From the Middle East & North Africa
A mix of narrative and documentary, this collection of films from the Middle East and North Africa runs the gamut from love stories like Empire M and A Tale of Love and Desire, to hard-hitting political documentaries with Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said.
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Dachra
Directed by Abdelhamid Bouchnak • Drama • With Yassmine Dimassi, Hela Ayed, Aziz Jebali • 2018 • 114 minutes
Ever since she was discovered naked and near-dead decades ago, Mongia has been institutionalized, with a tendency to bite her nurses. Grisly, frightening, and stuffed with howling thrills...
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Until the Birds Return
Directed by Karim Moussaoui • Drama • With Mohamed Djouhri, Hania Amar, Hassan Kachach • 2018 • 113 minutes
A property developer is witness to random street violence. A pair of secret lovers make their way across the desert. A doctor is accused of having a criminal past. In these three interconn...
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In Mansourah, You Separated Us
Directed by Dorothée-Myriam Kellou • Documentary • 2020 • 71 minutes
An older man walks through piles of rubble—stone heaps and the remnants of walls. Like a host giving guests a tour of his home, he points out where kitchen, bedrooms, and other rooms once stood. “This is where I was born and gr...
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Papicha
Directed by Mounia Meddour • Drama • With Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda • 2019 • 108 minutes
Set in Algeria in the 1990's, Nedjma (Lyna Khoudri, The French Dispatch), is an 18 year-old student passionate about fashion design who refuses to let the tragic events of the Alge...
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As I Open My Eyes
Directed by Leyla Bouzid • Drama • With Marwen Soltana, Youssef Soltana, Deena Abdelwahed, Lassaad Jamoussi, Aymen Omrani, Montassar Ayari, Ghalia Benali, Baya Medhaffar • 2015 • 102 minutes
As I Open My Eyes gives us a look at Tunisian youth on the eve of the Jasmine Revolution as they are pull...
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A Tale of Love and Desire
Directed by Leila Bouzid • Drama • 2022 • 103 minutes
Ahmed (Sami Outalbali), French of Algerian origin, grew up in the suburbs of Paris. At the university, he meets Farah (Zbeida Belhajamor), a young Tunisian woman, full of energy, who has just arrived in Paris. While discovering a corpus of se...
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Empire M
Directed by Hussein Kamal • Drama • With Faten Hamamah, Ahmad Mazhar • 1972 • 113 minutes
After the death of her husband, Mona (Faten Hamama) is raising her six kids along with working at her demanding job. She gradually falls in love with a businessman Ahmed (Ahmed Mazhar), but is afraid to giv...
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In the Last Days of the City
Directed by Tame El Said • Drama • With Khalid Abdalla • 2018 • 118 minutes
Tamer El Said’s ambitious debut feature tells the fictional story of a filmmaker from downtown Cairo played by Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, United 93, Green Zone, The Square) as he struggles to capture the soul of a ...
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Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi & Abbas Kiarostami)
Directed by Jafar Panahi • Written by Abbas Kiarostami * Drama • With Hossain Emadeddin • 2003 • 95 minutes
Two master filmmakers, Abbas Kiarostami (A Taste of Cherry) and Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Taxi) team up as writer and director, respectively, on Crimson Gold, a subtle tragedy on class con...
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Born in Evin
Directed by Maryam Zaree • Documentary • 2019 • 98 minutes
Born in Evin follows filmmaker and actress, Maryam Zaree, on her quest to find out the violent circumstances surrounding her birth inside one of the most notorious political prisons in the world.
Exactly forty years have passed since th...
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Captain Abu Raed
Directed by Amin Matalqa • Drama • With Nadim Sawalha (Abu Raed) / Rana Sultan (Nour) / Hussein Al-Sous (Murad) / Udey Al-Qiddissi (Tareq) • 2014 • 100 minutes
Captain Abu Raed is a universal story of friendship, inspiration and heroism set in contemporary Jordan. Abu Raed is a lonely janitor at...
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Amira
Directed by Mohamed Diab • Drama • 2022 • 100 minutes
Amira (Tara Abboud), a 17 year old Palestinian, was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her imprisoned father, Nawar. Although their relationship since birth has been restricted to prison visits, he remains her hero. His absence in her life ...
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Rock the Casbah
Directed by Laïla Marrakchi • Drama • With Morjana Alaoui, Hiam Abbass • 100 minutes
The patriarch of a family dies suddenly, prompting a reunion of his daughters, some of whom haven't seen each other for a long time. In the midst of mourning their father, traditions are upheld... and secrets ar...
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Razzia
Directed by Nabil Ayouch • Drama • With Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji • 2017 • 119 minutes
In this searing and mesmerizing drama, five Moroccans from different social and religious strata are pushed to the fringe by their extremist government. Spanning three decades and several ...
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Les Enfants Terribles
Directed by Ahmet Necdet Çupur • Documentary • 2021 • 93 minutes
Twenty years ago, Ahmet Necdet Çupur left his village in south-eastern Turkey, against his parents wishes. Now, he is back. But this time as a filmmaker documenting his siblings’ struggles against the same oppressive family culture...
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Afghanistan 1979: The War That Changed the World
Directed by Gulya Mirzoeva • Documentary • 2014 • 52 minutes
The Soviet troops' intervention in Afghanistan was a pivotal event in the history of the 20th century. It launched Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
Soviet troops entered Afghanistan in 1979. This was the war that changed the world. Western cou...
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Saving Mes Aynak
Directed by Brent E. Huffman • Documentary • 2015 • 58 minutes
SAVING MES AYNAK follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancie...
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Neither Allah, Nor Master!
Directed by Nadia El Fani • Documentary • 2011 • 71 minutes
Winner of the International Secular Prize, Tunisian-Franco filmmaker Nadia El Fani, an avowed atheist, takes a personal approach to this cinematic exploration of secularism in the Muslim country of Tunisia before and after the depositio...
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The Virgin, the Copts and Me
Directed by Namir Abel Messeeh • Documentary • 2011 • 85 minutes
A non-believer born in Egypt and raised in France by his Copt parents, filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh has a complicated relationship with his ethnoreligious heritage. THE VIRGIN, THE COPTS AND ME is playful and warm personal account...
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Nefertiti's Daughters
Directed by Mark Nickolas and Racha Najdi • Documentary • 2015 • 40 minutes
A story of women, art and revolution, this vibrant film documents the critical role that revolutionary street art played-and is continuing to play-in the political uprising of Egypt. Introducing a cadre of courageous and...
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Ambulance
Directed by Mohamed Jabaly • Documentary • 2016 • 78 minutes
Mohamed, 24, aspires to make films in Gaza City, despite the lack of water, electricity, and closed borders that are part of every ‘normal’ day under the 7-year Israeli blockade of Gaza. While many young people dream of leaving Gaza, M...
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5 Broken Cameras
Directed by Guy Davidi & Emad Burnat • Documentary • 2011 • 90 minutes
An extraordinary work of both cinematic and political activism, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal, first-hand account of non-violent resistance in Bil'in, a West Bank village threatened by encroaching Israeli settlements....
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A Maid for Each
Directed by Maher Abi Samra • Documentary • 2016 • 67 minutes
Domestic work is a real market in Lebanon, segmented according to the national and ethnic origins of the workers and in which the Lebanese employer is master and the worker the property. Zein owns a domestic worker agency in Beirut. H...
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Resistance is Life
Directed by Apo W. Bazidi • Documentary • 2017 • 73 minutes
From a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border, an 8-year-old girl named Evlin characterizes the resilience of her hometown of Kobane against ISIS militants. In the midst of the tragic war in Syria, Evlin's story provides hope.