The San Diego Arab Film Festival is back for 2026 with live, in-person presentations of feature length and short films at the Museum of Photographic Arts. The festival will open on Friday, March 27, and present 8 screenings, each showcasing one feature film and one short film (except for one that has 2 shorts and one in which the feature is long so it doesn’t have an accompanying short), from across the Arab World. All films are presented at the John and Irwin Jacobs Theater in the Museum of Photographic Arts. Each evening, the festival will also offer cafeteria-style Arabic dinner.
This year we have all three films from and about Palestine that were shortlisted for the Best International feature award. Six of our films were the official submission by their respective countries for Best International Feature (Palestine 36, Palestine, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia, All that’s Left of You, Jordan, A Sad and Beautiful World, Lebanon, The President’s Cake, Iraq,, and Calle Malaga, Morocco. Our short films include two films about Palestine from Iranian filmmakers, who are struggling to find international audiences because of US sanctions, as well as films from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen and the US.
We are excited to bring these films to the San Diego community!
Admission/Cost: Admission Varies, See Website
Location:
Museum of Photographic Arts
Balboa Park
San Diego, CA
Dates and times (First screening of each day):
From March 27 to 28 and April 17 to 19, 2026
Friday, March 27 - 6:45 PM
Saturday, March 28 - 6:10 PM
Friday, April 17 - 6:45 PM
Saturday, April 18 - 6:00 PM
Sunday, April 19 - 4:40 PM
