Arab Film Series @ AANM

Emerging from the Arab Film Festival, the Arab Film Series @ AANM is a collaborative effort between Cinema Lamont and the Arab American National Museum (AANM). The series brings a wide range of new and classic films by Arab and Arab American filmmakers to the doorstep of metro Detroit, uniting community members through film, dialogue and activism.

This season's film series highlights films and programs from Northern Africa.  Many of the North African countries have a rich history and multiple layers of cultural and social identities, including the Arab identity. Each film and program in this series brings to light the North African narrative.


The Battle of Algiers  + talkback
7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019
Aliya Hassan Auditorium @ AANM

AANM Members: FREE
General Public: $5

An essential film for any movie buff, lover of history or Arab/Arab American studies, The Battle of Algiers (1966) is a classic film that highlights the Algerian struggle for independence from the colonial rule of France. The socio-political drama mainly chronicles the three-year Battle of Algiers, one of the most prominent battles in Algerian's war of independence. The film is based on actual events and involves a mostly Algerian cast of non-professional actors.

Over the years, the film has won several awards, including the Golden Lion and FIPRESCI Prize from Venice Film Festival (1966), and has been nominated for several awards at the Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film (1967), Best Director (1969) and Best Writing, Story & Screenplay—Written Directly for the Screen (1969).

Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
1966/Algeria, Italy/123 minutes
Arabic and French with English Subtitles

Immediately following the film will be a talkback with media scholar and author of Fifty Years of The Battle of Algiers: Past as Prologue, Sohail Daulatzai. 

Flesh Out
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019
Aliya Hassan Auditorium @ AANM

AANM Members: $7
Students/Seniors: $8
General Public: $10

In keeping with the traditions of her Mauritanian home, the announcement of Verida’s impending arranged marriage brings with it the beginning of gavage—the ritual of over-eating in order to attain a fuller figure more desirable to her future husband. As the obedient daughter of two loving parents, Verida at first accepts the intense physical strain of gavage with little resistance. But as the ritual’s requirements become increasingly all-consuming, Verida feels her resistance to the intense expectations of both her mother and culture push toward a breaking point.

Director Michela Occhipinti’s narrative feature debut, Flesh Out (2019) is an intensely resonant look at one woman’s struggle to find an identity for herself outside of the suffocating pressure to conform.

Dir. Michela Occhipinti
2019/Mauritania, Italy/94 minutes
Hassaniya with English Subtitles

Light refreshments will following the screening.



The Arab Film Series is made possible in part by





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13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI 48126 - Phone (313) 582-AANM (2266) A Project of ACCESS