ANA Contemporary Arab Cinema 2018

ANA Contemporary Arab Cinema, founded and curated by Lina Matta, is an annual film series focusing on critically acclaimed and award-winning films by today's best Arab directors. It's been running since 2012 at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville in Westchester County, New York.

This year's edition will take place between September 20-27 with additional screenings at BAM in Brooklyn, New York between September 20 - October 4. This is the first time the festival has expanded to a different venue, which means more opportunities for people to see the films. 

Here's the line up and the schedule. Film details, ticketing information and location map can be found here

Jacob Burns Film Centre, Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York: 
September 20 - WAJIB (Annemarie Jacir) 
September 21 - THE BLESSED (Sofia Djama), LES PETITS CHATS (Sherif Nakhla)
September 22 - BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (Kaouther Ben Hania), THE MAN BEHIND THE MICROPHONE (Claire Belhassine)
September 23 - THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM (Muayad Alayan), HEAVEN WITHOUT PEOPLE (Lucien Bourjeily)
September 24 - INVESTIGATING PARADISE (Merzak Allouache)
September 25 - THE JOURNEY (Mohamed Al Daradji)
September 26 - ZAGROS (Sahim Omar Kalifa)
September 27 - INDUCED LABOR (Khaled Diab), LISTEN (Philippe Aractingi)

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of of Music), New York:
September 29 - LES PETITS CHATS (Sherif Nakhla), THE REPORTS ON SARAH AND SALEEM Saleem (Muayad Alayan), BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (Kaouther Ben Hania)
September 30 - LISTEN (Philippe Aractingi), INDUCED LABOR (Khaled Diab), THE JOURNEY (Mohamed Al Daradji)
October 1 - ZAGROS (Sahim Omar Kalifa)
October 2 - INVESTIGATING PARADISE (Merzak Allouache)
October 3 - HEAVEN WITHOUT PEOPLE (Lucien Bourjeily), THE MAN BEHIND THE MICROPHONE (Claire Belhassine)
October 4 - THE BLESSED (Sofia Djama) 

 
A few months ago, Wael Hattar and I interviewed Lina Matta for the TEA WITH CULTURE podcast. We talked about the how the festival started, how the films are selected and the response she gets from festival attendees. You can listening to it by clicking on play below. 
 

 

The trailer for this year's edition of the festival:

www.anaarabcinema.com