This program highlights narratives from the Arab diaspora in the United States, exploring questions of belonging, culture, family, and generational identity.

A passionate Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the U.S. attempting to sell the sweet he’s spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. As he roams the streets of Brooklyn, he bumps into a savvy Indian ladoo maker, who’s figured out how to appeal to one of New York’s health-conscious Brooklynites. Director Biography -&nbsp;Maryam Mir<a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/074/263/original/838e5d404a-headshot.jpg?1652132868" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/074/263/thumb/838e5d404a-headshot.jpg?1652132868" width="169" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; float: left;"></a>Maryam Mir is a writer/director currently pursuing her MFA in Film Production at NYU Tisch, where she is an Ang Lee Scholar. As a Kashmiri-Canadian born in Germany, raised in Bahrain, with Kenyan ancestry, Maryam has always found inspiration in stories that center the immigrant experience in all its joy, delight, and magic. She is a UCP Thousand Miles Project Workshop Participant '22, a NYFA Canadian Women Artists’ Awardee '22, and a Gotham Marcie Bloom Fellow '23. Her latest short film, Sweet Refuge, starring Laith Nakli and Mahira Kakkar, was recently awarded a Jury Award at the Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards, a Canadian Woman Artists' Award from the New York Foundation of the Arts, and a distribution grant from the Islamic Scholarship Fund. Director StatementSweet Refuge was initially inspired by a recently resettled 76-year-old Syrian baker I worked with in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in 2017, who spoke to his sweets like they were old friends. It was also sparked by my experiences growing up South Asian in the Middle East, two cultures that often live side by side, but not always together. Yet, when I moved to the US for college, I noticed how, where both Arabs and South Asians were often Othered, suddenly there was also space for us to relate. I’m particularly interested in how this translates to food and our shared longing to preserve (and reimagine) the desserts—and cultures—we left behind. <a href="https://www.10mils.com/film/sweet-refuge" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.10mils.com/film/sweet-refuge</a>

Sweet Refuge

A passionate baklava baker encounters a savvy ladoo maker on the streets of Brooklyn.

An Arab American boy is awoken to his family's otherness when he is alerted to his father's thick accent. Once it has been heard, he cannot be unheard. Director's Biography<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/2762fbfeec3817b867a4b49c925d4590.jpg" width="255" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;"> Ramiel Petros is a writer and director based in NY and LA. His work has played at numerous festivals, as well as being selected as a semi-finalist for the Student Academy Awards and shortlisted for the Student BAFTA Awards. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and was a Creative Culture Fellow at the Jacob Burns Film Center. Ramiel is currently in production on a documentary feature.&nbsp; Director's Statement:Growing up as an Iraqi American, being different was often something you felt before you could fully understand it. As a child, there were small moments when the outside world suddenly made me aware that my family was seen as “other.” <a href="http://www.ramielpetros.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.ramielpetros.com</a>

An Arab Family

An Arab American boy is awoken to his family's otherness when he is alerted to his father's thick accent. Once it has been heard, he cannot be unheard.

Director Biography <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/991563af3608741b7d7987f5d17f9a5f.jpg" width="144" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Aziz Zoromba is a Canadian writer &amp; director of Egyptian origins. His works, documentaries and fiction, explore the themes of cultural identity, assimilation and intergenerationaltrauma. He is a graduate of the Mel Hoppenheim school of cinema and an alumni of the 2019 Sundance Ignite fellowship. FARAWAY (2020), his first documentary short, has screened at over 30 film festivals around the world (Slamdance, Camerimage, RIDM). Aziz also co-produced the short documentary NO CRYING AT THE DINNER TABLE (2019), winner of over 25 awards and selected by over 80 festivals including TIFF, SXSW &amp; IDFA. His first fictional short film SIMO (2022), won the Best Canadian Short Film Award at TIFF, and will have its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 73rd Berlinale (Generation).

Simo (age 16+)

Simo and Emad's brotherhood is filled with competition and jealousy. In a desire to prove his popularity and his capabilities to his older brother, Simo sneakily takes over Emad's online gaming channel. His actions take a dangerous turn that may seriously impact the future of their family.

Tensions rise at home when Salma's family braces for a visit from Lebanese relatives. After not having seen them in over 20 years, her mother and teta return to Middle Eastern traditions in order to impress. However, as a high school senior struggling with her own identity, Salma must choose between being the daughter her mother wants to present to them, and being herself. ﻿Director Biography<a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/401/466/original/bfdc0cf326-headshot.jpg?1687892842" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/401/466/thumb/bfdc0cf326-headshot.jpg?1687892842" width="164" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; float: left;"></a>Lara Bedewi is a first-generation Arab-American writer, director, and multimedia artist from Philadelphia whose films explore vulnerability and belonging through the lens of culture, ancestry, and community. Lara is a 2021 George and Rose B. Ashe Arts Scholarship recipient and was selected as a 2022 BlackStar Film Festival official screener. She is a 2023 Cinema &amp; Television BIPOC Filmmaker Grant awardee and screened her film "To'oborni" in festivals, including SOHO International Film Festival, Lebanese Independent Film Festival, AFMI's Arab Film Festival, and more. Lara currently works as a digital content producer at Watermelon Pictures, a film label rooted in Palestinian culture and creativity, and recently wrapped filming on her latest experimental-narrative short film, titled "Daughters of the Fig." This is her first project under her new film label, ALBI Productions. Director Statement As an Arab-American woman with a mixed Palestinian, Lebanese, and Egyptian background, the experiences depicted min To'oborni are deeply personal for me. Having left everything to immigrate to America, my family made strong efforts to preserve their culture and values from back home. However, living in the States for many years created a rift across generations, leading the younger members of my family to lose reverence for some of these customs. Growing up, I often found myself at the center of this conflict, just as Salma has to choose whether to play into lost traditions for her mother’s sake, or stay true to herself. To'oborni is one of those untranslatable phrases. In Arabic, it literally means “may you put my casket in the ground,”the subtext being, “so that I don’t have to live a single day on this earth without you”. Although it sounds somber, To’oborni is a beautiful expression of unconditional love that embodies complex family dynamics, both in this film and in my community. This film portrays three generations of Arab women struggling with self-image, tradition, and reputation. My goal indirecting To’oborni was to color each role with nuance, carefully subverting the tropes found within our community that depict complex humans as one-note. Though we may be capable of inflicting hurt upon those dear to us in the name of love, we are also capable of profound compassion. That is at the heart of To’oborni.

To'oborni

When relatives come to visit from their homeland, Salma must choose between being the daughter her mother wants to present to them, and being herself.

Yasser, a first generation Arab-American, is painstakingly apprehensive before his future All-American in-laws come over for dinner for the first time. When Ziad, his Palestinian immigrant father, prepares a traditional dinner, they negotiate the menu in a battle over tradition and assimilation. Director Biography<a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/207/376/original/8f6d489bd2-headshot.jpg?1667578886" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/207/376/thumb/8f6d489bd2-headshot.jpg?1667578886" width="161" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; float: left;"></a>Mustafa&nbsp;Eck grew up in a different city every year – each place unlike the last. Some cities include Cairo, Egypt Santa Cruz, CA to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Seattle, WA. He eventually came of age in a small tourist town nestled among the metaphysical red rocks of northern Arizona. He channeled his childhood angst and anxiety into cameras, making documentaries about skateboarding and skits with his friends. One of his first shorts became a finalist for the student academy award.&nbsp;Mustafa&nbsp;went on to study at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Film &amp; Television Production. He is now the Senior Video Producer at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where he produces and directs short films and documentaries. He is currently developing his first feature film within the Building Bridges fellowship at the Sundance Institute. The film centers on a first generation Arab American as he navigates the cultural divide between his immigrant dad and his fiancé family, leading up to their wedding.&nbsp;&nbsp; Director's Statement I grew up living between the US and the Middle East with an Egyptian mom and an American dad, with a foot in two different worlds. As a result of my unusual background, I have learned a lot of people and the way they think. My experiences have illuminated the idea that everyone is fighting a battle others know nothing about. If you approach someone with this mindset, you can almost always find common ground with them. As a filmmaker – and as a person in general – I am most interested in telling the stories of voiceless people who slip through the cracks. People who may be overlooked for one reason or another. <a href="http://www.mustafatobyeck.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.mustafatobyeck.com/</a>

All At Once

Yasser, a first generation Arab-American, is painstakingly apprehensive before his future All-American in-laws come over for dinner for the first time. When Ziad, his Palestinian immigrant father, prepares a traditional dinner, they negotiate the menu in a battle over tradition and assimilation.

Together Nawal, a young Palestinian woman, and Tanya, an older Indigenous woman, start a guerrilla garden on the lawn of their apartment building and battle middle management to make it to harvest. Director Biography -&nbsp;Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller<a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/580/895/original/a4f3bde5e3-headshot.jpg?1702680542" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-connector.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/580/895/thumb/a4f3bde5e3-headshot.jpg?1702680542" width="341" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; float: left;"></a>Fateema is a Queer Palestinian/Canadian filmmaker whose work explores themes of fragmented identity, isolation and connection through "oh no, should I laugh?" comedy. She is passionate about creating nuanced representation of Arabs and Muslims for the screen and prioritizes making space for marginalized voices both in front of and behind the camera. Her short film EITR was one of 8 world-wide recipients of the InsideOut RE:Focus Fund and the film had its world premier at OutFest LA. Fateema is a Women in the Director’s Chair alumni and former resident of the Canadian Film Centre Norman Jewison Directors’ Lab. She believes deeply in resistance and resilience through laughter. Director StatementThis film began as a reckoning with the question “What does it mean to be from stolen land living on stolen land?” as a Palestinian displaced and unable to return to my ancestral homeland living on stolen Indigenous land in Canada. Inspired by the generosity and solidarity I feel between my community as a Palestinian and the community of Indigenous artists and activists I have been lucky to surround myself with, Mawtini (My Homeland) explores the different ways we can embody resistance under capitalist and colonial structures and the healing that can be found in connection to the land and each other.

Mawtini (My Homeland) (age 16+)

Together Nawal, a young Palestinian woman, and Tanya, an older Indigenous woman, start a guerrilla garden on the lawn of their apartment building and battle middle management to make it to harvest.

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From May 14th to May 21st, our global screening program will feature a curated selection of 20+ short films by Arab filmmakers across the diaspora, paired with ready-to-use study guides that make classroom integration simple, engaging, and meaningful.

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