What We Need Now Are Indie Arab Films
Mizna’s 20th annual Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
CAMILLE jACKSON
On a breezy September evening with a sprinkle of rain, I found myself under a bridge.
People clustered into groups laughing, reminiscing about last year’s event and taking a stab at the mystery movie we had all gathered to see. The audience was decked in colorful clothes, leather jackets, and keffiyehs salt and peppered throughout. Beats from DJ Jacques floated through the pre-movie social and the cotton trees swayed to the rhythm. The music was so complementary to the space and the people, they were greater than the sum of their parts.
Mizna began as a grassroots organization in Minneapolis in 1999, created to encourage representation, intersectionality, and decoloniality of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) artists. They host the largest and oldest SWANA film festival in the Midwest. This year, for the 20th anniversary of the festival, the theme was “Looking Forward, Looking Back.” A dozen movies spanned the last week of September, from films about a Sudanese girl torn between longing and anti-colonial empowerment to the political leverage of oil and Pan-Arab solidarity in 1960’s Palestine.
From the seat I slid into, the red glow of the Gold Medal Flour sign reflected against the purple sky over the Mississippi. Warm smells from Baba’s Hummus and Mi’aawaa’s Bakery pop up stands— which the girl next to me asserted has the best chai—wafted over to the crowd. The audience gathered here for Mizna’s mystery movie of the night.
At 8 p.m. the organizers gave their hints to the mystery film, a musical comedy starring Lebanese legend Fairuz and directed by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine. Of course, cheers rang out for the Lebanese singer and actress.
Our mystery film: “The Ring Seller” (1965)
“The Ring Seller” follows the twists and turns of comedic lies and Rima’s (Fairuz) coming of age. Her uncle, the mayor, creates stories to entertain himself, much to the concern of the villagers who believe his tales. Rima covers for him while pursuing her own journey for love during the village’s engagement season. The film was charming, the miscommunication trope was actually entertaining and didn’t make me want to pull my hair out.
The 1965 film opens with the shot of a spinning mosaic lamp accompanied by a retro arabic font. The motif of intricate lamps and flowers are sprinkled throughout. Dynamic compositions use windows and reflections to frame shots. With the cave-like set up of the Third Avenue Bridge, Fairuz’s voice echoes off the ceiling of the bridge and harmonizes back at me. The effect is best described by my roommate, a “voice like a siren.” Her songs are alluring and add a new layer to the film’s aesthetic. It has a technicolor charm that shows the quirkiness of the village and long shots of the countryside that you don’t get in today’s green screen movies.
Mingling with others in the crowd and watching friends catch up made me think of the importance of social spaces, theaters, and the decline of both these spaces. The film festival is not just about the films. I would argue the point is the people, the human connection of being in a theater—or in this case a bridge with a projector—and watching the same thing with different thoughts. It’s about the importance of expanding your brain with others.
This film humanizes side characters. In 2026 if you ask people to think about West Asian and North African regions, the first thing that comes to people’s minds are likely genocide, war, and women’s rights. While other films in the festival cover these important issues, we should also remember that for centuries SWANA girls have been sneaking out with their friends, looking for love, and leading their own lives. This past was not perfect, but it does give us reminders that we persist. A romantic comedy might be what we need, both to look back and look forward to our future.
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