SAKINAH Film Festival showcases contemporary film and video works by Muslim filmmakers from around the world. Returning the weekend before Ramadan, the 2026 edition invites audiences into a generative space of reflection, renewal, and community.

This project was supported, in part, by a grant from 4Culture.

FILMS IN THIS PROGRAM: 

2000’s NOSTALGIA (Wasima Farah – United States – 02:28 – Experimental)
Visualizing Somali girlhood and drawing on the cultural vibrancy of weddings and the playful rituals of getting ready with our sisters, cousins, and habaryars (aunties), this film explores how colors, sound, and celebration shape identity across generations.

A Collective Dream (Swaleha Masude – United States – 10:51 – Experimental)
An exploration of grief, loss, and using the dried date seeds as prayer beads to pray for a collectively decided purpose.

A Little Goldfish (MohammadReza Rahmani – Iran – 15:00 – Narrative)
Amid the crowd of Tehran’s bazaar, a little girl sees the world as joyful, beautiful, and full of color — but for her mother, it is bitter, cold, and dark.

Anhad: A Way of Looking (Syed Ahmad Rufai – India – 21:21 – Documentary)
Two visually impaired artists offer an imaginative exploration of the world through their perspectives.

Haram Salami (Negine Jasmine Sekandari & Ayda Rojhantalab – United States – 12:18 – Narrative)
Haram Salami follows three generations of Afghan women as they navigate their relationships with one another. A single bold act sparks an unexpected confrontation, unearthing buried tensions about identity, tradition, and the cost of chasing a dream.

SFOIC: The Interstitial Mosque (Omar Mohammad – United States – 05:23 – Experimental)
Located on the first floor of the SFO parking structure, in an opening directly under the inclined ramp leading to the second floor, there exists an interstitial piece of architecture that serves the hyperlocal community within its boundaries.

The Dive (Shirin Sabour – Iran – 15:00 – Narrative)
A mother who is very dependent on her children; in order to dissuade her daughter who intends to emigrate, lies to her that she is sick.

The Scapegoat (Ali Fard – Iran – 09:40 – Narrative)
A woman in her 40s, who has confessed to the murder of her brother-in-law, returns to the scene of the crime with the investigation team to reconstruct the murder.

The Sweet Perfume (Mohmmad Reza Mohmmadi – Iran – 14:53 – Narrative)
A female student named Ruqiya gets dizzy and nauseous during a national exam due to an allergy to perfume.

Unqualified (Sherry Rashidan & Ilhan Abdullahi – Canada – 14:30 – Narrative)
In this workplace comedy, Warsan – the lone Muslim employee – is tasked by her boss to perform a ‘spiritual purification’ of the office, after multiple complaints of paranormal activity in the lunchroom.

Voyeur (Maryam Hashempour – Iran – 5:52 – Narrative)
A girl enters a coffee shop while waiting for her friend. An unknown number sends her a photo of her, taken just before she enters the coffee shop. The unknown person sends the photo several times until…

WISDOM of the CROWD (Adam Mohammed Nevin – United States – 14:43 – Narrative)
A propagandist who powers a decaying war machine with his art must confront the truth.