GUEST EDITOR: Zina Louhaichy (@zinalouhaichy ) 🇲🇦🇮🇹
Introducing Zina Louhaichy — a Moroccan-Italian director, actress, and designer born and raised in NYC, whose practice spans film and visual world-building. She recently starred in Kasbi (dir. Farah Jabir), premiering at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, marking a powerful moment for emerging Arab voices in independent cinema. Rooted in nuance, Louhaichy’s work centers women as complex, interior beings. Through performance and image-making alike, she builds narratives that feel intimate and layered.
Ayni admin reveal 👋🏽👁️. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey with @Ayni.Vault so far. I can’t wait to see this platform grow and further contribute to the preservation of Arab art and culture.
Kasbi (2024) — dir. by Farah Jabir 🇺🇸 🇲🇾
At its Tribeca premiere, this 12-minute drama introduced Maryam — a Pakistani woman stepping beyond the boundaries of duty and expectation. A restrained yet powerful exploration of identity and the courage to claim one’s desires.
Now available to watch on YouTube @shortoftheweek
All That’s Left of You (2025) – dir. by @cheriendabis 🇵🇸
A deeply personal and devastating historical drama, this film tells the story of a Palestinian family fractured by displacement and shaped by inherited grief. Set against the backdrop of the 1980s occupation of the West Bank, Dabis crafts a generational portrait of loss, resilience, and the unbreakable bond between people and homeland
Now playing in select theaters.
Cherien Dabis (1976) 🎥🇵🇸🇺🇲
@cheriendabis
To celebrate All That’s Left of You (2025) now playing in theaters, we’re spotlighting Cherien Dabis — a Palestinian-American filmmaker whose work explores displacement and the emotional realities of life across borders. Raised between the U.S. and the Middle East, Dabis began her career with shorts before breaking out with her acclaimed debut Amreeka (2009).
Dabis’s films are deeply personal yet politically resonant, centering intimate family stories within larger histories of migration and belonging.
@AllThatsLeftofYouFilm is now showing in select theaters.
Happy Holidays (2024) — dir. by Scandar Copti 🇵🇸
Against the backdrop of a holiday and an impending wedding, this ensemble drama captures the emotional weight carried by Arab families navigating tradition and political reality. A quiet yet piercing study of how personal choices are shaped by larger systems.
Fanon (2024) — dir. by Jean-Claude Barny 🇬🇵
This biographical drama traces Frantz Fanon’s transformative years in 1950s Algeria, where his work at the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital exposed the deep intersections between psychological trauma and colonial violence. Barny captures Fanon’s radical shift from physician to political force as he joins the Algerian liberation struggle and begins writing The Wretched of the Earth.
Closing Night screening, tomorrow at 6:30 PM at Cowin’s Teacher College, followed by a Q&A with the director @ny_adiff
Yassine Fennane (1977) 🎥🇲🇦
In honor of The Ants (2025) showing tonight at the @cinemavillage , we want to highlight Yassine Fennane — a Moroccan filmmaker whose work cuts deep into identity, migration, and social truths. Trained in performing arts in Paris, Yassine began his career with shorts and TV films, eventually making waves with his feature debut and now with his 2025 film The Ants (Les Fourmis).
Fennane isn’t just telling stories — he’s weaving together lives across borders, giving a voice to the often invisible. His films reflect real struggles, moral complexity, and resilience through compelling characters and raw storytelling.
Fennane will be at @cinemavillage for a director discussion + VIP reception after the screening of The Ants (Les Fourmis). @ny_adiff
The Ants (Les Fourmis) — dir. by Yassine Fennane 🇲🇦
This 2025 Moroccan thriller follows three lives intertwined near the Morocco–Spain border: a young Cameroonian migrant seeking dignity, a ruthless labor recruiter facing the cost of his exploitation, and a wealthy mother confronting moral choices. Fennane’s film exposes the human stakes of survival, social class, and migration with precision and heart.
Tickets available now for the NYC gala screening, which includes a director discussion + VIP reception, on Dec 11 at 7 PM at @cinemavillage@ny_adiff
Mora Is Here (2023) — dir. by Khalid Zairi 🇲🇦🇫🇷
This unflinching documentary remembers the 70,000+ Moroccan men who, under the promise of hope, were sent by Félix Mora in the 1950s to toil deep beneath France’s coal mines — many illiterate, often exploited, forever marked by trauma. The film surfaces their stories of survival, silence, and sacrifice — and reminds us that forced migration, in the name of progress, leaves lives behind.
Catch the NYC screening on Dec 11 at 5 PM at @cinemavillage@ny_adiff
Had to stop into @cinefilevideo to stock up on the classics. This brought back old memories of visiting the DVD store with my sister. Every Saturday we picked three movies to watch all weekend long ♥️ What should I watch next??
