Events

Event details

Join us for the opening of Mizna’s 20th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, featuring The Stories by Abu Bakr Shawky, at the Main Cinema. This screening is followed by a discussion with the director of the film.

Stop by the A-Mill Artist Loft at 5:30pm for a catered opening night reception. More information here.

WHEN: September 23 at 7pm
WHERE: The Main Cinema, 115 SE Main St, Minneapolis, MN 55414

TICKETS

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Mizna celebrates the twentieth edition of the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, embracing the theme Looking Forward, Looking Back, September 23–27, 2026, at the Main Cinema and Walker Art Center.

🐣 EARLY BIRD PASSES 🐣

Early bird all-access passes and four-packs of tickets are available now at a discounted price through September 1, 2026. Passes are limited, get them before they run out!

Learn more + get passes at tcaff26.eventive.org

ABOUT THE FILM

During the tense summer of 1967, as war looms over Egypt, aspiring concert pianist Ahmed begins a pen-pal correspondence with an Austrian woman named Elizabeth. Based on the actual meeting of director AB Shawky’s parents, The Stories combines narrative vignettes with archival footage to create a decade and nation-spanning time capsule of love and family in the ‘70s. Together, Ahmed and Liz live through war, family joys, and opposition, as well as the failures and triumphs that rocked Egypt. The Stories is a chronicle of the small victories of a family trying to survive a country under the constant threat of change.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

Abu Bakr Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian filmmaker. He studied political science in Cairo and received an MFA in film production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His debut feature Yomeddine premiered in the Main Competition of Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. The film received the François Chalais Award and was Egypt’s submission to the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His award-winning film Hajjan premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and had its SWANA premiere at Red Sea Film Festival. Shawky was named by Variety as MENA Talent of the Year (2018) and was listed by Forbes Magazine as among the top five Arab directors on the global stage.