Arab Film Festival Opens 30th Season in SF
Screenings run at the AMC Kabuki, the Roxy, the Castro and the Proxy in Hayes Valley through Nov. 14.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Cultural
Arab cinema fans in San Francisco have a 30th edition of the Bay Area Arab American Film Festival to attend, which opened Thursday at the AMC Kabuki. The festival calls itself the first and largest annual event for Arab cinema in the country.
Why it matters
For Arab American families and film lovers across the Bay Area, the festival is a rare chance to see their own stories on a big screen, a purpose its founders set out in 1996 because they did not see themselves represented on screen. The opening also honored Mohamed Hefzy with the inaugural AFMI Luminary Award for Cultural Impact.
The 30th festival runs through Nov. 14 and was founded in 1996 by a group of Arab women in the Bay Area. Umm Kulthum, the subject of the opening film El Sett, ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone's Greatest Singers of All Time list; the source gives no attendance or box-office figures.
The players
Bay Area Arab American Film Festival
The first and largest annual event for Arab cinema in the country, launched in 1996 by Arab women in the Bay Area.
Mohamed Hefzy
Filmmaker who received the inaugural AFMI Luminary Award for Cultural Impact and whose film El Sett is a biopic of Umm Kulthum.
Marwan Hamed
Director of El Sett, the Umm Kulthum biopic.
Amine Adjina
French-Algerian filmmaker whose debut Spices and Lies will be screened outdoors in Hayes Valley.
The details
The festival opened Thursday at the AMC Kabuki, with Mohamed Hefzy receiving the inaugural AFMI Luminary Award for Cultural Impact for his film El Sett, a biopic of Umm Kulthum directed by Marwan Hamed. Screenings will run at the AMC Kabuki, the Roxy and the Castro in San Francisco, and French-Algerian filmmaker Amine Adjina's debut Spices and Lies will be shown outdoors at the Proxy in Hayes Valley. The festival concludes Nov. 14 with Danielle Arbid's Only Rebels Win at Oakland's Parkway Theater.
Timeline
1904: Umm Kulthum is born in the Egyptian village of Tamay al-Zahayra.
1996: Arab women in the Bay Area launch the festival.
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026: The 30th festival opens at the AMC Kabuki.
Nov. 14, 2026: The festival closes at the Parkway Theater in Oakland.
Across the Bay
The festival opens its 30th edition in San Francisco as a continuation of a three-decade effort that began in 1996, and this year's opening film turns to Umm Kulthum, the Egyptian singer born in 1904 who ranks number 61 on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Singers of All Time. The closing screening in Oakland extends the program beyond San Francisco to the East Bay.
If you want to catch a screening, the festival runs at several San Francisco venues through Nov. 14, including an outdoor show at the Proxy in Hayes Valley. The closing night moves to the Parkway Theater in Oakland for Only Rebels Win.
The takeaway
The festival has grown from a 1996 effort to bring Arab stories to screen into the country's largest annual event for Arab cinema, and this year's program gives San Franciscans many chances to see it. Check the venue schedules at the AMC Kabuki, the Roxy, the Castro, and the Parkway Theater before the festival closes Nov. 14.
What happens next
The festival continues through Nov. 14, with screenings at the AMC Kabuki, the Roxy, the Castro, the Proxy in Hayes Valley, and the Parkway Theater in Oakland.
Further reading
For more on the arts scene behind events like this, browse our Cultural coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Kqed.
