This April, join the Kanopy team in celebrating the rich and diverse cultural tapestry woven by the Arab American community, offering a cinematic journey that explores their history, traditions and contemporary experiences. These films not only showcase the unique stories of Arab American individuals and communities but also serve as a powerful medium for fostering understanding, dismantling stereotypes and generating dialogue. Access the collection at kanopy.com/category/78249.
Mo, a practicing Muslim living in West Hollywood, is learning to navigate life post heartbreak. Enter Kal, an All-American guy who surprises Mo by offering to break fast with him during the holy month of Ramadan.
Corner Store faithfully documents Yosuef’s resoundingly universal tale of hard won choices for a better life, now set on the back drop of San Francisco and modern-day Palestine. Compelling and emotionally-engaging, the film is a story about community relationships, cultural understanding, immigration, and the politics of living in an occupied territory. Even more, the film is about family, the sacrifices people make for each other, and the deep connections that bind us all together.
Once a city that was 90% Polish, Hamtramck became the first Muslim majority city in America. Now, this new wave of immigrants aim to gain representation in city hall. Hamtramck, USA follows Kamal Rahman, a Bangladeshi candidate for Mayor, Fadel al-Marsoumi, a 23 year old Iraqi immigrant running for City Council, as well as the current mayor, Karen Majewski, Hamtramck’s first female mayor in the city’s 100 year lineage of Polish mayors. Throughout the election, candidates look to build support, coalitions, and partnerships across ethnic and religious lines.
On the outskirts of Beirut, Lilas and her thrash metal bandmates, Shery, Maya, Alma, and Tatyana (Slave to Sirens), have big dreams but few opportunities. When the band’s appearance at a UK music festival isn’t the life-changer they had hoped for, Lilas comes home to Lebanon on the brink of collapse. At the same time, the complicated relationship between Lilas and her fellow guitarist Shery starts to fracture. The future of her band, her country, and her dreams now all at stake, Lilas faces a crossroad. She must decide what kind of leader she will be, not only for her band, but also as a young woman struggling to define herself in Lebanon, a country as complex as each of the Sirens themselves.
In the Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago where journalist and filmmaker Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. While investigating their experiences, Assia uncovers tens of thousands of pages of FBI documents that prove her hometown was the subject of one of the largest counter terrorism investigations ever conducted in the U.S. before 9/11, code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal.” With unprecedented access, The Feeling of Being Watched weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community-including her own family-fell under blanket government surveillance.
