City of Life is set in Dubai and intertwines the stories of three characters: a privileged Emirati man, a disillusioned Indian taxi driver, and a naïve Romanian flight attendant, living in a complex metropolis where ambition, growth and opportunity are a way of life.
A female talk show host stirs up political controversy when she focuses her on-air discussions on the topic of women’s issues. A provocative and audacious film in its exploration of how men and women shape each others lives in today’s Cairo.
A documentary about Lebanon’s first prison-based drama project in the country’s notorious Roumieh Prison. For 15 months, 45 inmates, some completely illiterate, found themselves working together to present an adaptation of the famous stage play 12 Angry Men.
A humane and eloquently voiced plea for Iraq’s marginal citizens, and a timely reminder, as the World Cup rages, of the place the world game holds in hearts throughout the world.
Harragas means ‘to burn’. Before leaving Algeria, potential illegal immigrants burn their ID papers so the coastguards won’t know where they are from. This film follows three desperate friends who want to flee Algeria by boat and join the thousands of Harragas, who smuggle themselves out of the country via any means possible.
A monumental reflective and poetic take on Palestine since 1948, peppered with staggering wit, hope and humour. Based on his father’s diaries and his mother’s letters, Elia Suleiman once again features in his own film, this time tracking his journey from a young boy participating in the resistance to anobservant adult revisiting his homeland.
A personal documentary into the life of a young boy who lives through the physical movement of Parkour.
Two young lovers’ dreams for the future are thwarted in a socially conservative and Israeli-controlled community.
Mimoun, an obstinate middle-aged Arab man, runs a once-profitable Halal butchery in an impoverished suburb of Paris.
In a small fishing village in northern Morocco, a woman offers the best present she can to a black African man that saved her husband from sinking one day.
Full of enthusiasm and hope, a young Lebanese filmmaker, script in hand, knocks on the door of an international producer to pitch his film project.
A film set in old Kuwait, depicting the life of a man who is unable to grow a moustache.
One night Flouadi’s dreams are so intense he wakes up with no head, only to be replaced by a camera.
Capturing tales of migration, adventure, pain and promise. A 10-minute segment of fascinating archival home movies will be screened with live oud performed by acclaimed local musician Mohamed Youssef
A world-first screening of contemporary Arab animated shorts to delight your senses and defy the Arab stories you know and the way you’re used to seeing them.
