What to watch at this year's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
Mizna's 19th Arab Film Festival features more than 20 films over the course of five days across the Twin Cities.
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: A film festival highlighting the work and culture of Arab and SWANA people-- that's a community with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa-- is back in town this weekend. Today kicks off the 19th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival put on by the local organization Mizna. Michelle Baroody is Mizna's film programming curator. She joins me now to chat a little bit about this year's festival. Thanks so much for being with us, Michelle.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Thanks so much for having me.
NINA MOINI: I wanted you to start, if you would, by telling us a little bit about Mizna because it's been around for a long time in the community.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah, that's right, actually, over 25 years now. We celebrated our 25th year last year. We are an Arab and Southwest Asian and North African arts organization. We are based in St. Paul. And we have two main programs. We publish a literary journal, which is actually how we got started in 1999 with the literary journal. And then we also produce the Arab Film Festival, which began in 2003.
NINA MOINI: Are those separate endeavors? Or how do you explain the relationship between the literary magazine and the film festival?
MICHELLE BAROODY: They are separate. Some folks work only on the journal. Some folks work on the film festival. And then, of course, there are people who work on both. The projects are intertwined in terms of theme, in terms of communities whose art we platform, but also the communities that we serve, who we see as our main public audience. And they do-- sometimes, like last year, we published a cinema issue. And so it was really great. We brought that into our film festival and were able to really name the resonances between the two.
NINA MOINI: How do you go about picking which films you're going to feature for the festival?
MICHELLE BAROODY: We watch many films.
NINA MOINI: Research.
MICHELLE BAROODY: We do a lot of research. We do accept submissions from all over the world. This year we got more than we've ever gotten, over 200. And so I watch all of those films. I work with Ahmed AbdulMageed, who is our film program coordinator, who lives in Amsterdam. He and I watch almost everything. And then we also seek out films that are being released in the-- have been released in the last two years, films that our audiences are really excited to see that won't screen in the Twin Cities otherwise.
And then we have a screening committee of local and also national and international folks, who gather every week for several months to talk about films and where they might fit in the program and get other opinions on them and see who's interested in introducing one or bringing a certain film or filmmaker to our audience, something that hasn't screened here for a long time or from a particular country or something like that.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, I'm feeling like you're wanting to create a balance of maybe different kinds of experiences or different geographical areas and perspectives. But are there themes that you focus on year to year that help you to pull in what you think is going to resonate most at this time with the audience?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Absolutely. A lot of times, given that our programming is coming from the Arab and Southwest Asian and North African worlds, there's often geopolitical struggles, things going on that will dictate our programming, will lead us to want to showcase or highlight a particular region, a particular people. So, for example, last year, our festival focused on Palestine and Sudan, really making space for Palestinian and Sudanese stories in the Twin Cities, as we were watching genocides unfold in both places.
This year, our theme has been about rebuilding. Our communities really need to think about, how do we build and imagine a liberated future? How do we gather together? So this year's theme was all about building a shared world. We took this line, "the shared world," from Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Gate A-4, and used that as a theme for programming this year. And sometimes we have themes in advance. Sometimes they just come to us from what's happening in the world.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and then films from Minnesota as well, right? Are there a few that have a tie to Minnesota?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Absolutely, yeah. Thursday at 5:00 PM, so tomorrow at 5:00 PM, we have a Minnesota Made segment. We're really excited about this. Whenever we can have local films and filmmakers come in and showcase their work, we make sure to make space for it. So tomorrow at 5:00 PM at The Main Cinema, we'll have two short experimental films and one feature documentary by two Minneapolis-based filmmakers and one from Winona.
NINA MOINI: Cool. I'm always curious, too, with such a big undertaking, like a film festival, how are you planning the logistics of something like this? I don't how much involvement you would have directly in that. But does it take a long time to figure out what's going to show where, and what is the order?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Oh, absolutely, yeah. And we're a small team. So as much as I try to focus on just the programming piece, we all wear a lot of different hats, and we start programming and we start planning-- basically, once the festival wraps, we are at it again. We're reaching out to get film links, where we open our submissions for films pretty early. And we debrief about what went well this year to implement in the next year. So the process sort of never stops.
NINA MOINI: You're kind of planning the next one right after the other one. Are there any films in particular that you would encourage people to really try to get out there and see?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah. A few years ago, we started doing an annual outdoor screening as part of the film festival. And I love this screening. It's free. So I always like to highlight it, especially for folks who can't come out to see films in any other context. The film projects under the Third Avenue Bridge, so right across the street from The Main Cinema. We project on the wall there. We encourage folks to bring their own chairs.
This year we are showing Elia Suleiman's film, Divine Intervention, which is an absurdist comedy from Palestine. It was the first film that was entered as a Palestinian submission to the Oscars but was actually rejected on the grounds of Palestine not being a state. But it is this absurdist comedy that right now I think, we need to laugh, and we need to be together and build community.
So I love that screening. I love the space. I love the grittiness of projecting on a wall under a bridge. There will be Baba's Food Truck and music. And it's really celebratory. And it's also free. I also love that film, so whenever we're showing it-- we've shown it in the past. It was in our first film festival-- I love to see it on the big screen or on the side of a wall.
I'm also really, really excited about the 5:00 PM film on Saturday, which is called Shapes of Normal Human Beings. The producer is here with us. He just arrived yesterday from Lebanon. I really love this film. It shows-- especially thinking about the theme of this year's festival is the shared world, this film shows us all of the issues facing contemporary Lebanese folks.
But it also gives us through the form of the documentary, it shows us the ways that we are all connected. It weaves this beautiful web between the people that it interviews all across Lebanon. And it's just visually stunning. And it meanders in an incredible way, the way that it unfolds. Yeah, it's beautiful.
NINA MOINI: I feel like there are so many conflicts in the world and so many different people and perspectives that people just-- sometimes they look to art to see what they maybe don't see somewhere else or to bring alive a feeling that's inside of them that they maybe can't put into words. What do you hope that people, Arab and non-Arab people, take away from being a part of this festival? And in seeing the different-- the films and the perspectives that are shown, what do you hope people take away?
MICHELLE BAROODY: That's a great question. Our festival began in 2003 as a response to the political world but also because those who started Mizna just understood the power of art to change people's minds or really to so that people feel seen. For our festival, it's about building community, and it's about speaking to our community, so making sure that people feel held, feel as though they have a safe place to go to see themselves reflected on the big screen in a way that feels much more aligned with their experience of being Arab or SWANA or living in diaspora.
And this year's festival, again, like I said, is all about the shared world. And so for me and Ahmed, when we were thinking about what we want people to take away from this festival, it's about coming, renewing your energies, being together, and just seeing that we can work together, that our connections between one another are ways and tools that we dismantle oppression, that we reimagine a liberated future. The ways that we make change are by gathering and helping each other see a world that is really different than the one that we currently live in.
NINA MOINI: And just before I let you go, Michelle, we have about 30 seconds, but just remind folks how they can view the films, how they can get involved.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah. Most everything is screening at The Main Cinema in Minneapolis. Closing night is at the Walker, or closing day is at the Walker. So if you go to mizna.org, M-I-Z-N-A dot org, you can see the full lineup, get tickets. I can't wait to see folks there.
NINA MOINI: All right, Michelle, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Thank you.
NINA MOINI: That was Michelle Baroody, Mizna's film programming curator. That's it for us today. Tomorrow on Minnesota Now, we'll tell you everything you need to about getting your flu, COVID, and other vaccines amid confusion over guidance. Plus, a new book sheds light on one of Minnesota's earliest, most successful nature writers that you may never have heard of. That's tomorrow at noon. We hope you'll join us. I'm Nina Moini. Thanks for listening. Have a great rest of your day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MICHELLE BAROODY: Thanks so much for having me.
NINA MOINI: I wanted you to start, if you would, by telling us a little bit about Mizna because it's been around for a long time in the community.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah, that's right, actually, over 25 years now. We celebrated our 25th year last year. We are an Arab and Southwest Asian and North African arts organization. We are based in St. Paul. And we have two main programs. We publish a literary journal, which is actually how we got started in 1999 with the literary journal. And then we also produce the Arab Film Festival, which began in 2003.
NINA MOINI: Are those separate endeavors? Or how do you explain the relationship between the literary magazine and the film festival?
MICHELLE BAROODY: They are separate. Some folks work only on the journal. Some folks work on the film festival. And then, of course, there are people who work on both. The projects are intertwined in terms of theme, in terms of communities whose art we platform, but also the communities that we serve, who we see as our main public audience. And they do-- sometimes, like last year, we published a cinema issue. And so it was really great. We brought that into our film festival and were able to really name the resonances between the two.
NINA MOINI: How do you go about picking which films you're going to feature for the festival?
MICHELLE BAROODY: We watch many films.
NINA MOINI: Research.
MICHELLE BAROODY: We do a lot of research. We do accept submissions from all over the world. This year we got more than we've ever gotten, over 200. And so I watch all of those films. I work with Ahmed AbdulMageed, who is our film program coordinator, who lives in Amsterdam. He and I watch almost everything. And then we also seek out films that are being released in the-- have been released in the last two years, films that our audiences are really excited to see that won't screen in the Twin Cities otherwise.
And then we have a screening committee of local and also national and international folks, who gather every week for several months to talk about films and where they might fit in the program and get other opinions on them and see who's interested in introducing one or bringing a certain film or filmmaker to our audience, something that hasn't screened here for a long time or from a particular country or something like that.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, I'm feeling like you're wanting to create a balance of maybe different kinds of experiences or different geographical areas and perspectives. But are there themes that you focus on year to year that help you to pull in what you think is going to resonate most at this time with the audience?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Absolutely. A lot of times, given that our programming is coming from the Arab and Southwest Asian and North African worlds, there's often geopolitical struggles, things going on that will dictate our programming, will lead us to want to showcase or highlight a particular region, a particular people. So, for example, last year, our festival focused on Palestine and Sudan, really making space for Palestinian and Sudanese stories in the Twin Cities, as we were watching genocides unfold in both places.
This year, our theme has been about rebuilding. Our communities really need to think about, how do we build and imagine a liberated future? How do we gather together? So this year's theme was all about building a shared world. We took this line, "the shared world," from Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Gate A-4, and used that as a theme for programming this year. And sometimes we have themes in advance. Sometimes they just come to us from what's happening in the world.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, and then films from Minnesota as well, right? Are there a few that have a tie to Minnesota?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Absolutely, yeah. Thursday at 5:00 PM, so tomorrow at 5:00 PM, we have a Minnesota Made segment. We're really excited about this. Whenever we can have local films and filmmakers come in and showcase their work, we make sure to make space for it. So tomorrow at 5:00 PM at The Main Cinema, we'll have two short experimental films and one feature documentary by two Minneapolis-based filmmakers and one from Winona.
NINA MOINI: Cool. I'm always curious, too, with such a big undertaking, like a film festival, how are you planning the logistics of something like this? I don't how much involvement you would have directly in that. But does it take a long time to figure out what's going to show where, and what is the order?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Oh, absolutely, yeah. And we're a small team. So as much as I try to focus on just the programming piece, we all wear a lot of different hats, and we start programming and we start planning-- basically, once the festival wraps, we are at it again. We're reaching out to get film links, where we open our submissions for films pretty early. And we debrief about what went well this year to implement in the next year. So the process sort of never stops.
NINA MOINI: You're kind of planning the next one right after the other one. Are there any films in particular that you would encourage people to really try to get out there and see?
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah. A few years ago, we started doing an annual outdoor screening as part of the film festival. And I love this screening. It's free. So I always like to highlight it, especially for folks who can't come out to see films in any other context. The film projects under the Third Avenue Bridge, so right across the street from The Main Cinema. We project on the wall there. We encourage folks to bring their own chairs.
This year we are showing Elia Suleiman's film, Divine Intervention, which is an absurdist comedy from Palestine. It was the first film that was entered as a Palestinian submission to the Oscars but was actually rejected on the grounds of Palestine not being a state. But it is this absurdist comedy that right now I think, we need to laugh, and we need to be together and build community.
So I love that screening. I love the space. I love the grittiness of projecting on a wall under a bridge. There will be Baba's Food Truck and music. And it's really celebratory. And it's also free. I also love that film, so whenever we're showing it-- we've shown it in the past. It was in our first film festival-- I love to see it on the big screen or on the side of a wall.
I'm also really, really excited about the 5:00 PM film on Saturday, which is called Shapes of Normal Human Beings. The producer is here with us. He just arrived yesterday from Lebanon. I really love this film. It shows-- especially thinking about the theme of this year's festival is the shared world, this film shows us all of the issues facing contemporary Lebanese folks.
But it also gives us through the form of the documentary, it shows us the ways that we are all connected. It weaves this beautiful web between the people that it interviews all across Lebanon. And it's just visually stunning. And it meanders in an incredible way, the way that it unfolds. Yeah, it's beautiful.
NINA MOINI: I feel like there are so many conflicts in the world and so many different people and perspectives that people just-- sometimes they look to art to see what they maybe don't see somewhere else or to bring alive a feeling that's inside of them that they maybe can't put into words. What do you hope that people, Arab and non-Arab people, take away from being a part of this festival? And in seeing the different-- the films and the perspectives that are shown, what do you hope people take away?
MICHELLE BAROODY: That's a great question. Our festival began in 2003 as a response to the political world but also because those who started Mizna just understood the power of art to change people's minds or really to so that people feel seen. For our festival, it's about building community, and it's about speaking to our community, so making sure that people feel held, feel as though they have a safe place to go to see themselves reflected on the big screen in a way that feels much more aligned with their experience of being Arab or SWANA or living in diaspora.
And this year's festival, again, like I said, is all about the shared world. And so for me and Ahmed, when we were thinking about what we want people to take away from this festival, it's about coming, renewing your energies, being together, and just seeing that we can work together, that our connections between one another are ways and tools that we dismantle oppression, that we reimagine a liberated future. The ways that we make change are by gathering and helping each other see a world that is really different than the one that we currently live in.
NINA MOINI: And just before I let you go, Michelle, we have about 30 seconds, but just remind folks how they can view the films, how they can get involved.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Yeah. Most everything is screening at The Main Cinema in Minneapolis. Closing night is at the Walker, or closing day is at the Walker. So if you go to mizna.org, M-I-Z-N-A dot org, you can see the full lineup, get tickets. I can't wait to see folks there.
NINA MOINI: All right, Michelle, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.
MICHELLE BAROODY: Thank you.
NINA MOINI: That was Michelle Baroody, Mizna's film programming curator. That's it for us today. Tomorrow on Minnesota Now, we'll tell you everything you need to about getting your flu, COVID, and other vaccines amid confusion over guidance. Plus, a new book sheds light on one of Minnesota's earliest, most successful nature writers that you may never have heard of. That's tomorrow at noon. We hope you'll join us. I'm Nina Moini. Thanks for listening. Have a great rest of your day.
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