Mar 11-14: Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
March 11-14, 2010, Heights Theatre, Columbia Heights, MN
Click to download the Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival schedule.
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Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival was conceived of in 2002 and was first presented in 2003. It has since run on an eighteen-month cycle, between autumn and spring seasons. It is the second longest standing Arab Film Festival in North America.
The festival aims to exhibit primarily films made by and about Arabs, but also about non-Arabs who live in the Arab world. With few exceptions, the festival screens Minnesota theatrical premieres. For Mizna, the festival serves as an opportunity to collaborate with a variety of Twin Cities organizations.
The festival also signifies Mizna's interest in celebrating artists whose work is Arab-themed by inviting filmmakers to attend screenings of their films and to engage audiences in related discussions.
For the first time, Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival includes an Arab (Persian) Gulf film segment and a children's shorts segment. The upcoming festival promises to be Mizna's most exciting yet!
Curator's Statement
At times it is a delight to reexamine one's own words. In my curator's statement for this very festival three years ago, I had lamented that the traded images of Arabs in the US film market would doubtfully gain in variety or complexity as a result of two domestically well reviewed films.
Not that the breadth, depth, or sincerity of the depiction of Arabs have since drastically modified in US popular culture, merely that among films that have lately been made by Arabs and about Arabs many have been well received domestically and two accessible titles have achieved theatrical distribution—Amreeka and Captain Abu Raed.
Perhaps I feel optimistic because among the sixty or so previewed films, made eligible by their not having been screened theatrically in Minnesota, so many impressed the planning committee for this edition of the festival: films whose artistic merit qualifies them for interest by cinephiles not determinedly aiming to consume Arab cinematic product. This edition's films impress despite their Arabness, not merely because of it.
Thanks are beyond due to members of the festival committee, to members of the Mizna board, to friends of Mizna's, and to all other enablers and supporters without whose endorsement and dedication this festival and its instrumental celebration of cinema by and about Arabs would not have materialized.
Mohannad Ghawanmeh
For more information about Mizna's Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, visit www.mizna.org/arabfilmfest10/ or contact Mohannad Ghawanmeh, festival curator at mizna@mizna.org.
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Mizna was formed in 1998 and has done much work to promote Arab American artistic expression since that time. We publish a nationally recognized literary journal, and have presented several well-attended community arts events as well.
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