Eastside is Proud to Sponsor…
Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Fest 2025
At Eastside, we believe in nourishing the vibrant culture that makes our neighborhood such a special place. That’s why we’re proud to sponsor Mizna’s Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.
The 19th Twin Cities Arab Film Fest returns September 24–28, 2025 at the Main Cinema in Minneapolis, with a closing day of special films and programs at the Walker Art Center.
As we witness the world engulfed by preventable, human-made catastrophe––from Palestine to Sudan to Northern Minnesota––we draw each other near and we work together to rebuild a shared world. Drawing inspiration from Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Gate A-4,” we take this line as our charge for this year’s Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, which will present a selection of films that encourage us to gather more inclusively, to build more intentionally, to unite more readily, and to see more clearly. The films in this year’s festival remind us to value one another and to imagine relationships that extend beyond human-made boundaries, like race, nation, gender, species, and family. This year’s lineup visualizes and enacts solidarity––politically, spiritually, and relationally––and the films envision a shared world, where our connections become tools to dismantle systems of oppression and reimagine our liberated future.
About Mizna
For over twenty-five years, Mizna has promoted experimental approaches to art, literature, and film; work that questions and expands the forms and conceptual frameworks of Arab and SWANA culture. We publish a biannual print literary and art journal, Mizna, and Mizna Online, a digital platform for literary and multidisciplinary work reflecting critically on the current realities of the SWANA region and beyond. We produce the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, the largest and longest-running SWANA-centered film festival in the Midwest. Mizna also offers readings, film series, performances, public art commissions, and community events that have featured 1000+ local and transnational writers, filmmakers, and artists.