The Arab Film Festival co-presents with the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival:

All My Life by Maher Sabry
Epic in length but intimate in scope — and certainly the most daring and sexually explicit portrait of homosexual life in Egypt yet put on screen — Maher Sabry’s film evocatively details the tribulations of 26-year-old Rami, an accountant and dance student living in Cairo. Rami’s boyfriend, Waleed, has just ended their relationship in order to get married. His best girlfriend Dalia is leaving Egypt for San Francisco. And his doctor pal Kareem is pestering him to be more involved in the city’s quasi-underground gay community.
As Rami pursues his own romantic path of one-night stands with closet cases and fetishizing tourists, Kareem is arrested in a police raid on a floating discotheque called the Queen Boat (based on an actual incident in 2001, which catalyzed gay Egyptians and a variety of international human rights organizations into action).
All My Life
Egypt, 2008, 150 min
Sunday, June 22, 8:30 PM, Victoria Theatre
Official Film Website

Be Like Others by Tanaz Eshaghian

Be Like Others is a provocative look at a generation of young Iranian men choosing to undergo sex change surgery. Under Iran’s current fundamentalist rule, a homosexual may be harassed, arrested and punished with the most extreme measures possible. Yet changing your gender is not only legal, it’s perfectly acceptable under Islamic law. So, to avoid constant persecution and possible death, a high percentage of the nation’s next-generation gay population opt to willingly sign up for costly, traumatic sexual-reassignment operations. For some, these state-sanctioned surgeries are excruciating ordeals that ultimately aren’t worth the agony; for others, the medical procedure is the first step toward complete, personal liberation.
The winner of a special jury prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and a Sundance favorite, Tanaz Eshagian’s extraordinary chronicle of Iran’s transsexual community follows several patients who’ve either gone through the process or are just beginning their journey to a new life.
Be Like Others
Iran, 2008, 74min
Monday, June 23, 7:00 PM, Victoria Theatre

Frameline32, The 32nd San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival is held June 19-29, 2008. For more information, visit the website at www.frameline.org.

http://www.frameline.org/festival

The Arab Film Festival Co-presents:

On June 13, the San Francisco Film Society will begin nightly programming on one screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, bringing the most ambitious, interesting, proactive and masterful films to Bay area audiences each and every night. The Screen begins with the evocative Turkish film Times and Wind, which screened to great acclaim at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival; as Andy Bailey wrote in the Film Festival’s Program Guide, Times and Winds “offers an unforgettable glimpse of rural Islamic life that is at once timeless, out of time and transfixed — like so many works of its kind — by the futile search for lost time.”

The film, the first on the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, will play Friday, June 13 – Thursday, June 19. Film Society year-round members will receive $1 off the base ticket price for showings on the SFFS Screen. For complete details on the SFFS Screen and to become a Film Society member, visit www.sffs.org.

Benefit Screening for the 12th Annual Arab Film Festival:

Captain Abu Raed

The Arab Film Festival presents the West Coast Premiere of documentary SLINGSHOT HIP HOP at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum will be present for a Q&A after the screening.

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP was selected for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and as part of the Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films Series. The film was featured in the March issue of Vibe Magazine.

A new generation slings rhymes instead of rocks as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Interweaving multiple stories of young Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum spotlights a vibrant hip-hop scene as emerging artists discover rap and employ it as a means to surmount age-old schisms deepened by occupation and poverty. (Sundance Film Festival)

Sunday, April 27th, 2008
4:30pm
Regency Lido Theater
3459 Via Lido
Newport Beach, CA

Tickets available starting April 4th at the Newport Beach Film Festival website.

Slingshot Hip Hop Website

The Arab Film Festival is proud to co-present at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival – April 24 to May 8, 2008

The Aquarium directed by Yousry Nasrallah

The Aquarium is a subtle but spirited existential drama of modern life that concentrates—with intimations of a larger political economy of fear—on two secretly troubled thirty something professionals in Cairo whose respectable, self-assured positions belie an unspoken dread of living. Leila and Youssef, the two main characters, although attractive, poised and successful, live with a secret fear of establishing themselves in social relations outside of those created for them at work.

The Arab Film Festival co-presents with Project Peace Through Understanding and General Union of Palestinian Students:

Selected Short Films from the 2007 Arab Film Festival

Friday, April 18th, 2008, 7:30 PM
Rigoberta Menchu Hall at San Francisco State University
Free Screening

Qater Al Nada by Muayad Alayan
(2007, Palestine, 25 min)
In Beit Safafa, the only remaining Palestinian neighborhood in Israeli West Jerusalem, olive and almond fields are threatened just like the people by the politics of the occupation. The village’s Dabka dance group, Qater Al Nada, was established by a group of youth to bring back the Palestinian heritage and culture to the narrow streets, village weddings, and dance festivals, carrying the story of Beit Safafa to Palestine and the world.

Staying Alive by Zeina Aboulhosn and Anne De Mo
(2006, Lebanon, 8 min)
A sequel to Zeid’s Little Bomb, this short film follows the same punk rock band The New Government as they prepare for a concert in Beirut, in July 2006, despite the state of war with Israel.

I Remember Lebanon by Zeina Aboulhosn
2006 | Lebanon/UK | 6 min
A journey through memories of Beirut, filmed by Zeina Aboulhosn who was visiting Lebanon just before the bombs started falling. A chance to meet a new generation of young Lebanese.

Ashura: Blood and Beauty by Katia Saleh
(2006, Lebanon/UK, 20 min)
Winner of the 2007 Noor Award-Short Film Competition
Following the biggest Shia ceremony in South Lebanon over three years, this contemporary look at the 1300-year-old Ashura Muslim ritual shows that a mix of modernity and tradition in Lebanon has made Ashura a platform for young people to meet each other. This short documentary reveals a side to Ashura that the world has not yet seen, a side that is not bloody and violent but rather ambiguous and compelling.

Beirut: All Flights Cancelled by Katia Saleh
(2006, Lebanon/UK, 22 min)
Filmed during the last war in Lebanon in July 2006, this personal journey focuses on the state of mind of three different generations who experienced war in the past and who were once again caught under the state of siege. This intimate look at the effects of the war reveals aspects of the conflict seldom shown by war reporters in the media.

Sour by Nathan Gray
(2007, USA, 50 min)
A group of Israeli and Jordanian skaters jump borders and culture barriers to share a united passion for skateboarding. Shot in neighboring countries Jordan and Israel during the Israel/Lebanon conflict of last year, Sour aims to captures a unique perspective missing from news reports about the region, by putting the camera into the hands of local youth with little or no prior experience in making a film. This very process helps showcase acts of peaceful rebellion, community action, and outreach that unify people who would otherwise never meet.

The total Running Time: 2hours 11min

The Arab Film Festival co-presents with the Pacific Film Archive:
Direct Engagement: New Digital Films from Palestine and Lebanon

This series explores the vitality and diversity of documentary and experimental filmmaking in Lebanon and Palestine today. The first two programs take place at the PFA Theater, with additional events presented on the UC Berkeley campus and in San Francisco. On Monday, April 7, the Film Studies Department presents Searching for Our Destination: Films, Politics, Discussion with visiting artists Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri of the 16 Beaver St. Collective. (For more information, see the Film Studies Department)
On Wednesday, April 9, kino21 presents Palestine: Interior/Exterior, a repeat of Kamal Aljafari’s The Roof with additional local work. (For more information, see kino21)

Sunday, April 6, 2008
3:30 p.m. Summer of War: Lebanon 2006
Five recent films forcefully articulate personal and collective experiences of the war in Lebanon.
The films in this program are part of a touring exhibition organized by ArteEast.

Sunday, April 6, 2008
5:30 p.m. The Roof
Kamal Aljafari in Person. Palestinian director Aljafari’s eloquent exploration of physical and psychic place. With short Visit Iraq.

Series curated by Irina Leimbacher and Jeffrey Skoller. Presented with the generous support of the Al-Falah Grant Program of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Film Studies Program, Consortium for the Arts, and the Graduate Film Working Group, all at UC Berkeley. We gratefully acknowledge Rasha Salti, Livia Alexander, and ArteEast, as well as the Arab Film Festival, for their assistance.

The Arab Film Festival co-presents with ATA:

Arab Film Festival Volunteer Spring Social

Sunday March 16, 2008, 2PM- 5PM
Arab Film Festival Office
300 Brannan Street, Ste 508
San Francisco, CA 94107

Please join us for the Arab Film Festival Volunteers Spring Social!

To thank you for your past support and get excited for our 12th Annual Arab Film Festival, we have prepared an afternoon of fine company, joyful mingling, snacks and beverages. Our new Executive Director, Michel Shehadeh, Artistic Director Sonia El-Feki, and AFF board members will be in our office to greet you.
Whether you are a veteran volunteer, a first timer, or just looking to catch up with AFF friends, the Volunteer Spring Social is a great way to meet other Arab film enthusiasts, festival volunteers, and community members.

Please RSVP by contacting our volunteer coordinator, Wael Bhaisi at abushamaleh@hotmail.com

The Local Nakba Committee, Arab Film Festival and Arab Resource & Organizing Center present:
Anti Apartheid and Non-Violence in Palestine: Bil’in Habibti Screening & Speaking Tour

Featuring Palestinian & Israeli Activists: Mansour Mansour & Shai Carmeli Pollack
Presenting Shai’s film: Bil’in Habibti (Bil’in my Love)

Tuesday, March 18th, 6:30-7pm Reception & 7-9 Screening/ Program
Delancey Street Theater, 600 Embarcadero, San Francisco
$7 for members of the Arab Film Festival or AROC
$10 for non-members
Tickets available at the event

Join the Discussion about the non-violent movement in Palestine; and joint struggles of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, and their response to Israeli military violence.

The Palestinian village of Bil’in is about to lose over half of its territory to Israel. The residents of the village decide to embark on a struggle against the construction of the Wall. The film exposes the extraordinary relationship formed between villagers and the documentary’s Israeli director, Shai Carmeli-Pollak, who arrives with a group of Israeli peace activists to protest the construction. The film documents the familiar but uneasy relationships and conflicts that arise between Carmeli-Pollak, the villagers, and the Israeli Defense Force, in which he once served.
For more info: visit: www.stopapartheid.org