18th Arab Film Festival

Thursday, September 26
7pm, Gathering
8pm, Outdoor Film

GATHERING UNDER THE BRIDGE: Join us beginning at 7:00pm under the Third Avenue Bridge, outside of the Main Cinema. Festival sponsors Baba's Hummus will have a food truck and Batroun Wines will serve Lebanese wine for a suggested donation + DJ Jacques will be spinning records!

OUTDOOR FILM: At 8:00pm, Catch the classic 1977 Sudanese film Tajouje outdoors under the Third Avenue Bridge, a screening curated by guest programmer Fatima Wardy. Free to attend, suggested donation of $10. Audiences are encouraged to bring their own chairs! This screening is presented with the support of Trylon Cinema and Soft Cult Studio.p>

**In case of rain, this screening will move indoors and take place in theater three at the Main Cinema.**

ABOUT THE FILM

Curated by one of our guest programmers–– filmmaker, curator, and educator Fatima Wardy––this Sudanese classic from the 1970s has it all: romance, melodrama, tragedy, comedy, poetry, song, and dance. Considered one of the first narrative feature films from Sudan, Tajouje is an adaptation of a novel by the same name, which tells the tale of forbidden love and examines the social dynamics of a small village in the region during the 19th century. The film captures a striking moment in Sudanese history, and this digitized print makes it available in the present. Upon its release, the film screened in Cairo, Moscow, Berlin, Carthage, and Cannes. It can be viewed today due to the efforts of Sara Gubara, filmmaker Gadalla Gubara’s daughter and collaborator, as well as the Arsenal Film Institute in Berlin.

FILMMAKER BIO

Gadalla Gubara was a Sudanese filmmaker, cinematographer, producer, and director. Born in 1920, he produced numerous documentaries and feature-length narrative films. His most famous works include Tajouje (1977) and Les Misérables (2007), an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel, which he made in collaboration with his daughter, filmmaker Sara Gubara. In his works, he aimed to capture Sudan from village life to Khartoum, and his films archive important images of the country in the 1960s and ‘70s.

PRESENTED BY MIZNA

Celebrating 25 years in 2024, Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than twenty years, we have been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of our community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.