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UID:Indybay-23873
SEQUENCE:23873
CREATED:20040203T182500Z
DESCRIPTION:The 7th Annual\nCinemayaat\nArab Film Festival\n\nOpening Night at San 
 Francisco’s Castro Theatre- September 25\nSeptember 26 & 27 - Roxie 
 Cinema in San Francisco\nSeptember 27 & 28 - Wheeler Hall in 
 Berkeley\nOctober 3 & 4 - Towne Theater in San Jose\nClosing Night at 
 Wheeler Hall in Berkeley - October 5\n\nSAN FRANCISCO – Now in it’s 7th 
 year, Cinemayaat the San Francisco Arab Film Festival,\n(AFF) will screen 
 over 20 independently produced feature films, documentaries and shorts -  
 once again proving that the Arab culture is too abundant and diverse to 
 submit to popular preconception and classification.  The festival will open 
 at the Castro Theatre on September 25 with a presentation by 
 internationally acclaimed author and media critic, Dr. Jack Shaheen 
 addressing stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups (free, and open 
 to the public), followed by the opening night feature (EL-KOTBIA), and 
 preceded by a traditional dabke performance) with an opening night party on 
 the mezzanine level of the Castro following the screening.\n\nCinemyaat 
 continues to strive for the same goals that inspired a small group of 
 volunteers to start the festival in 1996.  While these goals have shifted 
 slightly over the years, they have always sought to give the Bay Area 
 community an opportunity to encounter representations of Arabs created by 
 Arabs.  These representations are part of a growing discourse among Arabs 
 challenging conventional western images and misconceptions, and addressing 
 important issues within Arab communities themselves.  With so much media 
 attention being focused on the war in Iraq and the Palestine/Israeli 
 conflict, it is helpful for audiences to engage in views of these regions 
 that are not the products of biased Western journalists.\n\nImages produced 
 by this year’s featured filmmakers are profusely varied, reflecting a 
 great plurality otherwise absent from western images of the ‘Arab 
 world’ – that mythical, homogenous place where every Arab resembles the 
 next. Selections include a fragile love story set in a Tunisian bookstore 
 (El-Kotbia, The Bookstore); a film lost in the war and recovered years 
 later in an abandoned church in Lebanon about famed artist/poet Khalil 
 Gibran (Broken Wings) and a French/Algerian murder mystery (Night of 
 Destiny). With over 20 varieties of what is considered Arabi – from the 
 Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip to Moroccan Ganwi\'s (who originate 
 from slaves in West Africa) to Druze in the mountains of Lebanon to modern 
 day trend setters in Tunisia, these ambitious works are a testament to the 
 wealth of talent and creativity that exists in Arab countries and in the 
 Arab Diaspora.  \n\nAdvance tickets for the festival can be bought through 
 the website (www.aff.org).  Otherwise, directly at the theater, beginning 
 opening night.  Costs:  General Admission - $9; Students and Seniors - $7; 
 Festival Pass - $95 – includes all events\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/02/03/23873.php
SUMMARY:7th Annual Arab Film Festival
LOCATION:Castro Theatre.  continues at Roxie Cinema
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/02/03/23873.php
DTSTART:20030926T000000Z
DTEND:20030926T060000Z
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