Welcome

WELCOME

ANA is back for it's second year with a pick of 12 award-winning films from a bevy of exciting Arab directors working today. What stands out in this year's selection is the number of women filmmakers. Contrary to the Hollywood norm Arab women are directing both documentaries and features in equal numbers.

Also, many of the filmmakers were born in the Middle East, but live overseas. Still, they choose to revisit the Arab world and its complicated struggles for their films. There is Swedish-raised Karzan Kader who returns to Iraqi Kurdistan inspired by his own escape as a child, to spin the tale of two orphaned boys who'd do anything to live in the 'land of Superman',  and Swiss-educated Safinez Bousbia who heard about the band of popular Sha'abi musicians while visiting her native Algeria as a tourist in 2003.

Intersecting stories and crazy schemes with Ukrainian strippers are the core of the two films from Lebanon; impossible love, deception and betrayal are the themes in the films from Palestine; corruption and human rights abuses from Morocco and Tunis respectively, special arrangements in Saudi Arabia; AIDS and relationship advice from Egypt; and two young boys lured into extremist views inspired by the story of a true terrorist attack in Casablanca.

Join us for another year of movies, discussions with special guests, live music and our post-movie get togethers. Tickets are already on sale thru the Jacob Burns Film Center website. See you in Westchester,  Lina