The Arab Film Festival is an annual event that aims to enhance public understanding of Arab culture by providing alternative representations of Arabs that contradict the stereotypical images encountered in the American mass media. The festival features films from and about the Arab World that provide realistic perspectives on people, society, culture, art, history and politics.

This year’s edition will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Los Angeles from the 11th to the 21st of October 2012:

Oct 11-14 San Francisco

Oct 12-14 San Jose

Oct 19-21 Berkeley

Oct 19-21 Los Angeles

Nov 16-17 San Diego

This year’s opening night film is :

Man Without a Cell Phone

Sameh Zoabi
Feature Film | Palestine, Belgium, France, Qatar | 2011 | 78 min.

Synopsis :

Twenty-something Palestinian-Israeli slacker Jawdat just wants to have fun with his friends, talk on his cell phone and find love. Instead, he navigates unconvincing dates with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish girls, and wrestles with the Hebrew college entrance exam.

Meanwhile, his curmudgeonly olive-farming father, Salem, is determined to drag Jawdat and his whole community into a fight against a nearby Israeli cell phone tower he fears is poisoning the villagers with radiation.

As Salem’s efforts to remove the tower disrupt Jawdat’s precious cell phone reception and communication with his potential girlfriends, Jawdat is forced to face the battle and grow up.

For further information:

www.arabfilmfestival.org