Street Movies! with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture

Hosted by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, join us for a special screening of documentary films made by women from the SWANA region, followed by an open discussion on community-organizing in Philadelphia. Programming co-curated by Joseph Fahim.

7:45pm – Poetry Reading by Nada Abuasi

8:00pm – 9:45pm Film Program & Discussion

Film Program:

• Confessions of the Family Torchbearer (Dir. Lara Bedewi / USA / 2024 / 16 Minutes): This handmade docushort spotlights the filmmaker’s relationship with Middle Eastern culture by exploring intergenerational dynamics between her mother, teta, and herself. Intercut with candid voiceovers and archival footage, COTFT juxtaposes the filmmaker’s pressure of familial expectations with the pride of her ancestry.
• The Palestine Before (Dir. Dina Amin / Palestine / 2023 / 8:55 Minutes): Through intergenerational family conversations, the film aims to empower communities to have important and emotional conversations about displacement, belonging, and home. These family stories document the collective struggle and resistance of the Palestinian people – teasing out nuances, similarities and differences of experience.
• I Found My Love in Massara (Dir. Stephanie Amin / Egypt / 2023 / 15 Minutes): On Christmas day 2021, Stephanie Amin decides to make life changing plans. Going back to Cairo after 2 and a half years in Paris in order to direct her first short film. Lost between two countries, two careers, Stephanie decides to delve into the remnants of Cinema Massara. I found my love in Massara is a light story interlacing the past, family archives, immigration and youthful hope.
• Msaytbeh, the elevated place (Dir. Rawane Nassif / Lebanon / 2024 / 20:56 Minutes): Msaytbeh is one of the twelve neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. It was a rocky extension of what was called the wilderness. Its name is a distortion of the word “Mastaba”, which is the elevated place or the flat place between two heights. The movie is projected on a destroyed bathroom wall in “the house of Beirut”, a building located on the former civil war demarcation line, known as the green line, that separated East and West Beirut. The building was a vantage point for snipers during the war and is currently transformed into a museum for the memory of the city. This is a film on waiting, remembering, and grieving, and was triggered by my return to my parent’s place after 20 years. This is a story of a house in Beirut, projected on another house in Beirut, in an endless loop.

For over two decades now, Street Movies! has been a great way for people to gather together, engage with independent film, and foster discussion around the cultural histories of their neighborhood and issues affecting their communities. All screenings are free, open to the public, and family-friendly.