MENA Film Festival returns to VIFF Centre for MENA 5, a celebration of five years of celebrating the art and film of the Middle East and North Africa/Southwest Asia and North Africa (MENA/SWANA) region and diaspora in Vancouver! From January 27 to February 1, 2024, MENA 5 will host over forty carefully-curated films including features and shorts bundles, selected in response to our theme of time and its passage. The festival week also features workshops, panels, Q&As, and networking opportunities. MENA looks forward to welcoming audiences new and old from across the Lower Mainland as we continue sharing work by diverse and challenging voices from across the MENA/SWANA experience. Welcome to MENA 5!
Pricing
All films and events will be 19+
|
Adult |
$15 |
|
Senior 65+ |
$13 |
|
Student |
$10 |
|
VIFF+ |
$12 |
|
VIFF+ Premium/U25 |
$10 |
|
VIFF+ Patron |
Free |
|
5-Ticket Pack* |
$50 |
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3-Ticket Pack* |
$36 |
|
Opening Ceremony |
$40 |
|
Award Ceremony |
$30 |
|
MENA/SWANA Panel |
By Donation |
|
Industry Rendez-Vous |
$15/$20/$25 |
*Ticket packs are valid for all film screenings, not including Opening Ceremony, Award Ceremony or Industry events
Films & Events
Opening Ceremony
Join the MENA5 opening ceremony to celebrate our festival’s kickoff with live music, food, and the screening of MENA CANADA Grant winner HAIR!
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Rewind Bundle
Light-hearted yet deep, sad but heart-warming, these depictions of queerness between the past and the present leave us believing in a hopeful future.
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Three Promises
The story revolves around three critical moments when Suha negotiates her family's safety with God amid the abandonment of dear friends, her son's fleeting childhood, her daughter's mistrust, and directly facing her own mortality.
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Play Bundle
Creativity and movement are at the heart of the play bundle with a focus on artists and dancers. These films capture bodies lost in movement and the creative process.
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Panel: MENA/SWANA Representation in Film
A panel discussion moderated by renowned actor Shayan Bayat with MENA/SWANA film professionals Vanessa Issa, Baraka Rahmani, and Jonathan Akkawi, about the challenges of surviving as actors and filmmakers in the North American scene.
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Stop Bundle
How do systems of power seek to control the body? These films explore the rules and obstacles that are put on the body from the state and other cultural forces.
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Animalia
In this wide-ranging debut, mysterious green apparitions above a remote Moroccan lake bring chaos to the world around pregnant Itto. Married into a wealthy family, she feels like an interloper in her in-laws’ grand house but she is alone when the strange celestial event occurs.
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Heroic Bodies
Heroic Bodies explores Sudanese Women's struggle and resistance, as they seek to take back their rights, utilizing Body Politics, insisting on the right to Education, pioneering initiatives in Public Health, and breaking social taboos.
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Pause Bundle
These films portray the physical body as a “finite” vessel and how its functions and parts affect daily life. Pause Bundle depicts the SWANA region’s relationship with death outside of the context of imperialism and war.
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Industry Rendezvous: Project Funding and Pitch Workshop
A great professional development and networking event, this workshop offers an opportunity to learn from top regional and national funding bodies and receive one-on-one feedback on your film and episodic project ideas.
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The Burdened
Aden, Yemen. Isra’a and Ahmed put all their efforts offering a normal life and education to their three young children. When they find out that Isra'a is pregnant again, they have to make difficult decisions guided only by their family's interest.
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Forward Bundle
A highly experimental bundle, these films use neorealism, experimentation with the 8/16mm film medium, editing, and breaking the fourth wall to push the boundaries of what narratives can include and how audiences experience them.
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Award Ceremony
Join us for an afternoon of food, music, and a celebration of MENA 5’s best films. After a recap of our 2024 festival’s highlights,the Scarlet Pomegranate, Buraq, Audience Choice, and Face of MENA/SWANA award winners will be announced.
This event has passed.