Our year-round film screenings bring audiences together to connect through Arab film.
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Event Details
June 23, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5Screenings:
Valley of Exile//وادي المنفى
Country: Canada
Director: Anna Fahr
Length: 107 mins
Synopsis: Set in the early years of the Syrian war, Valley of Exile chronicles the journey of Rima and Nour, two sisters who find unexpected refuge in a makeshift settlement in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley after fleeing war-torn Damascus.
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Event Details
June 22, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5Screenings:
Conditional Desire//تصعيد
Country: Tunisia
Director: Houcem Slouli
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: In a conformist society, Ahmed and Salma, marry for convenience to pursue their passions with secret lovers.
I Never Promised You A Jasmine Garden//لم أعدك بالياسمين
Country: Canada
Director: Teyama Alkamli
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: Tara, a queer Palestinian woman in her late 20s, attempts to suppress her internal emotional turbulence during a phone call with her best friend Sarab, with whom she is in love.
Ayam Zaman (The Old Days)
Country: Canada
Director: Hassib Hani
Length: 7 mins
Synopsis: Hadi finds himself an unexpected guest at Adam’s engagement party decades since they last spoke, and at last come face-to-face with the events that tore them apart.
The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry//البحر الأحمر يبكي
Country: Jordan
Director: Faris Alrjoob
Length: 21 mins
Synopsis: Wandering through desolate bars, hotels, and offices, Ida attempts to feel Ismail’s presence one last time and to say goodbye.
VHS Tape Replaced
Country: Saudi Arabia, Canada
Director: Maha Al-Saati
Length: 17 mins
Synopsis: Set in 1987, a young black Saudi man attempts to impress a girl by mimicking the music video of Crown, an iconic singer from that time.
Sixty Egyptian Pounds//ستين جنيه
Country: Egypt
Director: Amr Salama
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: A struggling family is attempting to deal with the consequences of a horrible catastrophe.
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Event Details
June 21, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
Innis Town Hall Theatre, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5Screenings:
Goodbye Julia//وداعاً جوليا
Country: Sudan
Director: Mohamed Kordofani
Length: 116 mins
Synopsis: Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona — a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage — tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home.
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
Six Months
Country: Canada
Director: Robin Riad
Length: 2 mins
Synopsis: “Six Months” is a critique of alcohol within a North American cultural context, through societal pressure and mass marketing.
Suspended Dawn
Country: Palestine
Director: Essa Grayeb
Length: 19 mins
Synopsis: Suspended Dawn is a poetic archeological excavation of Egypt’s golden age, the video essay is divided into chapters featuring digital manipulations overlaying footage from Chahine’s film and sounds.
The Poem We Sang//غنينا قصيدة
Country: Palestine, Canada, Jordan
Director: Annie Sakkab
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: The Poem We Sang is a 20-minute, colour and black and white, experimental documentary that meditates on love and longing – the love of one’s family and the longing for one’s home, contemplated through overcoming the trauma of loss of family home and of forced migration, transforming lifelong regrets into a healing journey of creative catharsis and bearing witness.
Locus Cordis
Country: Syria
Director: Alhasan Yousef
Length: 19 mins
Synopsis: Occupied by Israel in 1967, the Syrian Golan has a military border running through it, which families “cross” by shouting to their loved ones. From his European exile, anxiety-ridden Alhasan Yousef attempts to break free from his inner isolation with this exploration of the power of sound, in an effort to reconnect with his lost country from afar.
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
Anxiety
Country: Germany
Director: Alshafee Abby
Length: 22 mins
Synopsis: A young refugee struggles with learning the German language while being existentially at the mercy of the bureaucratic system.
Somewhere, but not here
Country: Canada
Director: Karel Malkoun
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: Miles away, I watch the slow erasing of my home. Scattered between two places, I am no longer anywhere.
Edris//إدريس
Country: Egypt
Director: Amir El-Shenawy
Length: 17 mins
Synopsis: A 17-year-old Eritrean boy fled the war in his country to settle in Egypt, where he dreams to overcome the barriers and get accepted into the Egyptian society so he could get a chance to become a promising professional football player and help his family back home. The documentary tells a simple story that sheds light on the status of African migrants and refugees in Egypt today.
Hanina//Homesick
Country: Egypt, United States
Director: Yasmin Moll
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: A young girl flies back in time to her drowned homeland, guided by the songs and stories of her community
Water Religion//ديانة الماء
Country: Oman
Director: Haitham Sulaiman
Length: 29 mins
Synopsis: Water Religion is a short narrative film tells the story of Issa, a blind tanager who has dream to sail the sea looking after his lost father fisherman against all odds.
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
Beneath a Mother’s Feet//تحت أقدام أم
Country: United Kingdom, Morocco
Director: Elias Suhail
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: A single mother in Morocco, trapped in a mundane existence, confronts her dreams and fears, leading to the agonising decision to forsake all she knows, even her children.
What Else Grows On The Palm Of Your Hand?
Country: Belgium, Morocco
Director: Dhiaa Biya
Length: 16 mins
Synopsis: The routines of two women fuse together as their similar gestures get repeated over time. Their hands intersect through their shared memory one movement at a time.
A Dog, A Stone
Country: Tunisia
Director: Asma Laajimi
Length: 13 mins
Synopsis: Mariem, a sex worker, tries to reach Dali. Her unrest grows when she fears he will break the promise to give her a double mattress.
On the Sidelines
Country: France
Director: Kahina Ben Amar
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: Amra recently left her family to make her professional football debut. But her grandparents who raised her aren’t young anymore, and she isn’t sure her younger sister is trustworthy. Worried, she comes back to her family for a weekend.
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
Light upon Light//نور على نور
Country: Egypt
Director: Christian Suhr
Length: 78 mins
Synopsis: A philosophical field trip from Cairo, along the Nile and into the desert in search for what light means as a religious concept in post-revolutionary Egypt.
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
And If Not Now, When?
Country: Belgium, Morocco
Director: Guy De Troyer
Length: 28 mins
Synopsis: This essay documentary makes an intimate journey into the world of Paulette, one of the last remaining Jews in Marrakech who decided to stay and is reflecting on a universal question: where do you feel at home?
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Event Details
June 20, 2024
7:00 PM EDT
VirtualScreenings:
Tadur//تدور
Country: Lebanon
Director: Jad Andari
Length: 50 mins
Synopsis: A young farmer on the outskirts of a mountain village wastes away with gangsters and prostitutes who lurk in the forest.