Friday Night Movies at Alif Institute
- FOR THE REST OF 2023, WE WILL BE FEATURING MOVIES ABOUT PALESTINE.
- Join us for an evening to enjoy a light dinner followed by a movie screening.
- Movies will be in Arabic, French, or a combination and have English subtitles.
- Some movies are for adults, some movies are for the whole family.
- Movies are free and dinner is available for purchase. Reservations greatly appreciated!
— Movies for Adults —
Friday, October 20, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts (Free)
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU:
Musakhan, Jerusalem Salad, Dessert
An historical account of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). About a teenage Palestinian girl wanting to further her education. Unfortunately, armed troops enter her and other villages and threaten to kill them unless they leave. This is the story of how a brutal and inhumane occupation started and is today, still happening.
—qnfeunm, IMBD
Friday, October 27, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts (Free)
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU:
Elia Suleiman escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home.
From award-winning director Elia Suleiman, a comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging, in which ES asks the fundamental question: where is the place we can truly call home?
Friday, November 10, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts
Run time: 1hr 36min
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU: Kufta (ground beef w/potatoes in tahini or tomato sauce), salad, dessert
Mustafa and his wife Salwa come from two Palestinian villages that are only 200 meters apart, but separated by the wall. Their unusual living situation is starting to affect their otherwise happy marriage, but the couple does what they can to make it work. Every night, Mustafa flashes a light from his balcony to wish his children on the other side a goodnight, and they signal him back. One day Mustafa gets a call that every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident. He rushes to the checkpoint where he must agonizingly wait in line only to find out there is a problem with his fingerprints and is denied entry. Desperate, Mustafa resorts to hiring a smuggler to bring him across. His once 200-meter journey becomes a 200-kilometer odyssey.—Calmirio
Friday, November 17, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts
Run time: 1hr 38min
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU: Fasoulia Hamra (Red beans with beef, or without beef for vegetarian option, in tomato sauce and white rice), salad, dessert
Since his early years in his native Gaza, Mohammed Assaf has had a golden voice. Accompanied by his sister Nour and two of his friends, he sings in courtyards first and later at weddings while Kamal helps him to develop the full range of his vocal capacities. Nour unfortunately dies of kidney failure and Mohammed grows up in sorrow and bitterness, all the more as war strikes his hometown. In 2012, he is a student and drives a taxi to finance his studies. He wants to start singing again but he can envisage singing as a career only in leaving Gaza. His only hope is to participate in the famous “Arab Idol” contest. But how to leave the place without a visa?—Guy Bellinger
Friday, December 1, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts (Free)
Drama
Run time: 1 hr 27 min
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU: Eggplant fatteh (vegetarian), salad, dessert
Friday, December 8, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts (Free)
Documentary, animation
Run time: 1 hr 15 min
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU: Freekah and vegetable stew, salad, dessert
Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.”—Carthage Film Festival
Friday, December 15, 2023
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
7:30 pm – Movie starts
Short film, drama
Run time: 24 min
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP appreciated.
MENU: Maqlouba (upside-down chicken & rice), salad, dessert
The Present: On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping?
Lovesick in the West Bank: A Palestinian family hosts a young American tourist after a simple misunderstanding. But as chaos unfolds in their village, it doesn’t take too long for them to become part of the absurd mayhem that immediately ensues.
— Movies for the Whole Family —
Friday, November 17, 2023
6 pm – Movie starts
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP’s greatly appreciated!
MENU:
Eggplant fatteh (vegetarian), salad, dessert
Ben & Izzy is an animated children’s series that follows the budding friendship of two young boys, one from Jordan and the other from the United States. After discovering a time machine, the boys travel through time together, learning about each other’s rich cultural heritage and meeting key historical figures. Throughout their adventures, Ben and Izzy work together to overcome incredible difficulties and grow to appreciate each other and their respective cultures. The series crosses cultural barriers and relates to viewers on a universal level, as the characters’ friendship serves as a metaphor for acceptance and tolerance. The lesson from each episode is, “we don’t have to be the same to get along!”
Friday, December 8, 2023
6 pm – Movie starts
7 pm – Dinner ($15)
Movie is free & open to the public.
Dinner available for purchase. RSVP’s greatly appreciated!.
MENU:
Freekah and vegetable stew, salad, dessert
Six-year-old Dounia (sparkily voiced by Rachaf Ataya) is forced to leave her home in Aleppo, accompanied by her grandfather and grandmother and the kind of magic that has its roots in the fabulous stories her parents told her. Together they undertake a perilous journey in order to find the new home which, Dounia is sure, is waiting for them somewhere. This enchanting, appealingly animated story of a displaced child is aimed at family audiences but despite, or perhaps even because of, the picture’s fantasy elements, it could prove to be a disarmingly potent proposition for adult animation fans also.
— Screen Daily