Discoveries from Saudi Arabia World Cinema

A documentary about an egyptian lady who works in a local beauty center, her husband who doesn't work, her ambitions and dreams and suffering

Director: Hussein Kamal (Director) Amir Shaker (Executive Director) Writer: Youssef Maaty (Writer) Cast: Layla Olwi Mohamed El Sawy Hagag Abdel Azim Ahmed Rizk Ibrahim Yousry Hanem Mohamed

In this documentary, we accompany Sara Gubara on a race between Capri to Naples as Sudan’s first international swimmer. At three years old, young Sara was stricken with polio, the family facing the bleak diagnosis that nothing could be done. Gadalla does not accept this fate, devoting himself to his daughter’s recovery. She was encouraged to swim and at twelve years old competes internationally. Moved by Sara’s incredible accomplishment, Gadalla made the documentary Viva Sara, which would later inspire the fiction film Sarahsarà (1994) by Renzo Martinelli. (Source: africanwomenincinema.blogspot)

a short movie showing a day in the life of Egyptian middle class clerk in early 1970s.

The story revolves around Daen, who dreams of becoming a big movie star. However, his weak personality and the obstacles he faces stand in the way of him achieving his dream. So, he decides to impersonate different characters and disguise himself to hide his true identity.

A journey in the search of Palestinian memory inside Israel.

Four years in the life of a Syrian girl in a refugee camp, in a unique film that is just as lively and curious as its protagonist.

How can a soldier who participated in war regain 28 years of relationship with his daughter?

Miloud who is a craftsman is reputed as mad. His sole friend is « Mabrouk », a sensitive and intelligent donkey. Licina is a beautiful girl belonging to a rich family, she falls in love with Mabrouk and decides to buy it at any price. Miloud refuses.

An Egyptian couple employed by a circus is bored. When the couple is introduced to a new show: "The Wheel", hope and excitement for a reignited passion in their lives returns.

Shooting under extraordinary conditions, the director, who worked with Godard on his "Ici et Ailleurs" ("Here and Elsewhere") - this film was shot on the same 16mm camera - and founded the PLO's film division, covers conditions in Lebanon's refugee camps, the effects of Israeli bombardments, and the lives of guerrillas in training camps. "They Do Not Exist" is a stylistically unique work which explodes at the intersection between the political and the aesthetic.

Shot quickly in a break of film shooting

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One slow, hot afternoon in a neighbourhood built to be a utopian suburb for employees of the Palestinian Post Office; now becomes a lawless no-man’s-land between occupied East Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Saad, a Muslim married man, gets over his depression after a space Alien is introduced into his life.

Mariam Al-'Ijliya, a Muslim woman who wants to be an astronomer and research the direction of the qibla. However, her dream must be barren because of the stigma of society including her family about women who according to them are not worthy of being science researchers, they think women should just stay at home and do not deserve higher education. Mariam tries to realize her dream while fighting against the patriarchal principles that are still rampant.

Saad is in kindergarten, a sweet and innocent child. When Dania joins his class, he falls in love at first sight, discovering feelings he didn’t know it was possible to have. Love turns Saad’s little life upside down. He can't concentrate, eat, or do any of his regular day-to-day activities. He tries to understand why this is happening, asking his father about what these feelings mean, but the response doesn’t answer any of his questions. Finally, he decides to give his beloved his most prized possession: his chewing gum. Is this what love is all about?

Tiger is Back: The Journey of Ittihad Club, champion of the Saudi League 22/2023

Moroccan drama about a teenager whose mother tries to prevent him from meeting girls because of her hatred towards women, one of whom was the reason for her divorce in the past, despite the supervision of the mother the son likes the maid, so they become a love story without her knowledge, so she tries to separate them

History is to be told, and its stories unfold into a territory, where the archeology of times owes its survival to fiction.

An assured, emotionally rich film about the lies a family tells to keep their patriarch happy; and the unattended costs of their falsehood. After sixty years of marriage, Antoine and Vivi have lost their most beloved daughter; but no one has dared to tell the bedridden nonagenarian Antoine, lest his heart crack.

4 people try to go to a safe place away from ruin by crossing cards, the film available on YouTube and Iraq networks services

The story of the women of Ein El Hilweh refugee camp between 1982-1984 is an important chapter in the history of Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the camp was destroyed and its men imprisoned. “The Kingdom of Women” documents the community and organizing spirit of the women during this period, how they were able to rebuild the camp, protect and provide for their families while their men were held captive. Weaving between past and present, animation and daily life, the documentary focuses on seven of these women and honors how women continue to contribute to the survival of the Palestinian community in exile.

Magdy is a quiet, unassuming Taxi driver. When Magdy's wife becomes seriously ill all of Magdy's piteous earnings go to the escalating health costs of keeping her alive, he is given an opportunity to pay her medical bills. All Magdy has to do is agree to kill GALAL, the well-known left-wing writer who is known for his anti-Islamic views. Fate brings Dima, a Syrian immigrant into Magdy's life. In this exploration, Magdy and Dima's journey by way of violence and death turns out to be their path to self-discovery and true redemption.

Deals with the memories of Palestinian female guerilla fighters, currently in their forties, who were involved in military operations during their teen years.

A history of Lebanon’s Shiites, based on personal writings and memoirs. The film retraces the twelfth sect’s journey through Jabal Amel, the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon and Beirut, while while exploring the major events and factors that influenced a people’s existence.

On the surface Sarra leads an average life, the one her mother has planned out for her: the young Tunisian is taking sewing classes and preparing for marriage to a young man. But deep inside she is concocting a plan to escape this life – as BLACK MAMBA

Famous author "Naif" isolates himself to write his new novel after struggling with writer's block, but he faces complex obstacles that keep him from even starting the first line.

The film revolves around "Riyadh"; the historical and archeological house owned by al-Muti. Some of the brokers, especially the brother of Haj Hamman, try to pay Mu'ti to sell him in any way. But Hajj Muti insists on his position, clinging to Riyadh, the symbol of his national identity, and stands a stumbling block in front of the broker.

A young guy reenacts a scene of Dark Knight's "Joker" for an audition.

Laura, a young Lebanese woman, and her mother struggle to keep up with the escalating Lebanese economic crisis. In desperation, Laura comes up with an unexpected plan marked with nostalgia to survive tough days.

In the shallow waters of the Red Sea, a happy-go-lucky fish is forced to set out on a journey to save the sea creatures from the soulless monster before it kills all life underwater.

When a young girl enters a psychiatric hospital during her journey to uncover the mystery of her sister's death, she finds herself living in the same circumstances that her sister lived in, and she tries hard to escape the same fate.

Samira comes from Tunisia, she's 10 years old and lives in Italy illegally with her father and her brother of 17 years old. One night, she will face up to by oneself a bigger problem than her.

Streets of Jerusalem, shot over a period of five years, centers around the lives of ten Jerusalem residents.

Pitia prefers to go for a drink with his friends rather than attending school - until something terrible happens. Pitia now has to make up his mind...

After Mariam’s husband mysteriously disappears, she reluctantly takes their teenage son Saeed from their home in Jeddah to mountainous AIUla, intending to sell their family-owned antique shop. Saeed is sullenly resentful, detesting the move; Mariam struggles to stay in charge while she searches for the title documents she needs to make a sale. What she finds instead are unpaid bills, a video diary in which her husband confessed to severe depression and some newspaper clippings about suicide. It is a discovery that will change her outdated view of men’s role as she and her son together embrace a new, independent life.

On their uncle's engagement night, a denied request to go to the grocery shop pushes two sisters to their edge.

Fawazeer, an exhibition in which Samoura performs a scene from an old movie in every episode, and it is required to know the name of the movie every time.

Riad, a middle-aged man, holds a firearm shop in a neighbourhood of Beirut. When he meets up with his friends or goes hunting with them, it is often with the aim of evoking together their memories of the civil war fought in the Christian militia. They live in nostalgia for the war that impassioned their youth. Director Myriam El Hajj builds solid architectural images that interrogate — and, perhaps, over time even manage to articulate — the intimate origins of violence that never seems to depart and a past that doesn't want to let go of the present.

Marie wakes up one morning in Beirut in a panic, convinced that she has lost her daughter’s wedding photograph. A photograph, however, that never existed… Ten years ago, her daughter’s marriage ceremony had to be cut short on account of a bombing raid. There was no time for a wedding photograph. Now, with the aid of a photographer and a chicken, Hoda and her husband decide to reconstruct the wedding ceremony once more, so that Hoda’s mother will at last have the photograph she deserves…

The Corporation is a Saudi feature film about working in a newly co-ed office in the sexually segregated country of Saudi Arabia. The film is shot in reality TV style in which the camera and film crew are characters in the movie. The Corporation starring, Mohammed Al-Zahrani, Talal Al-Sider and Shereen Bawaseer. The film also features a number of interesting characters, such as: stubborn manager, Hamad; the new female manager who has authority issues, Dr. Firyal; the young conservative extremist, Read; feminist Abeer; traditionally covered, Sarah, with her cartoonish voice; the romantic Indian tea boy, Ikbal; the serious Iraqi accountant, Safe; the idiotic government liaison, Abo Azah; and the ignored trainee.

Dalida's love affair is symbolic and her life is filled with joy and happiness, but her candle quickly turns off when she discovers that he is married and traumatized. Dalida tries to overcome her crisis and pretends to fall in love with someone else and decide to take revenge.

A short horror comedy uploaded on Youtube

A feel-good comedy about aging, friendship and new directions, On Borrowed Time is director Yasir Al Yasir’s follow-up to his 2012 film Murk Light, which earned him the Best Short Narrative Award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Taking place in and around a Dubai retirement home, the film follows four elderly men who appear to be settling in for the long haul—that is, until one of them receives an unexpected and mammoth inheritance.

Suleiman, a 12-year old boy, lives overlooking Damascus with his poor family, along with many other displaced people from the Golan Heights. Suleiman decides with his mother and siblings to raise money by selling tissues to help his father, a gas cylinder seller. His dream? To buy a Suzuki pick-up truck of his own.

A short fiction about a man who fights against the seizure of his land by powerful developers.

A man and a woman meet in a cafe.

A father and son return to their village after twenty-five years. They must buy an entrance ticket because their village is now an archaeological site of ruins of Jewish buildings dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. As these two Palestinians meander about the village, every step is watched keenly by young Israeli soldiers.

On an Algerian beach, kids splash about, sleep, squabble - and then suddenly go to war. And it’s neither Lord of the Flies nor La Guerre des boutons. In her first film, full of grace, Narimane Mari films this childish freefor- all closely, at the irregular pace of an imagination inspired by the highest form of reality, national History — actually, nothing less than the Algerian War of Independence. When their make-believe induces a general upheaval, we follow the flock of children as they stamp their feet up the stairs, invade houses, cross village squares, in a whirlwind of shouts and empty words. Time is stretched like in a dream, through a choreography of belligerent shadows or the night-time explosion of the cemetery, as so many warning signs of dangers to come.

A group of friends laugh through the chaos of youth until one metaphor — stairs — quietly reframes everything. In an emotional journey full of highs and lows experienced by our main character, we will discover the ups and downs, the pauses, the burnout, the grief, the win, and the silent strength.