Alwan for the Arts Presents 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival February 23 - March 4, 2007

Alwan for the Arts Presents 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival February 23 - March 4, 2007

NEW YORK, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival (NYASAFF) presented by Alwan for the Arts and bringing the best in recent features, docs, & shorts that increase awareness of the creative vitality and sociopolitical realities of North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and their diasporas kicks off at the Tribeca Cinemas, Columbia University, Two Boots Pioneer Theater, Alwan for the Arts, and DCTV February 23 thru March 4, 2007. Given the historical and cultural affinities between these geographic regions, as well as the contemporary political landscape, several cultural and media organizations, including Alwan for the Arts, 3rd i NY, South Asian Women's Creative Collective, and Downtown Community Television have launched a collaborative series encompassing film, video, music, visual art, and literature, that will culminate in the annual, NYASA Film Festival.

The festival will feature a retrospective of celebrated Tunisian director Nacer Khemir (who will also present a Master Class at Columbia) as well as sidebar programs of Palestinian Revolution Films; New Documentaries from Afghanistan; Next Generation South Asian Short Films from the UK; and Transfixed: Performance, Absence and Territory through the Lens - Experimental South Asian Shorts. Another notable section of the festival is "War Diaries," which will introduce the American public to unseen daily experiences of the people of Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. These images and scenes, which are markedly absent from the American nightly news, will be selected from footage donated by cameramen, videographers, and people living on the ground. Presented without commentary, and minimally edited by NYC-based filmmakers, "War Diaries" will be screened throughout the duration of our festival before features, on a flat screen monitor at Tribeca Cinemas Lobby, as well as projected in public spaces around New York City.

Ticket Information:

Tickets can be ordered through the festival website, http://www.alwanforthearts.org/filmfestival or through participating venues.

General Admission is $10.00.

Festival Venues:

Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013, (at Laight Street, one block below Canal). Columbia University Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway at 116 St.

Columbia University 511 Dodge Hall, 2960 Broadway at 116th Street

Columbia University Schermerhorn Auditorium, 1190 Amsterdam Ave between 116th & 120th St.

Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East 3rd Street New York, NY (at Avenue A)

Alwan For the Arts, 16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (b/w Broad and Broadway)

DCTV, 87 Lafayette Ave, #2, New York (two blocks south of Canal)

For more information on the 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival call: 212-967-4318 or log on to: http://www.alwanforthearts.org/filmfestival

Press Contacts:
- SPRINGER ASSOCIATES PR -
Gary Springer / D'Arcy Drollinger - 212-354-4660
gary@springerassociatespr.com, darcy@springerassociatespr.com

Source: Alwan for the Arts

CONTACT: Gary Springer, gary@springerassociatespr.com, or D'Arcy
Drollinger, darcy@springerassociatespr.com, both of Springer Associates PR,
+1-212-354-4660, for Alwan for the Arts

Web site: http://www.alwanforthearts.org/
http://www.alwanforthearts.org/filmfestival

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