The Arab Film Festival marks its tenth anniversary this year with its most ambitious lineup to date: a total of 45 films (including full-length features, documentaries, and short subjects) representing 12 countries from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. With screenings in San Francisco, Berkeley, and in the south bay at Stanford University, AFF has become a small festival with a considerable reach. "To me, it's somewhat of a different operation than it used to be," explains AFF executive directo...

It's fairly unusual at a film festival with umpteen titles to pick from that one selects three names out of a hat, and all three turn out to be not only winners, back to back, but films of quality ranging from excellent to astounding. Today's triple winning ticket: "ZOZO" from Norway by way of Beirut, "Fratricide" Brudermord) -- astounding turf battle between Turks and Kurds in a German city, and "Bashing", a hypnotic Kafkaesque look at life on Desolation Row in a northern Japanese industrial w...