10/03/2026
Sam Kadi Joins the CEYIFF 2026 Jury: A Filmmaker Who Believes in the Power of Storytelling
The Ceylon International Film Festival (CEYIFF) is honored to welcome acclaimed filmmaker, producer, writer, director, and storyteller Sam Kadi to its distinguished jury for the 5th Annual CEYIFF, November 12–14, 2026, in Santa Barbara, California.
For CEYIFF, the appointment of Sam Kadi represents more than the addition of an accomplished filmmaker to its jury. It reflects the festival’s commitment to bringing together filmmakers and film professionals whose work demonstrates the transformative power of cinema—particularly stories that cross borders, cultures, languages, and generations.
A Filmmaker Shaped by the Power of Story
Santa Barbara-based filmmaker Sam Kadi has built a career around stories that explore identity, humanity, displacement, resilience, and the ability of cinema to connect audiences with experiences beyond their own.
Kadi is the director, writer, and producer of The Citizen, a feature drama exploring the experience of an Arab immigrant in post-9/11 America. His documentary Little Gandhi, about Syrian peace activist Ghiath Matar, was selected by Syria as its official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards. (Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara)
His work continued to reach international audiences through Lamya’s Poem, an animated feature in which a young Syrian refugee encounters the young Rumi through a world created by poetry and imagination. The film premiered at the 60th Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was shortlisted for the 2023 Oscars. Kadi served as one of its producers. (Sam Kadi)
These projects demonstrate a consistent thread throughout Kadi’s career: the belief that meaningful stories can humanize complex experiences and create understanding across cultural boundaries.
Cinema, Humanity and Cultural Understanding
Kadi’s filmmaking extends beyond entertainment. His work has brought attention to humanitarian and human-rights issues, and he has participated in conversations with international institutions and audiences about the role of storytelling in understanding displacement, conflict, and cultural identity. UC Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center describes Kadi as an award-winning filmmaker, TEDx speaker, festival juror, member of the Directors Guild of America, and member of ASIFA-Hollywood. (Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara)
His connection to Santa Barbara also makes his participation particularly meaningful for CEYIFF.
The festival was created in Santa Barbara with a vision of connecting Sri Lankan cinema and international filmmaking with American audiences, while creating a welcoming platform for filmmakers from diverse backgrounds. Kadi’s own career reflects that same spirit of crossing cultural boundaries through film.
In a TEDx Santa Barbara conversation, Kadi has spoken about storytelling, art, activism, and the Syrian diaspora, emphasizing cinema’s ability to help audiences understand complicated human experiences. (TEDx Santa Barbara)
A Distinguished Jury for CEYIFF 2026
Kadi joins a CEYIFF jury designed to bring together professionals with experience across international film, studio entertainment, production, distribution, cinematography, filmmaking, and cultural storytelling.
The jury is led by Marc Gareton, former Warner Bros. executive, whose extensive international career included film and television production, marketing, distribution, and digital entertainment. CEYIFF’s jury structure reflects the festival’s goal of giving filmmakers an informed and internationally minded evaluation of their work. (Ceylon International Film Festival)
For CEYIFF, the strength of its jury is not simply measured by individual résumés. It is also reflected in the range of perspectives represented around the table.
Sam Kadi brings a particularly important perspective: that of an internationally experienced filmmaker whose work has moved between documentary, narrative cinema and animation, while consistently engaging with stories of identity, culture, displacement and human resilience.
Why Sam Kadi’s Presence Matters to CEYIFF
CEYIFF was founded on the belief that cinema is a universal language.
That belief is especially significant for a festival that began with a Sri Lankan cultural foundation in Santa Barbara and has grown into an international platform welcoming filmmakers and audiences from around the world.
Kadi’s journey—from filmmaking rooted in the Syrian experience to projects reaching international audiences—illustrates the very kind of cultural exchange that CEYIFF seeks to encourage.
His participation also strengthens the festival’s connection to Santa Barbara’s broader filmmaking and creative community.
For CEYIFF, having a filmmaker of Kadi’s experience participate in the jury is an opportunity to bring an experienced international perspective to the discovery and recognition of emerging and established filmmakers.
Celebrating Filmmakers Who Tell Stories That Matter
The CEYIFF jury will review films across multiple categories, including feature films, short films, documentaries, and animation.
Each film represents the work, vision, investment, and personal expression of filmmakers from different parts of the world. The jury’s responsibility is therefore an important one: to engage with those stories thoughtfully and recognize the artistic voices represented within the festival.
Sam Kadi’s career makes him particularly connected to that mission.
His body of work demonstrates that cinema can do more than tell a story—it can open a window into another culture, preserve a human experience, challenge audiences to see differently, and create connections where borders once existed.
CEYIFF 2026
The 5th Annual Ceylon International Film Festival will take place November 12–14, 2026, in the Santa Barbara/Goleta area, bringing together filmmakers, industry professionals, artists, community leaders and audiences for three days of international cinema and cultural exchange.
With Sam Kadi joining the jury alongside an accomplished group of film and entertainment professionals, CEYIFF continues to build its identity as a festival where international stories meet Santa Barbara, and where filmmakers are given a platform to connect, inspire and be discovered.
At the heart of CEYIFF remains a simple belief:
Every person has a story. Every culture has a story. And every meaningful story has the power to bring people closer together.
