San Diego Arab Film Festival presents EL SETT

Based on the real-life story of Umm Kalthoum, the greatest Arab singer the world has ever known. The film follows Umm Kalthoum as she takes to the stage one final time for her most important performance yet, one with the potential to heal a nation broken by the shadow of a great defeat.

Traditional Eqyptian dinner of Koshari (hearty vegetarian) with dessert (Im Ali) available for purchase.

Current Events

2026 Nakba Commemoration

Commemoration of 78 years of Al Nakba
Free Palestine: the Key to Peace in the Region and the World
Commemorate Al Nakba with Palestinian dinner, speakers featuring Karam Dana, Professor of Excellence and Transformative Research at University of Washington, Bothell, video and dabke.

The Encampments

Screening of The Encampments, diirected by Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker, a documentary that tells the inside story of America's student uprising in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

This one-time screening will take place at 7:30 PM, May 16, at the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art.

2025 Nakba Commemoration

Commemoration of 77 years of Al Nakba
Facing the Future: Stand Up for Palestine
Commemorate Al Nakba with Palestinian dinner, speakers featuring Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of Arab Resource and Organizing Center in the Bay Area, and video.

A State Of Passion (feature) & Upshot (short)

This screening includes two Palestinian films, the short Upshot and the feature A State of Passion.

Upshot tells of a couple who retreat to an isolated farm as they grapple with profound personal losses suffered because of the Occupation.  A State of Passion documents the experiences and state of mind of a British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who served in Gaza hospitals through 6 "wars."

Bassima's Womb (feature) & Born A Celebrity (short)

This screening includes the Palestinian short Born A Celebrity and the Canadian feature Bassima's Womb.

Born A Celebrity takes a humorous look at a young Palestinian man's efforts to achieve some privacy despite the constraints of traditional expectations.  Bassima's Womb tells a story about a Syrian woman in Canada who tries to solve ner financial problems by becoming a surrogate mother.

Take My Breath (feature) & Is Anyone Alive? (short)

This screening includes the Palestinian short Is Anyone Alive? and the Tunisian feature Take My Brearh.

Is Anyone Alive? tells a story of father in Gaza stuck under the rubble of his bombed hose as he tries to save his daughter.  Take My Breath follows Shams, an intersex person living as a woman, as she tries to make her way through an unwelcoming society.

True Chronicles (feature) & A Lullaby Unlike Any Other (short)

This screening includes the Palestinian short A Lullaby Unlike Any Other and the Algerian feature True Chronicle.

A Lullaby Unlike Any Other follows a young Palestinian woman in Stockholm as she thinks back about the occupation, her family and a song from the past.  True Chronicle is a docudrama about famed psychiatrist Frantz Fanon in Algeria at the beginning of Algeria's war of liberation.

Flight 404 (feature) & Vibrations From Gaza (short)

This screening includes a Palestinian short film and an Egyptian feature film.

The short film Vibrations From Gaza provides a glimpse into the lives of deaf children who have grown up under repeated Israeli aggressions.  The Egyptian film Flight 404 tells the story of a woman's struggle to raise enough money to travel to Mecca for the Hajj.

Arze (feature) & The Poem We Sang (short)

This screening includes a Palestinian short film and a Lebonese feature film.

The short film The Poem We Sang is an experimental documentary that reflects on the director's family and their lost home in Palestine.  The feature film Arze tells the story of a single mother trying to support her son by building her own business in Beirut, one that embarks on a risky business plan.

Tilka (feature), Palestine Islands (short) & Fariha (short)

This screening includes three films.

Palestine Islands follows a young girl's plan to convince her blind grandfather that he has finally returned to his home in Palestine.  Fariha tells the story of Yemeni singer and her dream of returning to the stage.  Tilka is an intimate portrait of 5 women navigating multiple crises in Lebanon

San Diego Arab Film Festival Screening Passes

Online sales for our opening night film have closed so Festival passes (all 8 screenings) are no longer available.

Festival Screening Passes (does not include Arabic dinners which are ticketed separately)

The Teacher

Screening of British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi's award-winning feature film The Teacher.  Filmed entirely in the occupied West Bank, The Teacher takes a deeply personal look at the impact of occupation and resistance on the lives of a teacher, his family, students and relationships.  A cafeteria style Palestinian dinner is available for purchase and will be served beginning at 6:00 PM.

Nakba 76:  Gaza: No to Nakba, Yes to a Free Palestine

Commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the Nakba when Palestinians were forced from their homes and land in 1948.  Program includes dinner, spoken word presentations, video and dabke dance performance.

Mar Mama & Lyd

This screening includes the short film Mar Mama and the feature film Lyd.

The feature Film, Lyd, is a sci-fi documentary that shares multiple pasts, presents, and futures of the city of Lyd in Palestine. Lyd was once a thriving Palestinian city with a rich history. Using documentary and animation techniques, it evisions what Lyd would be like without the Nakba in 1948.

Father's Footsteps & Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo

This screening includes the short film Father's Footsteps and the feature film Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo

The feature, Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo, a geopolitical story told at a child’s level. ithat poetically and delicately tells the story of the uprooting of war, while exploring current themes of migration, identity, dialogue of cultures, and living together.

Phone Breaker & The Burdened

This screening includes the short film Phone Breaker and the feature film The Burdened

The feature film, The Burdened, follows the struggles of a husband and wife who lose their jobs as a result of the country’s economic crisis. After the mother discovers she is pregnant, the beleaguered parents try to get an abortion despite their community’s conservative stance.

M'dina & Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano

This screening includes the short film M'dina  and the feature film Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano.

The feature film, Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano, tells of a film crew in Beirut torn between their firm belief in the transformative power of cinema and a deep sense of cynicism about its ability to enable change in a nation plagued by economic turmoil and societal collapse.

The Time We Meet & Fez Summer '55

This screening includes the short film The Time We Meet and the feature film Fez Summer '55.

In the feature film, Kamal, an 11 year old boy of the Medina of Fez, is experiencing the last months before Morocco's independence. In contact to Aïcha and her fellow students of the Qaraouiyine university, he discovers and takes part in the fight for freedom.

That Seven Days & Aida Returns

This screening includes the short film That Seven Days  and the feature film Aida Returns.

The feature film, Aida Returns, is a poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, often absurd story of loss as the director's mother Aida struggled with losing herself to Alzheimer's disease, but finds solace in her return to the Yafa and Palestine of her youth

Machtat & A Calling . From the Desert . To the Sea

This screening includes the short film A Calling . From the Desert . To the Sea  and the feature film Machtat.

In the feature film, Machtat. A trio of female wedding singers find freedom in their art in this evolving Tunisian documentary. Fatma and her daughters , are  “Machtat,” or traditional musicians. They plant, pick, and weed in the winter, then celebrate and bless weddings in the summer.

A House in Jerusalem & I Am From Palestine

This screening includes the short film I Am From Palestine and the feature film A House in Jerusalem.

In the feature film, a Jewish-British girl is moved from England to Jerusalem for a new start that can help her heal from the death of her mother, but in the way she meets with the ghost of a Palestinian girl who was separated from her family.

Festival Pass and 3-Ticket Package

200 Meters

A Palestinian father trapped on the other side of the separation wall is trying to reach the hospital for his son.

You Will Die At 20

Shortly after Muzamil was born, the village’s holy man predicts that he will die at age 20. Muzamil’s father can’t stand the curse and leaves home. Sakina raises her son as a single mother, overly protective. One day, Muzamil turns 19.

Broken Keys

Karim, a pianist dreaming of a career in Europe, lives in a war-torn Middle-Eastern town where modern ways of living have been banned by an extremist group. He is forced to sell his piano to gather money and leave. But things entangle when his piano is shot. Karim then embarks on a dangerous quest to repair his broken keys.

Honey Cigar

Selma, 17, who lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets Julien in college, she realizes for the first time the impact of patriarchal rules on her intimacy.

Parental Advisory: In the US, this film would likely be rated R.

The Unknown Saint

This film from Morocco tells the story of a thief who, moments before his capture by police,digs a grave to hide a bag of money. Released from prison years later, he returns to retrieve the bag, only to find a shrine to an unknown Saint built directly over his loot, and a brand new village constructed all around it.

Between Heaven and Earth

Between Heaven and Earth, directed by Najwa Najjar, follows Salma and Tamer, a married couple now separated, as they try to get a divorce. At the courthouse in Nazareth, they are confronted with a staggering discovery, a secret which sends Salma and Tamer spinning on a road trip exploring the loss and betrayal of the past, and of themselves.

San Diego Arab Film Festival

The San Diego Arab Film Festival returns for its tenth year wit six award-winning feature films from Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon, Morocco and the Arab Diaspora screened over 3 weekends.

Adam

Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter, Warda. When Samia, a young pregnant woman knocks on their door, Abla is far from imagining that her life will change forever.

Falafel sndwiches will be served and can be purchased separately.

Soumaya

Soumaya examines the targeting of Muslims in France after the 2015 terrorist attacks.  It is based on a true story.  The Filmmaker has had to overcome many obstacles to get his film an audience in France and internationally.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

Shorts Program

The Shorts Program includes films from or about various Arab countries, including Tunisia, Syria and the UAE, and about Arabs in the diaspora, including Germany, Spain, Canada and the US.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

Journey of the Others and Ambience

At the Freedom Theater in Jenin refugee camp, the next Palestinian Intifada is brewing. A group of brave theater actors risk their lives every day to fulfill a dream that they are not willing to abandon: to show their play in New York.  

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

When We Are Born

When We Are Born presents three separate stories of three different characters who face personal challenges because of restrictions that they did not choose. The stories are intertwined through songs that describe internal struggle of the characters.

Falafel sndwiches will be served and can be purchased separately.

Mirrors of Diaspora

Mirrors of Diaspora is a multi-character story of seven Iraqi artists with more than forty years of exile, creativity, alienation, memories, nostalgia, survivals, and war between them. The central question the film poses is: what are the consequences of spending most of one’s life in exile?

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

Le Sang des Loups

Le San des Loups is a thriller set in Algeria.  A police inspector infiltrates a gang of drug and antiquities traffickers and encounters a complex web of criminality.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

1982

1982 was Lebanon's submission to the Oscars for Best International Film and stars acclaimed director Nadine Labaki.  Set during the 1982 invasion of Israel, it looks at the pending conflict through the eyes of an 11-year-old on the last day of school.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

The Knight and the Princess

The Knight and the Princess is the first ever full length animated film from Egypt. Based on a true story of the kidnapping of an Arab princess by pirates in the 7th century, it features original music and voice-overs by prominent Egyptian actors.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

Arab Blues

Arab Blues is the opening film of the 2020 San Diego Arab Film Festival. It tells the story of Tunisian woman who has lived in Paris for 10 years.  She returns to Tunis to open her own psychotherapy practice.

Arabic dinner will be served and can be purchased separately.

Dinner

Dinner for purchase at screenings of the San Diego Arab Film Festival

Commemorating Al Nakba, Al Naksa, the Battle of Karameh and the Great March of Return

Dinner, video, folkloric dance and keynote address commemorating the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

San Diego Arab Film Festival Presents Wajib

Annemarie Jacir's award-winning film Wajib.

Commemorating 70 Years of Al Nakba

Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Al Nakba featuring Professor Sherene Seikaly of UC Santa Barbara and Sa'id Music and Dance Co. plus the video The Sun is Due to Rise and a full Palestinian dinner.

Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim

Egyptian director Sherif El Bendary combines issues of friendship, grieving an loss with a road trip from the Nile to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Six short films reflecting a range of topics and creative approaches.

1948: Creation and Catastrophe

This meticulously researched documentary explores the genesis of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  Co-directors Andy Trimlett and Ahlam Muhtaseb will be on hand for Q&A after the screening.

Hedi

Mohamed Ben Attia's award winning film follows Hedi as he learns that the world has much more to offer than his traditional family life if only he's willing to take the risk.

Tour de France

Gerard Depardieu stars as a blustering xenophobe whom circumstances make travel through southern France with an Arab rapper.

Small Pleasures

Set in 1955 Morocco, Small Pleasures examines the lives of women living together in a large extended family home.

Reel Bad Arabs

Tribute to Jack Shaheen:  Reel Bad Arabs
Jack Shaheen passed away in July after a career analyzing the ways in which Arabs are portrayed in American cinema.  His groundbreaking documentary revealed a remarkable tradition of vilifying Arabs.  This screening of Reel Bad Arabs is a tribute to his memory.

Tramontane

Award-winning film by Lebanese director Vatche Boulghourjian follows a blind singer-musician as he finds out that his past is not what he thought it was and that the Lebanese civil war has present day consequences.

Stitching Palestine

Directed by Carol Mansour, Stitching Palestine reveals the lives and memories of 12 Palestinian women that are interconnected by the ancient art of embroidery.

The film will be presented by director Carol Mansour and producer Muna Haddad.

Mawlana

The newest film by Egyptian director Magdy Ahmed Aly examines the rise of a young Imam as he deals with conflicts in both his personal life and in his relationship with a government that wants to control him at the same time that it seeks to exploit his rising popularity.

The sixth annual San Diego Arab Film Festival features 10 screenings of films from and about the Arab world.  Three screenings will take place on October 20-21 at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park and 7 will take place on October 28-29 at AMC Mission Valley 20 in Westfield Mission Valley Center.

Commemorating 69 Years of Al Nakba

Commemoration of the 69th anniversary of Al Nakba featuring keynote address by Ali Abunimah, oud performance by Kenan Adnawi, poetry by Banah Ghadbian, and presentaion by Ahlam Muhtaseb and Andy Trimlett, directors of the forthcoming documentary "1948: Creation and Catastrophe" and Arabic dinner.

KARAMA

San Diego Arab Film Festival presents EL SETT