7th Annual Arab Film Festival

The 7th Annual Cinemayaat Arab Film Festival Opening Night at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre- September 25 September 26 & 27 - Roxie Cinema in San Francisco September 27 & 28 - Wheeler Hall in Berkeley October 3 & 4 - Towne Theater in San Jose Closing Night at Wheeler Hall in Berkeley - October 5 SAN FRANCISCO – Now in it’s 7th year, Cinemayaat the San Francisco Arab Film Festival, (AFF) will screen over 20 independently produced feature films, documentaries and shorts - once again proving that the Arab culture is too abundant and diverse to submit to popular preconception and classification. The festival will open at the Castro Theatre on September 25 with a presentation by internationally acclaimed author and media critic, Dr. Jack Shaheen addressing stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups (free, and open to the public), followed by the opening night feature (EL-KOTBIA), and preceded by a traditional dabke performance) with an opening night party on the mezzanine level of the Castro following the screening. Cinemyaat continues to strive for the same goals that inspired a small group of volunteers to start the festival in 1996. While these goals have shifted slightly over the years, they have always sought to give the Bay Area community an opportunity to encounter representations of Arabs created by Arabs. These representations are part of a growing discourse among Arabs challenging conventional western images and misconceptions, and addressing important issues within Arab communities themselves. With so much media attention being focused on the war in Iraq and the Palestine/Israeli conflict, it is helpful for audiences to engage in views of these regions that are not the products of biased Western journalists. Images produced by this year’s featured filmmakers are profusely varied, reflecting a great plurality otherwise absent from western images of the ‘Arab world’ – that mythical, homogenous place where every Arab resembles the next. Selections include a fragile love story set in a Tunisian bookstore (El-Kotbia, The Bookstore); a film lost in the war and recovered years later in an abandoned church in Lebanon about famed artist/poet Khalil Gibran (Broken Wings) and a French/Algerian murder mystery (Night of Destiny). With over 20 varieties of what is considered Arabi – from the Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip to Moroccan Ganwi\'s (who originate from slaves in West Africa) to Druze in the mountains of Lebanon to modern day trend setters in Tunisia, these ambitious works are a testament to the wealth of talent and creativity that exists in Arab countries and in the Arab Diaspora. Advance tickets for the festival can be bought through the website (www.aff.org). Otherwise, directly at the theater, beginning opening night. Costs: General Admission - $9; Students and Seniors - $7; Festival Pass - $95 – includes all events