san diego
arab film festival
The Palestinian films A State of Passion and Vibrations From Gaza have won the 2025 San Diego Arab Film Festival Audience Choice Awards for feature length and short films, respectively. The Audience Choice Awards are given annually as determined by vote of Festival attendees.
A State of Passion was co-directed by Palestinian-Lebanese filmmakers, Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi. The film tells the story of British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, who emerged from 43 days working around the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance. It examines the strength and passion that led him to Gaza for this, his sixth “war” there.
Vibrations From Gaza was directed by Palestinian-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and educator, Rehab Naazza. The film offers a glimpse into the experiences of Deaf children in the colonized and confined coastal territory of Gaza, Palestine. Born and raised under Israeli siege and frequent onslaughts these children provide vivid accounts of their encounter of bombardment and the constant presence of drones in their sky. The children describe their perceptions of missiles strikes through sensing vibrations in the air, trembling of the ground, and the resonance of collapsing buildings. The film questions whether the hearing impairment of these children is a consequence of Israel’s use of sonic weaponry, such as sonic booms.
Mar Mama was directed by Palestinian-Canadian filmmaker Majdi El-Omari. The film tells the story of a young girl haunted by her mother’s death and the recurring attacks on her city by the Israeli army. Faced with these traumas, she becomes obsessed with death. As her father attempts to distract her by creating a stop-motion film, reality intrudes, and she finds solace in her imagination and fantasies.
The San Diego Arab Film Festival (San Diego AFF) invites submissions for its upcoming festival scheduled for March 27-April 19, 2026.
San Diego AFF is seeking narrative, documentary, experimental and animated films, both features and shorts.
San Diego AFF began in 2012 and presents films from and about the Arab world that reinforce the humanity of Arab people and it highlights the dynamism and creativity of contemporary Arab culture. The Festival strives to show top-quality films that offer honest and realistic portrayals of Arab people and their culture, history and politics without reinforcing negative stereotypes.
San Diego AFF is a project of KARAMA, a 501(c)(3) in San Diego. For more information about KARAMA, visit www.karamanow.org.
San Diego AFF accepts submissions on FilmFreeway. Click on the link below to access the submission pages.
Schedule of Submissions
Opening Date: July 14, 2025
Regular Deadline: October 24, 2025
Late Deadline: November 24, 2025
Notification Date: January 9, 2026
Event Date: March 27-April 19, 2026
Awards and Prizes
Selected films will be entered into competition for Audience Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film.
Rules and Terms
San Diego Arab Film Festival seeks films from and about the Arab world produced between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024. Films must have legible English subtitles unless there is little or no dialogue.
San Diego AFF prefers that submissions be made via Film Freeway, however downloadable links (with passwords) may be submitted to lchristian@sandiegoaff.org.
Formats
Selected films must be available in DCP, high resolution .264 or MP4 format with a
frame rate of 24fps. Please include director’s name, country of origin, and a brief description.
By special arrangements, submissions may be made by mail or delivery service with the understandings that San Diego AFF will not bear costs related to shipping and that submitted media may not be returned. Contact lchristian@sandiegoaff.org for further information.
Fees
Regular Deadline: Feature films, $15; short films, $10
Late Deadline: Feature films, $25; short films, $20.
Pay fees via Film Freeway at time of submission.
Selected Films
Official Selections will be asked to provide a password protected link for previewing, high resolutions stills and any available press materials for use in publicizing the film and the Festival.
2022-2023 is the eighth year that the San Diego Arab Film Festival is receiving support from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. This recognition and support represents an important milestone for the Festival and for San Diego’s Arab Community: it shows that Arab culture is an important part of the fabric of San Diego! In addition, on-going support from the Arts and Culture Commission helps lay the groundwork for the Festival’s growth as a dynamic part of San Diego’s cultural life.
Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
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…
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.
The Poem We Sang is a 20-minute, color and black and white, experimental documentary that meditates on love and longing – the love of one’s family and the longing for one’s home, contemplated through overcoming the trauma of loss of family home and of forced migration, transforming lifelong regrets into a healing journey of creative catharsis and bearing witness. The Poem We Sang is at once deeply personal and fiercely nostalgic – a tribute to the director’s uncle my family, and an ode to their lost family home in Palestine.
Arzé is a struggling single mother living in Beirut with her agoraphobic older sister and teenage son, Kinan. Supporting the family by making homemade pies delivered on foot by her son, Arzé knows that the business can only sustain them for so long. In a move of desperation, she steals her sister’s cherished bracelet to pawn for the down payment on a delivery scooter. But disaster strikes when the scooter is stolen, jeopardizing her only way to provide for her family. Up against a ticking clock to either find the scooter or a way to pay for it in full, Arzé and Kinan embark on a wild journey through the turbulent but vibrant, multiethnic Levantine capital in pursuit of the pilfered moped.
