2010 Arab Film Festival December 4, 2010

PACKAGE B (Saturday, December 4)
(TWO FILMS)

3:30 p.m. Borderline (Wara Al Blayek)
Dir: Sonia Chamkhi
2007/Tunisia
25 min.

A love story set in an unlikely place, Borderline recounts a relationship between a man and woman at the crossroads of a city that seems inhospitable and forbidding. Both have come to the city to find work and are living among dilapidated buildings and construction sites that - like their burgeoning love affair - contain a promise for the future. But a naive belief in the promise of the city makes disillusionment even more painful. Arabic with English subtitles.

4 pm. (Un)Lucky (Z'har)
Dir: Fatma-Zohra Zamoum
2009/Algeria
78 min.

Director Fatma-Zohra Zamoum plays herself in this highly original and intriguing debut. Interweaving a documentary-style account of her return to Algeria to shoot her film, she employs the narratives of various characters whose paths cross through Farid, the taxi driver who guides them through a fraught Algerian landscape. Arabic and French with English subtitles.

Best Feature Film, 2009 Mumbai Film Festival
Official Selection, 2009 Dubai International Film Festival

PACKAGE C
(TWO FILMS)

5:30 p.m. Bus
Dir: Yasmine Novak
2009/Palestine
11 min.

This short documentary illustrates the parallel universes in the city of Jerusalem. Running alongside Egged, the Israeli national bus system, are the green and white Palestinian public buses. They pick up people traveling through Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, and cross back and forth over the Green Line. As the buses traverse the city, they carry with them dreams from various worlds. Hebrew, English, Arabic and French with English subtitles.

5:45 p.m. Laila's Birthday
Dir: Rashid Masharawi
2008/Palestine, Tunisia, The Netherlands
71 min.

Abu Laila used to be a judge, but because the government cannot renew his assignment he is forced to become a taxi driver. On the day his daughter turns seven years old, his wife insists that he be home early and bring her a present and a cake. Abu Laila has nothing else on his mind beyond completing this mission, but daily life in Palestine complicates his efforts. Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Interfaith Award - Best Feature, 2009 St. Louis International Film Festival
Silver Screen Award - Best Asian Feature Film, 2009 Singapore International Film Festival
Mustafa Akkad Prize, 2009 Fajr International Film Festival, Tehran

Festival schedule is subject to change.

Official Website: http://arabamericanmuseum.org/2010.film.festival