AL-BUSTAN NEWS
Covering Philadelphia’s Southwest Asian and North African Communities
Cinema, Etcetera | Kamal Aljafari’s ‘With Hasan in Gaza’ and the Challenges of Experimental Arab Film
By Joseph Fahim
The success of “With Hasan in Gaza” in Locarno, where it was seen by thousands of people, has proven that there is a sizeable audience for films like Aljafari’s: an artistically and intellectually uncompromised cinema that rejects a digestible, ready-made message.
Fargo Nissim Tbakhi’s Satirical Solo Show Offers Theatre Audiences Discomfort, Laughter and Catharsis
Gauri Mangala
The festival panel noticed a shift in this year’s collection of applications. While overall application numbers have dwindled, a larger proportion featured strong political themes and messages.
The Destruction of Hebron’s Seed Bank and the Area Growers Helping to Preserve Palestine’s Agricultural Heritage
By Gawhara Abou-eid
The Hebron facility had long played a crucial role in preserving heirloom seed varieties critical to Palestinian foodways and climate resilience. With preservation in the West Bank increasingly endangered, diaspora-based efforts have stepped in to continue the work.
Pro-Palestine Faculty at Area Universities Report Censorship, Prosecution and Loss of Academic Freedom
By Ragad Ahmad
When universities can redefine academic freedom to exclude certain perspectives, when they can retroactively criminalize respected ideas and abandon institutional principles in the face of external pressures, then no field of knowledge remains safe.
Art as Resistance | Vox Populi’s ‘Acts of Resistance’ Refuses to Look Away
By Lauren Abunassar
Community gatherings like “Acts of Resistance” become a way to reject the notion that our grief or our desires for freedom and witness are singular—an understanding that is a key piece of reclaiming agency.
Coming Soon: The ‘Cinema, Etcetera’ Column
By Joseph Fahim
Criticism is imperative not only for understanding Arab culture, but for confronting the mediocrity that can arise from silencing critical perspectives.
Al-Bustan News Team
Editor
Nisa Qazi
Current Journalism Fellows
Gawhara Abou-eid
Amna Khalafalla
Columnists
Lauren Abunassar
Joseph Fahim