The sound of aircraft intrudes upon the lives of Gazan refugees in many of the 22 short films that comprise From Ground Zero, the centerpiece film at this year’s Arab Film Festival. Sometimes the men, women and children who have temporarily set up camp in a tent city look up to see emergency supplies parachuting to the ground. At other times they watch missiles explode in the distance, filling the air with smoke. The clear blue sky isn’t calming; it holds the potential for the arrival of something destructive. While global news outlets have featured interviews with the people of Gaza since the start of the Israel–Hamas war, the short films in From Ground Zero are largely first-person accounts. People telling their own stories in their own words. Stunning aerial views of the Mediterranean Sea suddenly turn around to reveal the maze of makeshift tents and their inhabitants. Individually, the stories are heartbreaking. Collectively, the imagery depicts the erasure of a citizenry, their society and their culture. All of this damage—psychological, spiritual, emotional, physical—suggests the start of a chain reaction. If civilized nations find this level of devastation permissible in Gaza, then it will be permissible anywhere. Yasmina Tawil, one of the main programmers for the festival, talked with me about her approach to film curation. With this particular festival, she chose films based on subject matter and storytelling. “I will sometimes select a film that may not be amazing technically, but it tells an important story that highlights an aspect of our culture,” Tawil said. “And I’m looking for beautifully made and beautifully written films as well.” Tawil added that Arab and Arab American filmmakers tend to be underrepresented in the film industry. “Sometimes you see a spark of something really brilliant in someone, even if they’re not all the way there yet,” she said. “It’s important to show their work to support them.” Whether immigration or refugee stories, the theme of migration—of people leaving home—is a prominent theme in this year’s festival. Tawil said it’s not been an uncommon subject in the past, but this year the stories focused specifically on the difficulty of leaving. Who Do I Belong To?, a North African film by Meryam Joobeur, tells the story of a family in rural Tunisia. “Two of the oldest sons leave unexpectedly to join ISIS in Syria,” Tawil said. “Joobeur wanted the film to not just be about ISIS, but the way people can be vulnerable to radicalization everywhere in the world.” Under executive director Serge Bakalian’s leadership, the Arab Film Festival expanded into its current incarnation as the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI). When Bakalian began to volunteer at the festival in 2013, he wanted to establish a model for year-round programming. An annual festival wasn’t enough to meet the demand for Arab and Arab-American content. The Arab Film Festival is now one of four AFMI pillars with a shared mission, “to enhance public understanding of Arab culture and provide insight into the beauty, complexity and diversity intrinsic to the Arab world.” Initially founded in 1996 in San Jose, AFMI currently holds screenings in New York, Michigan and Los Angeles. At this year’s festival, Bakalian recognized another theme that emerged from the selected films. “We get stories about displacements and the conflicts that are happening, but resilience was something that really resonated with me,” he said. “We’re seeing that our communities are consistently moving forward.” Bakalian also noted that the programmers make a point to schedule films that aren’t “just dark and difficult—that’s not all that we’re about.” Bakalian believes the Arab Film Festival is an opportunity for discovery. “I genuinely love that moment right after a controversial film,” he said. “I’m always there outside in the lobby waiting with anticipation for someone to ask me a question.” And not to share his opinions or politics. “I want them to get to that moment of inquiry on their own, to investigate and just ask those questions about our world, our communities.” The Arab Film Festival runs through Nov. 3. ‘From Ground Zero’ screens at 7:30pm, Oct. 30, at The New Parkway Theater. arabfilmfestival.org