san diego
arab film festival

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welcome to the 15th annual
san diego arab film festival!

March 27-28 & April 17-19, 2026

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Tickets are on sale now, with individual screenings at $15 (discounted to $12 for students), 3-ticket packages for $40 and Festival passes for all 8 screenings for $80. Arabic dinners will be available each evening for $18.

click here to view festival schedule
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Online ticket sales close the morning of the event.

Tickets will be available at the door until sold out.

San diego Arab Film Festival

The San Diego Arab Film Festival is dedicated to the memory and legacy of Stephanie Jennings, friend, comrade and activist.

lineup AND SCHEDULE

The San Diego Arab Film Festival is back for 2026 with live, in-person presentations of feature length and short films at the Museum of Photographic Arts.  The festival will open on Friday, March 27, and present 8 screenings, each showcasing one feature film and one short film (except for one that has 2 shorts and one in which the feature is long so it doesn’t have an accompanying short), from across the Arab World.  All films are presented at the John and Irwin Jacobs Theater in the Museum of Photographic Arts.  Each evening, the festival will also offer cafeteria-style Arabic dinner.

This year we have all three films from and about Palestine that were shortlisted for the Best International feature award.  Six of our films were the official submission by their respective countries for Best International Feature (Palestine 36, Palestine, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia, All that’s Left of You, Jordan, A Sad and Beautiful World, Lebanon, The President’s Cake, Iraq,, and Calle Malaga, Morocco. Our short films include two films about Palestine from Iranian filmmakers, who are struggling to find international audiences because of US sanctions, as well as films from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen and the US.

We are excited to bring these films to the San Diego community!

Tickets can be purchased for individual screenings or for a package at a discounted price.  One package is an all-festival pass that includes admission to all 8 screenings.  The second package is a 3-ticket package that includes 3 tickets to screenings of your choice (can be one ticket for each of 3 screenings or multiple tickets to a screening for a maximum of 3 total).

Friday, March 27
6:45 PM

GAZA BRIDE 17
(20 min)
By Waseem Khair

Gaza Bride 17, a film from Iran, follows Saleh, a fisherman from Gaza City, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of losing his only son in a tragic incident when he was 10 years old...

PALESTINE 36
(119 min)
By Annemarie Jacir

Palestine, 1936. The uprising that took on an Empire. As villages across Mandatory Palestine rise against British colonial rule...

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Saturday, March 28 6:10 PM

AN ORANGE FROM JAFFA (27 min)
By Mohammed Almughanni

Mohammed, a young Palestinian, embarks on a tense journey to cross an Israeli checkpoint with a temporary Polish identity card....

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (85 min)
By Kaouther Ben Hania

Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza...

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Saturday, March 28 8:35 PM

DAWN EVERY DAY
(20 min)
By Amir Youssef

In this short film, set in 1956, 8 year old Nabil navigates through new social norms he cannot fathom that impact his next door best friend in post nationalized Egypt. Inspired by true events.

WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM

WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM
(100 min)
By Amel Guellaty

A comedic ode to Tunisia's youth, TUNIS-DJERBA presents the story of Alyssa, a rebellious 19 year-old girl, and her friend Mehdi ...

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Friday, April 17
6:45 PM

ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU (145 min)
By Cherien Dabis

An epic-scale journey into the depths of the Palestinian plight, masterfully tracing and carefully dissecting a multifactorial and convoluted intergenerational trauma....

See More
Saturday, April 18
6:00 PM

HIND UNDER SIEGE
(13 min)
By Naji Fawwaz Mustafa

"Hind Under Siege" is a short film that tells the story of a real phone call between the Red Crescent and 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who became trapped in a car while hiding in Gaza...

IF I MUST DIE - A READING (4 min)
By Chris Daley

An animated piece dedicated to Palestine: the animator's interpretation of "If I must die", a poem written by the late Palestinian professor Dr. Refaat Alareer.

SUDAN, REMEMBER US (78 min)
By Hind Meddeb

Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, Khatab and the voice of the poet Chaikhoon. They are in their twenties, politically active and artistically creative...

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Saturday, April 18
8:15 PM

WORSE THAN NUKING: A FAMILY'S TALE OF SURVIVAL (16 min)
By Kareem El Damanhoury

When a bombing destroys his house, a father gets stuck under the rubble and desperately looks for help to save his injured daughter. Inspired by true events.

A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD (110 min)
By Cyril Aris & Bane Fakih

Shams, an intersex person living as a woman, must live in the shadows. At 23, life is steeped in secrecy and unimaginable pain. Stripped of the right to exist, Shams is shunned by true love and rejected by society’s rigid norms and expectations.

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Sunday, April 19
4:40 PM

DANCE!
(8 min)
By Poorya Delghan

"Dance!" is a short film from Iran about an Israeli officer who in order to escape a patrol goes to an abandoned house in Gaza However, the spirits of those killed in the house are waiting for him.

THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE (102 min)
By Hasan Hadi

It's "draw day" across Iraq, when schools select students for the honor of bringing items to their mandatory local celebrations of President Saddam Hussein's birthday...

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Sunday, April 19
7:03 PM

THE PAIL
(7min)
By Adel Al-Haimi

The Pail is a Yemeni documentary short film focusing on Hajj Abdullah, an elderly man who has spent over 60 years restoring the historic buildings of Sana'a. The 4-minute film highlights the profound bond between its subject and the ancient city's heritage.

CALLE MALAGA
(116 min)
By Maryam Touzani

María Ángeles (Carmen Maura) is a fiercely independent senior living in the Spanish quarter of Tangier. When her daughter Clara (Marta Etura) arrives for a long-overdue visit...

See More

Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

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KARAMA’s vision is to grow the San Diego Arab Film Festival into a major cultural event that enhances the identity, perception and understanding of the Arab and the Arab world. Doing so will require time, energy and money. You can help in multiple ways…

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Highlights

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For all inquires, please fill out the form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We’ll be happy to answer all of your questions.

GAZA BRIDE 17

Synopsis

Gaza Bride 17, a film from Iran, follows Saleh, a fisherman from Gaza City, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of losing his only son in a tragic incident when he was 10 years old. Saleh decides to take his son fishing with him for the first time. Their day starts calmly and pleasantly on board the fishing boat, but suddenly, an Israeli military vessel intercepts them and randomly opens fire on them, resulting in the death of his only son. After this incident, Saleh begins a journey of suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder, trapped inside his mind.  He takes us on a psychological journey.

PALESTINE 36

Synopsis

Palestine, 1936. The uprising that took on an Empire. As villages across Mandatory Palestine rise against British colonial rule, Yusuf drifts between his rural home and the restless energy of Jerusalem, longing for a future beyond the growing unrest. But history is relentless. With rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain’s 30-year dominion, all sides spiral towards inevitable collision in a decisive moment for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.

Palestine 36 was short-listed for an Academay Award for Best International Feature.

AN ORANGE FROM JAFFA

Synopsis

In this short film, Mohammed, a young Palestinian, embarks on a tense journey to cross an Israeli checkpoint with a temporary Polish identity card. After being turned down by other drivers, Farouk, a well-meaning taxi driver, offers him a ride. However, they soon encounter severe trouble when the checkpoint authorities discover Mohammed’s previous failed attempt to cross. The film powerfully captures the oppressive reality of life under occupation and the personal costs involved.

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB

Synopsis

Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her.  The Voice of Hind Rajab was the official submission to the Oscars from Tunisia and was nominated by the Academy for Best International Feature.

Screening #2 begins at 8:35 PM:

DAWN EVERY DAY

Synopsis

In this short film, set in 1956, 8 year old Nabil navigates through new social norms he cannot fathom that impact his next door best friend in post nationalized Egypt. Inspired by true events.

WHERE THE WIND COMES FROM

Synopsis

A comedic ode to Tunisia’s youth, TUNIS-DJERBA presents the story of Alyssa, a rebellious 19 year-old girl, and her friend Mehdi – a shy and introverted 23-year-old young man – who use their imagination to escape their unpromising reality. When they discover a contest in the south of Tunisia that may allow them to flee for real, they decide to undertake the road trip regardless of the obstacles in their way.

ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU

Synopsis

An epic-scale journey into the depths of the Palestinian plight, masterfully tracing and carefully dissecting a multifactorial and convoluted intergenerational trauma. Starting in medias res, in a setting of pulsating action and anguish that leaves a tormenting question unresolved, we are plunged (and swept) from the get-go into a story of undulating pain and a recurring sense of futility. Divided into four chapters – the surge of violence during the Nakba in 1948; the consolidation of a new status quo in the West Bank in 1978; the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1988; and the filmic present of 2022.

Cherien Dabis’s devastating All That’s Left of You makes us both witnesses and participants in a fathomless and irreparable loss. Yet Dabis resists the lure of convenient sentimentality, weaving instead a labyrinthine character study, shrouding a series of underground and catastrophic conflicts within the bounds of family. In a meticulously paced yet heart-wrenching finale that imparts a bitter aftertaste of unfinished repatriation and existential uprooting, life and hope emerge as the sole bulwark against inhumanity and dehumanization.

All That’s left of You was Jordan’s Submission to the Oscars and was short-listed by the Academy for Best International Film.

TRAILER

HIND UNDER SIEGE & IF I MUST DIE - A READING

Synopsis

Hind Under Siege is a short film that tells the story of a real phone call between the Red Crescent and 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who became trapped in a car while hiding, in Gaza. The film unfolds through the perspective of Rana Al-Faqih, a compassionate and resilient Red Crescent worker, and those who bore witness to the event. It offers an intimate and powerful portrayal of courage, helplessness, and the human toll of war — as experienced by those who tried to help and those who were left behind.

If I Must Die – A Reading is an animated piece dedicated to Palestine: the animator’s interpretation of If I Must Die, a poem written by the late Palestinian professor Dr. Refaat Alareer.

SUDAN REMEMBER US

Synopsis

Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, Khatab and the voice of the poet Chaikhoon. They are in their twenties, politically active and artistically creative. This film is a cinematic chorus, the collective portrait of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems and chants. Faced with a corrupted army and a paramilitary militia responsible of war crimes in Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile, they could have lost heart before starting. Without the dream guiding them, the power of imagination and the might of poetic discourse, they would not have overthrown the former regime. The film relates the uneven struggle that pitted the voices of the revolution against the fire of the militia.

WORSE THAN NUKING:
A FAMILY'S TALE OF SURVIVAL

Synopsis

Worse Than Nuking follows Fedaa, a pediatrician and mother of three living in Gaza, as she struggles to care for children in a hospital while shielding her own family through two relentless years of war.

A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Synopsis

Across three decades of passion, loss, and hope, Nino and Yasmina are bound by a magnetic relationship. Torn between love and survival, they must decide whether to build a family and seek happiness in Lebanon, or leave their home, amid the country’s unfolding tragedies.

A Sad and Beautiful World was Lebanon’s submission to the Oscars for Best International Feature.

 

Dance!

Synopsis

Dance! is a short film from Iran about an Israeli officer who in order to escape a patrol goes to an abandoned house in Gaza.  However, the spirits of those killed in the house are waiting for him.

THE PRESIDENT'S CAKE

Synopsis

It’s “draw day” across Iraq, when schools select students for the honor of bringing items to their mandatory local celebrations of President Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Nine-year-old Lamia lives in the historic marshes with her spirited grandmother, Bibi. Before school, Bibi teaches Lamia clever tricks to avoid being chosen for the president’s cake. However, when Musa, the authoritative teacher, calls Lamia’s name for the most challenging task–the birthday cake–she has no choice but to accept. Refusing could mean imprisonment or even death.

The President’s Cake, Iraq’s submission to the Oscars, was shortlisted for Best International Feature.

THE PAIL

Synopsis

The Pail is a Yemeni documentary short film focusing on Hajj Abdullah, an elderly man who has spent over 60 years restoring the historic buildings of Sana’a. The 4-minute film highlights the profound bond between its subject and the ancient city’s heritage.

Calle Malaga

Synopsis

María Ángeles (Carmen Maura) is a fiercely independent senior living in the Spanish quarter of Tangier. When her daughter Clara (Marta Etura) arrives for a long-overdue visit, she comes with an agenda: to pressure María into selling the home — left in Clara’s name by her late father — to offset her own post-divorce financial struggles. But María, deeply embedded in her community and cherished by her neighbors, quietly resolves to stay.

Determined not to be displaced, she devises a resourceful plan to earn enough money to keep the apartment and buy back the cherished belongings her daughter hastily sold to an antique dealer in preparation for the sale of the property. In the process, María unexpectedly finds a romantic spark with someone she once viewed as an adversary.

Calle Malaga was the official submission to the Oscars for the Best International Film.