May 2023 will see the UK release of two films by Arab women directors, Myriam Touzani’s festival hit The Blue Caftan and Erige Sehiri’s Tunisian-set, Directors’ Fortnight entry Under The Fig Trees.

To celebrate these releases, The Garden Cinema have collated recent key feature films made by Arab women directors that, together, offer a rich and diverse introduction to filmmaking from the region. They’ve picked films that tell everyday, very human stories, away from sensationalist and reductionist portrayals too often offered up by depictions of the Arab world. These films together will form their latest season: Mukhrijat: Arab Women Filmmakers. The films will be complemented by introductions, Q&As and events. 
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MEMORY BOX SCREENING
*Sard, short film (9 min), by Zaina Ramadan Saleh, will be screened before each screening of Memory Box.

Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980’s Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother’s tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.

Book tickets here.