MEMORY AND THE LAND 


Drawing on Cinefilmu’s theme this year, Mizna has selected two recent, short, SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) films that celebrate our relationships to history, the land, and each other. From Turtle Island to Palestine, these two films resist settler colonialism by building connections and reclaiming our stories and our lands.

Since 1999, Mizna has promoted experimental approaches to art, literature, and film through work that questions and expands the forms and conceptual frameworks of Arab and SWANA culture. Mizna publishes a biannual print literary and art journal, Mizna, as well as Mizna Online, a digital platform for literary and multidisciplinary work reflecting critically on the current realities of the SWANA region and beyond. Mizna also  produces the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, the largest and longest-running SWANA-centered film festival in the Midwest. 

The Saint-Paul-based organization also offers readings, film series, performances, public art commissions, and community events that have featured 1000+ local and transnational writers, filmmakers, and artists.