Part of First Look 2026 and Infinite Beauty: Muslim and MENASA Identity Onscreen

Director Mohamed Mesbah in person

Dirs. Mohamed Mesbah and Randa Maroufi. This special program traverses time and place to create a surprising and poignant dialogue between people living vastly different lives engaged in creation as a means of surviving great change and uncertainty. Mohamed Mesbah’s Still Playing (37 mins.) follows a video game creator named Rasheed, raising two boys in the West Bank in the summer of 2024 as war rages on in Gaza, while dreaming up games that reflect that reality. Randa Maroufi’s L’Mina (26 mins.) lays out the history of Jerada, Morocco, a town all but defined by its mining industry, and builds an elaborate reenactment of the subterranean work that persists in spite of life-threatening dangers. Mesbah and Maroufi’s understanding that labor is a part of personal and social identity allows both films to dive deep below the surface of both a video screen, and the land beneath our feet. Total running time: 63 mins.