By Joel Shepard–
The 2022 Arab Film Festival (AFF2022) returns from November 11 to 20, with a hybrid program of in-person and virtual events. The festival runs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at the Castro Theatre (San Francisco), Roxie Theater (San Francisco), and the New Parkway Theater (Oakland). The program spans 10 days, presenting 60 films from 18 countries. The festival is North America’s oldest and largest event celebrating Arab cinema.
The festival offers special programming to local audiences, and unprecedented access to the diversity and range of authentic Arab experiences. It has gained an international reputation for excellence and offers its audiences access to media that reflects the lives of underrepresented and provocative themes and groups on a cultural and societal level. AFF2022 includes opening and closing parties, filmmaker mixers, classical films, industry and community panels, as well as filmmaking workshops. Select programs will also be simultaneously presented online.
“This year’s festival was truly a labor of love. With a record-breaking number of submissions, the decision of what to showcase was a difficult one but we’re proud of the decisions we made,” Yasmina Tawil, AFMI’s Head of Programming and the festival’s curator, told me for the San Francisco Bay Times. “This year’s program features some of the most beautiful, engaging, and unique films out of the Arab world in the last few years. Their stories go beyond the boundaries of culture, religion, and sexuality, and tap into themes that are universal and deeply human. I hope audiences of all kinds will walk away from these films moved, inspired, and, of course, entertained.”
A special highlight this year is Morocco’s gay-themed entry to the 2023 Academy Awards, The Blue Caftan, directed by Maryam Touzani. Halim and Mina run a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas. In order to keep up with the commands of the demanding customers, they hire Youssef. The talented apprentice shows an utmost dedication in learning the art of embroidery and tailoring from Halim. Slowly Mina realizes how much her husband is moved by the presence of the young man. The Blue Caftan screens on November 11 at the Castro Theatre, followed by an afterparty at the Slate Bar.
Another highlight is the always popular “Queer Lens” shorts program, on November 12 at the New Parkway Theater in Oakland. This year’s “Queer Lens” program focuses on the theme of diaspora and displacement and features award-winning short films that highlight the experiences of Queer Arabs around the globe. The characters in these stories all find themselves at the intersection of their identities. Some must reconcile the reality of their sexuality with a family who loves but does not understand. Others work towards a life lived authentically in a society that does not accept them, and a few explore leaving a place that is not safe, even though it means letting go of those they care about. In this collection, audiences will find stories that may be unique in their details, but are deeply relatable at their core, and despite the difficulties, celebrate honesty and love over all.
Other highlights include Miguel’s War (November 12 at the New Parkway Theater), a portrait of a gay man who confronts the ghosts of his past. After fleeing war and repression 37 years ago, Miguel returns to Lebanon where he traces hidden longings, unrequited love, and tormenting feelings of guilt. Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day? (November 18 at the Roxie Theater), is a contemporary queer musical taking Arab folktales as its formal reference, and Egyptian pop music as its primary sonic material. It is based on the filmmaker’s personal love diary and told in the form of a “One Thousand and One Nights” tale, where stories playfully unfold through conversations between Scheherazade, a narrator who never comes into view, and ghosts of former lovers.
For the full lineup, schedule, and ticket information please visit: https://aff2022.eventive.org/welcome
Joel Shepard is a San Francisco-based publicist and freelance film curator. As film curator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts until 2018, Shepard programmed many influential series including an annual New Filipino Cinema showcase, “Fearless: Chinese Independent Documentary,” and “Smut Capital of America.” He recently curated “Blazing and Blasted: Post-Punk Pre-Tech Underground Film in 1990s San Francisco” for the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts. Shepard received an “Essential SF” award from SFFILM for his contribution to local film culture.
Out of Left Field
Published on November 3, 2022
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