Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival

As Mizna marks our 25th organizational anniversary, the 18th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival returns September 25-29, 2024 at the Main Cinema in Minneapolis with a closing day of special films, programs, and a reception at the Walker Art Center. Anchored by stories from Palestine and Sudan, the 2024 festival brings programming that responds to the catastrophic state faced by much of the SWANA region.

Schedule of Events:

12:00pm: Filmmaking on Our Own Terms

Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival is a place to see contemporary films from the SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) region, films that are relevant to our communities in the Twin Cities and around the world. This year, we also aim to create a space for BIPOC and SWANA filmmakers by offering a workshop to discuss best practices, common questions, and works-in-progress. Living in diaspora can make it difficult to find filmmakers with similar questions and to receive feedback from folks within the community; many of us often rely on non-SWANA and non-BIPOC spaces for dialogue and critique. Mizna invites filmmaker and educator Fatima Wardy to create such spaces for SWANA and BIPOC filmmakers. During the 2024 Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, selected filmmakers will come together for a two-day symposium that addresses the various challenges that filmmakers face. Participants will present finished, incomplete, partial, or potential projects to one another to receive feedback and advice on how to take the project to the next level.

Venue: FilmNorth, 550 Vandalia Street, Suite 120, Saint Paul, MN

4:00pm: Revolutionary Tales from Sudan

Revolutionary Tales is a short film segment guest-curated by Sudanese filmmaker Rafa Renas. This series of films depicts various perspectives and revolutionary currents in Sudan's recent history.

Rafa Renas is a Sudanese producer and filmmaker. Based in Khartoum, she produces cross-media campaigns, promoting a civil society, integration, and gender issues. She also produces for international media outlets. She was a co-curator of Aflam Sudan in Kenya, and she is a guest curator for the segment Revolutionary Tales at this year's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.

6:00pm: Cinema Issue Launch

Mizna's special Cinema Issue is a box of printed treasures that explore a theme of fragmentation-a 50s Egyptian movie poster, letterpress-printed film tickets, a zine you must fold in order to read, and much more! During the film festival, Mizna will present a program of readings and films that feature in the issue as well as a discussion about conceiving, designing, and editing while resisting the genocide with guest-editor Saeed Taji Farouky, London-based Palestinian filmmaker, educator, and curator; Alex DeArmond, graphic designer; George Abraham, executive editor; and Lana Barkawi, publisher.

Venue: The Main Cinema, 115 SE Main St, Minneapolis, MN

7:00pm: Outdoor Gathering (7pm) + Tajouje (8pm)

Gathering Under The Bridge: Join us beginning at 7:00pm under the Third Avenue Bridge, outside of the Main Cinema. Festival sponsors Baba's Hummus will have a food truck and Batroun Wines will serve Lebanese wine for a suggested donation + DJ Jacques will be spinning records!

Outdoor Film: At 8:00pm, Catch the classic 1977 Sudanese film Tajouje outdoors under the Third Avenue Bridge, a screening curated by guest programmer Fatima Wardy. Free to attend, suggested donation of $10. Audiences are encouraged to bring their own chairs! This screening is presented with the support of Trylon Cinema and Soft Cult Studio.

Tajouje

Curated by one of our guest programmers- filmmaker, curator, and educator Fatima Wardy-this Sudanese classic from the 1970s has it all: romance, melodrama, tragedy, comedy, poetry, song, and dance. Considered one of the first narrative feature films from Sudan, Tajouje is an adaptation of a novel by the same name, which tells the tale of forbidden love and examines the social dynamics of a small village in the region during the 19th century. The film captures a striking moment in Sudanese history, and this digitized print makes it available in the present. Upon its release, the film screened in Cairo, Moscow, Berlin, Carthage, and Cannes. It can be viewed today due to the efforts of Sara Gubara, filmmaker Gadalla Gubara's daughter and collaborator, as well as the Arsenal Film Institute in Berlin.

Venue: Under Third Ave Bridge, 96 SE Main St,  MN

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