California's Annual Arab film festival

On Opening Night, October 16th 2008, the 2008 Arab Film Festival Jury announced the recipients of the Noor Awards at the Castro Theater (in green)

In SF, SJ, and LA * 12th Annual Arab Film Festival * 16-28 October 2008 http://www.aff.org/AFF_2008_film_list.pdf (text below)

FEATURE FILMS: FICTION
All My Life (Dir. Maher Sabry / Egypt, USA / 2008 / 120min)
Amours D' Enfants (Dir. Fares Khalil / Lebanon / 2008 / 107min)
Bahraini Tale (Dir. Bassam Al Thawadi / Bahrain / 2007 / 96min)
Burned Hearts (Dir. Ahmed El Maanouni / Morocco / 2007 / 84min)
Captain Abu Raed (Dir. Amin Matalqa / Jordan / 2007 / 110min)
Falling from Earth (Dir. Chadi Zeneddine / Lebanon / 2007 / 70min)
Four Girls (Dir. Hassin Al Halibi / Bahrain / 2008 / 144min)
Out of Coverage (Dir. Abdellatif Abdulhamid / Syria / 2008 / 100min) - Not in Competition
Paloma Delight (Dir. Nadir Mokneche/ Algeria / 2007/ 134min) Noor Award for Best Feature Fiction
The President's Chef (Dir. Saeed Hamed / Egypt / 2008 / 150min) - Not in Competition
Samira's Garden (Dir. Latif Lahlou / Morocco / 2007 / 110min)
Seventh Heaven (Dir. Saad Hendawy / Egypt / 2008 / 100min)
The Shadow of Silence (Dir. Abdullah Al Muheisen / Saudi Arabia / 2006 / 96min)
The TV Is Coming (Dir. Moncef Dhouib / Tunisia / 2006 / 95min) - Not in Competition
Waiting for Pasolini (Dir. Daoud Aoulad-Syad / Morocco / 2007 / 100 min) -OPENING NIGHT - Not in Competition
The Yellow House (Dir. Amor Hakkar / Algeria / 2008 / 84min) Special Mention for Best Feature Fiction

FEATURE FILMS: DOCUMENTARIES
33 Days (Dir. Mai Masri / Lebanon / 2007 / 70 min)
Amina (Dir. Khadija Al-Salami / Yemen / 2008 / 52min)
Dancers (Dir. Celame Barge / Egypt / 2007 / 51min)
Gaza Souvenirs (Dir. Samuel Albaric / France / 2006 / 46min)
Life after the Fall (Dir. Kasim Abid / Iraq / Documentary / 2008 / 155 min) Noor Award for Best Feature Documentary
Made in Egypt (Dir. Karim Goury / Egypt / France / 2006 / 69min)
Memory of a Woman (Dir. Lassaad Oueslati / Tunisia / 2008 / 52min)
Recycle (Dir. Mahmoud Al-Massad / Jordan / 2007 / 78 min)
Refugees for Life (Dir. Hady Zaccak / Lebanon / 2008 / 48min)
Roundabout Chatila (Dir. Maher Abi Samra / Lebanon / 2005 / 50min) - Not in Competition
Seeing through the Sand (Dir. Noor Al-Dabbagh / Saudi Arabia / 2008 / 50min)
Slingshot Hip Hop (Dir. Jackie Salloum / Palestine / 2008 / 89min)
Storm from the South (Dir. Walid Al Awadi / Kuwait, UAE / 2006 / 52min)
Waiting for the Day (Dir. Meyar al Roumi / France, Syria / 2003 / 50min) - Not in Competition
War, Love, God, Madness (Dir. Mohamed Al-Daradji / Iraq / 2008 / 72 min) - Not in Competition
The Way North: Maghrebi Women in Marseille (Dir. Shara K. Lange. / France / 2007 / 58min)

SHORT FILMS: FICTION
Alienation (Dir. Fady Copty / Palestine / 2007 / 8min)
Arafat & I (Dir. Mahdi Fleifel/ Palestine, UK / 2008 / 15min)
At the Day's End (Dir. Sherif El Bendary / Egypt / 2007 / 15min)
Before the Wind Blows (Dir. Samer Najari / Canada / 2006 / 18min)
Bint Mariam (Dir. Saeed Salmeen Al Murry / UAE / 2008 / 25min)

The Cistern (Dir. Lassaad Oueslati / Tunisia / 2006 /12min) - Not in Competition
Clean Hands Dirty Soap (Dir. Karim Fanous / Egypt / 2007 / 25min) Noor Award for Best Short Fiction
Dead Fish (Dir. Malik Amara / Tunisia / 2008 / 19min)
Flou (Dir. Youssef Britel / Morocco / 2007 / 6min)
Free to Fly (Dir. Sajeda Abousaif & Alabbas Saed / Jordan / 2008 / 6min)
I Am Ready (Dir. Omar Saleh / Jordan / 2008 / 12min)
Karma (Dir. Faisal Alibrahim / Kuwait / 2007 / 10min)
Messaoud (Dir. Omar Mouldouira / Morocco / 2006 / 8 min)
The Maid (Dir. Heidi Saman / Egypt / 2008 / 19min)
Neighbors (Dir. Gina Asfour / Palestine / 2008 / 13 min)
Noor (Dir. Eyas Salman / Palestine / 2008 / 20 min)
Pickled (Dir. Razi Najar / Palestine / 2008 / 16 min)
Tenbak (Dir. Abdullah Hassan Ahmed / UAE / 2008 / 26min) Special Mention for Best Short Fiction
Tough Crowd (Dir. Iman Zawahry / USA / 2007 / 9min)
The Shooter (Dir. Ihab Jadallah / Palestine / 2007 / 7min)
The View (Dir. Omar Saleh / Jordan / 2008 / 16min)
A Winter Day's Visits (Dir. Ismaeel Hamdy / Egypt / 2007 / 37min)
Ya Hala Wood (Dir. Hazim Bitar / Jordan / 2008 / 10min)
The Young Lady and the School (Dir. Mohamed Nadif / Morocco / 2008 / 10min)
The Young Lady and the Teacher (Dir. Mohamed Nadif / Morocco / 2007 / 16min)

SHORT FILMS: DOCUMENTARIES
Against the Light (Dir. Koutaiba al Janabi / UK, Czech Republic / 2007 / 15min)
A Candle for the Shabandar Café (Dir. Emad Ali / Iraq / 2007 / 23min) - Not in Competition
Deadly Playground (Dir. Katia Saleh / Lebanon / 2007 / 23min)
Doctor Nabil (Dir. Ahmed Jabbar / Iraq / 2007 / 15min) - Not in Competition
Leaving (Dir. Bahram Al Zuhairi / Iraq / 2007 / 23min) - Not in Competition
Merely a Smell (Dir. Maher Abi Samra / Lebanon / 2007 / 11min)
Mimoune (Dir. Gonzalo Ballester / Spain/ Morocco / 2006 / 11min)
Nights and Days (Dir. Lamia Joreige / Lebanon / 2007 / 17min)
Not My Turn Yet (Dir. Rabee Zureikat & Hazim Bitar / Jordan / 2008 / 6min)
Open Eyes (Dir. Jana Sintschnig / USA / 2007 / 7min)
Out of the Frame (Dir. Nizar Annadawi / Iraq / 2007 / 22min) Noor Award for Best Short Documentary
A Palestinian Mural (Dir. Norma Sayage / USA / 2008 / 12 min)
(Posthumous) (Dir. Ghassan Salhab / Lebanon / 2007 / 28min)
A Stranger in His Own Country (Dir. Hassanain Al Hani / Iraq / 2007 / 10min) - Not in Competition
When Walls Speak (Dir. May Odeh / Palestine / 2008 / 16 min)

Social and cultural activities in San Diego

http://www.houseofpalestine.org/HOP/events.asp
August 17, 2008 from 12-5 PM LAWN PROGRAM outdoors in Balboa Park at the House of Pacific Relations.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/events/2008/jul/20/6890/

Essentially Non-Political
Downtown Film San Diego Public Library
Sunday, July 20 - 2 p.m.
Admission: Free
820 E StreetSan Diego, CA 92101619-236-5800
Israeli director Ido Haar focuses on "a group of young Palestinians who live and hide in the hills around the community they are helping to build in Israel...they hide from police at night while working on construction during the day." See 9 Star Hotel, in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. 619-236-5800.

Social club for those wishing to practice Arabic: monthly meetings
SAMEDA: The San Diego Middle Eastern Dance Association is a non-profit promoting research and discussion of Middle Eastern dance and music. Middle Eastern Dance includes "belly dance" or "Raqs Sharki" (Egyptian style belly dance), modern and traditional components of Egyptian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish, Uzbekistani, East Indian, Balinese, and even Chinese dance. weekly events
The San Diego Folk Dance Center has Middle Eastern dancing each Saturday morning.

Al-Awda San Diego periodic Palestinian political and cultural events

Events in 2008
18th Jewish film festival--Arabic language films:
[trailer] Director Ronit Avni's Encounter Point (USA, 2006, 89 min., BetaSP, Arabic, English/Hebrew with subtitles; Categories: Documentary, Arab/Israeli Issues) most humorous line: the quickest formula for peace is that everyone needs to buy cigarettes from the other side!


Presidents' Weekend: Belly Dancer of the Universe competition in Long Beach, CA