san diego
arab film festival
To sign up for KARAMA and San Diego Film Festival news and announcements, click here.
The Palestinian films All That’s Left of You and Hind Under Siege have won the 2026 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.
All That’s Left of You was directed by Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis and was Jordan’s official submission for the Best International Film category for the 2026 Academy Awards. The film is 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.
Hind Under Siege was directed by Palestinian filmmaker Naji Salameh. The film tells the story of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was separated from her mother and trapped in a car under heavy attack in Gaza surrounded by an Israeli tank in January 2024. Through authentic recordings and testimonies from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, including Hind Rajab’s voice, the film bears witness to the brutal realities of Israel’s genocide. Created with the blessing of Hind’s mother, the film honors Hind’s final moments while urging us to never stop speaking her name: Hind Rajab.
The San Diego Arab Film Festival (San Diego AFF) invites submissions for its upcoming festival scheduled for April 2-18, 2027.
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: June 5, 2026
Regular Deadline: November 23, 2026
Late Deadline: December 18, 2026
Notification Date: January 29, 2027
Event Date: April 2-18
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, 2024, and December 31, 2025. 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.
2027 is the twelfth 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.