, whom she names Barfi. Soon, however, she realizes that Barfi is not a pet, but a goat being raised for slaughter. She makes a plan to save Barfi's life. Along the way, through the help of her family and friends, she learns the true meaning of sacrifice, and the reason behind Eid al-Azha.
Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola
After growing up in the secular households of their Turkish immigrant parents in the Midwest, Özlem and Ada are desperate to celebrate a tradition of their own. For the first time, they embark on a day of fasting and a night of feasting for Ramadan.
Ayyur / Moon
Forough Farrokhzad ''To film and make ugliness visible would be to attenuate it. Not to look away is to make it beautiful, ugliness doesn't exist when you see an ugly man as a man, you discover beauty.''
Ahu
Ahu follows the healing journey of two women, Ahu and her neighbour Jaycee, who form a bond while confronting their own personal struggles in their low-income rental apartment.
Sweet Refuge
A passionate Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the US attempting to sell the sweet he has spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. As he roams the streets of Brooklyn, he bumps into a savvy Indian ladoo maker, who appears to have figured out how to appeal to one of New York's health-conscious Brooklynites.
Vibrations from Gaza
This film was conceived after my visit to Gaza to work with traumatized children in an art therapy program following the 2021 Israeli attack. It intends to give Palestinian Deaf children in the besieged Gaza a voice to share their experiences, shedding light on the horrific conditions they have been enduring since 2007. It also questions the deafness of the world towards the conditions of 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
This virtual screening is eligible for audience awards! Unlock it to cast your vote.
Protected ContentThis content can only be viewed in authorized regions: Canada.

ACCESS THE FULL MENA 5 ONLINE PROGRAM WITH AN ONLINE ALL-ACCESS PASS!


INDIVIDUAL SCREENING TICKETS:


REGULAR – $10

SENIOR / STUDENT / ACCESSIBILITY – $8

INDIGENOUS – $0

“Breaking Fast with a Coca Cola” follows two Turkish American teenagers, Özlem and Ada, who decide to fast for Ramadan for the first time. The twist is that their immigrant parents, in an effort to assimilate in an ethnically and religiously homogeneous American suburb in the Midwest, left traditions like fasting for Ramadan behind in Turkey. Özlem and Ada, desperate to connect with the culture of their ancestors, must hide their fast from their parents. Through strategic planning and a few hiccups along the way, Özlem and Ada successfully maneuver around their parents, culturally clueless neighbors, and grumbling stomachs to make it through a day of fasting and evening of feasting.

  • Year
    2023
  • Runtime
    14 minutes
  • Language
    English, Turkish
  • Country
    USA
  • Awards
    SXSW World Premiere (2023)
  • Director
    Amy Omar
Copy link
Add to calendar