More than 30 movies from across the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, and South Asia are already playing at Alwan Film Festival which is being held in New York which started on the 14th of April and will end on the 23rd; Arab directors are seeking to counter the stereotyped picture of Arabs by Hollywood by featuring their films in the US to show Americans what the Arab world is all about. The films tackle timely subjects such as the US-led war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Afghanistan.

The festival was created by the Alwan for the Arts, a non-profit organization founded in 1998 in lower Manhattan.