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NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) hosts the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern & Arab Cinema program. The weekend will showcase an international lineup of films by talented emerging Middle Eastern and Arab filmmakers across two short film programs, including one curated in partnership with Mizna, and will open with a selection from NFMLA’s ongoing monthly programming.
The day’s programming begins with December Shorts, a collection of shorts presented as part of NFMLA’s ongoing monthly program. This month’s block includes stories about coming of age, being caught between two cultures, embracing connection, being transformed by a chance meeting, finding oneself and pondering the great beyond in more ways than one. This block includes recently Oscar-Qualified film Nightfaces, directed by Martin Winter and Stefan Langthaler.
The day’s programming continues with InFocus: Arab Cinema, a stand-out selection of short films curated in partnership with Mizna. For more than twenty-five years, Mizna has promoted contemporary and experimental approaches to art, literature, and film; work that questions and expands the forms and conceptual frameworks of Arab and SWANA culture. They publish a biannual print literary and art journal and produce the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, the largest and longest-running SWANA-centered film festival in the Midwest. This selection of films includes thoughtful, meditative and engaging comedies, dramas, experimental and documentary works with stories, filmmakers and influences from Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
The night concludes with InFocus: Middle Eastern Cinema, The films tell stories about memory, time, grief, friendship, trauma, displacement, complicated family relationships and love. This selection includes the world premiere of writer-director Sahar Ghorishi’s Whispers of Home.
NFMLA showcases films by filmmakers of all backgrounds throughout the year, across both our general and InFocus programming. All filmmakers are welcome and encouraged to submit their projects for consideration for upcoming NFMLA Festivals, regardless of the schedule for InFocus programming, which celebrates representation by spotlighting various communities of filmmakers as part of the NFMLA Monthly Film Festival. This project is made possible in part by grant support from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
The South Park Center is an ADA compliant venue and is wheelchair accessible. We request captioned films from all filmmakers participating at our Festival. For any accessibility needs, please send a request to info@nfmla.org at least 72 hours prior to the event.
Schedule Details
Program #1 – December Shorts
2:30 PM – 3:00 PM – Pre-Reception
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM – Program
4:30 PM – 4:45 PM – Audience Q&A
Program #2 – InFocus: Arab Cinema
4:45 PM – 5:15 PM – Pre-Reception
5:15 PM – 7:00 PM – Program
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM – Audience Q&A
Program #3 – InFocus: Middle Eastern Cinema
7:15 PM – 7:45 PM – Pre-Reception
7:45 PM – 9:45 PM – Program
9:45 PM – 10:00 PM – Audience Q&A
Event Location
Event Entrance
1139 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Directions
Paid Parking
1133 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Directions
