Wednesday 9.25.24

6:30-7:30 PM Opening Night Reception at The Main, catered by Shish

7:30 PM Bye ByeTiberias at The Main

Join us before the opening night film Bye Bye Tiberias for a catered reception by Shish, to celebrate the opening of the 18th annual Twin Cities Arab Film Fest. Entry is included with your Opening Night film ticket.

Thursday 9.26.24 at 6:00 PM The Main 

In addition to producing the Arab Film Fest, Mizna has also been publishing an eponymous lit + art journal for twenty-five years. Mizna’s recent specially themed Cinema Issue is a box of printed treasures that represent a theme of fragmentation—a 50s Egyptian movie poster, letterpress-printed film tickets, a zine you must fold in order to read, and much more. 

Join us for readings and films featured in the issue as well as a discussion about conceiving, designing, and editing while resisting the genocide with guest-editor Saeed Taji Farouky, London-based Palestinian filmmaker, educator, and curator; Alex DeArmond, graphic designer; George Abraham, executive editor; and Lana Barkawi, publisher.

Thursday 9.26.24–Friday 9.27.24
12-3PM at FilmNorth

During this year’s festival, selected filmmakers will come together for a two-day symposium that addresses the various challenges that filmmakers face. Under the guidance of filmmaker and educator Fatima Wardy, this workshop aims to create a space for BIPOC and SWANA filmmakers by offering space to discuss best practices, common questions, and works-in-progress. Living in diaspora can make it difficult to find artists exploring similar themes and to receive feedback from folks within the community; many of us often rely on non-SWANA and non-BIPOC spaces for dialogue and critique. In the spirit of inclusion, the organizers of this workshop therefore invite all BIPOC filmmakers based in the Twin Cities and beyond, to express their interest in taking part.

Presented in partnership with Film North.

The workshop will take place over two afternoons on Thursday, Sept. 26, and Friday, Sept. 27, 12–3pm. This workshop is free to attend and accepting of all interested parties who qualify. Presented in partnership with FilmNorth.

RSVP/Application here
More info here

Saturday 9.28.24

Doors: 9:30PM
Karaoke: 10–11PM

!!RAGE KARAOKE!! (Man Was Not Meant to Be Defeated Unless Destroyed) brings together a Palestinian metal band for a one-time-only punk political performance art experience. The band will play loud, the karaoke singers will take turns scream-reading lines from anti-Palestinian US legislation into the microphone. Together we will laugh, cry, purge our grief and anger and emerge from the sweaty gig a stronger, more determined resistance movement. Featuring Palestinian musicians Fritz Dorigo and Tarek Abdelqader. Conceived by Saeed Taji Farouky. Sponsored by Extreme Noise.

More info here

Tickets here

Sunday 9.29.24 at 11 AM 

At a time of extreme institutional suppression of Palestinian culture, and the criminalization of cultural resistance, it’s clear that progressive artists must establish their own autonomous, radical cooperatives and spaces, free from censorship and cooption. Join this open discussion to share tactics on how we can establish and sustain such spaces, and what role they can play in the future cultural landscape of our communities. Includes filmmakers Saeed Taji Farouky, Fatima Wardy, and Mohamed Kordofani, joined by members of the Body Watani and the Grief and Rage Circle for Palestine, Anniessa Antar, Leila Awadallah,and  Aziz Bisanz. Conceived by Saeed Taji Farouky.

RSVP HERE

SUNDAY 9.29.24 at the Walker Art Center

5:30-7pm: Reception
7pm: Goodbye Julia

Mizna’s 18th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival closes with a pair of special screenings and a reception co-presented with the Walker Art Center.

5:30-7:00 PM – Closing Reception + catering from Baba’s 

Closing reception will be held in the Bazinet lobby with catering from Baba’s and a cash bar. Passholders will receive a complimentary drink ticket. Passholders will receive a code to reserve their tickets to the Sunday events at the Walker.
Entry is included with your Closing Night film ticket. Passholders receive a code in their confirmation information to reserve tickets for the Walker closing film through their website. 

GET TICKETS

The festival’s closing-night film by award-winning Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani features a retired singer’s attempts to make amends with a widow. Taking place in Khartoum during the last years of Sudan as a united country, Goodbye Julia presages the political and humanitarian crisis in the Sudan today, while confronting the polarizing racism and social apartheid in divided Sudanese communities, in an expression of the director’s desire for reconciliation.