30th Arab Film Festival Runs Through November 14: 51 Films Across the San Francisco Bay Area, Free Outdoor Screening on the 12th
The 30th Arab Film Festival is under way in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, having opened on November 5 and running through November 14. The organizer, the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI), describes it as the longest-running independent Arab film festival in North America and the largest independent showcase of Arab cinema outside the Arab world. Launched in 1996, the festival marks its 30th anniversary this year with a program of 51 films.
The festival opened on November 5 at San Francisco's AMC Kabuki 8 with the Bay Area premiere of El Sett, Marwan Hamed's portrait of Umm Kulthum, the Arab world's most iconic singer. Before the film, producer Mohamed Hefzy received the inaugural AFMI Luminary Award for Cultural Impact; after the screening, the Aswat Ensemble performed a live tribute to Umm Kulthum's music. The November 8 centerpiece presentation was Edward Said: Between Worlds.
Screenings span three Bay Area cities: AMC Kabuki 8, the Castro Theatre, the Roxie Theater, Proxy SF and BAVC Media in San Francisco; Alamo Drafthouse Valley Fair in San Jose; and The New Parkway Theater in Oakland. Eleven programs also stream in the festival's virtual edition through November 14.
Final-week highlights include Palestinian Voices and Chronicle of a Disappearance at the Roxie on November 11, with Only Rebels Win the same evening in San Jose; the festival's first outdoor screening, Spices and Lies, free at Proxy SF on November 12 at 7:30 p.m., with audiences asked to bring their own chair or blanket.
Closing day, November 14, is entirely at The New Parkway Theater in Oakland: Ru'ya (Visions) at 4:30 p.m., American Doctor with a Q&A at 6:30 p.m., and Only Rebels Win at 9 p.m. Passes come in three tiers: a $250 VIP pass covering opening night, special events and closing night plus virtual access; a $180 festival pass; and a $60 virtual pass.
Source: Arab Film and Media Institute
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：阿拉伯电影节第30届官方主视觉（阿拉伯电影与媒体研究所提供）
