The film is one of two rare works by the esteemed Saudi photographer which were restored by the Red Sea International Film Festival, and were slated to premiere at the inaugural edition, postponed due to the pandemic.

The film was ten years in the making, stars Academy Award Winner Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Parker Posey, and Patti LuPone.

The Swiss festival of non-fiction works will see an extensive program this year complemented by the presence of three outstanding filmmakers: Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel (Guest of Honor) alongside Italian Director Alice Rohrwacher (Special Guest) and Swiss Director Jean-Stéphane Bron (Atelier).

Wes Anderson's film, which premiered in Cannes in 2021, will be available on Blu-ray on 3 April exclusively at HMV in the UK.

A MIME favorite, Nazer's film is an ode to cinema and the magic it brings to our everyday lives.

The Doha Film Institute’s industry incubator Qumra 2023 commences with inspiring discussions and screenings of emerging voices in cinema.

The soulful, deeply insightful film by Gaby and Michel Zarazir will screen at the festival in Austin, Texas as part of their Narrative Shorts Program 2, starting on March 11th.

Professionals from 41 nations support the development of invited projects through mentoring sessions, screenings with feedbacks, and curated industry meetings, for a special Qumra presented in a hybrid format, with in-person events from March 10-15 and virtual sessions from March 19-21.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the birth of the late Massimo Troisi, Martone puts together a documentary homage to a man who changed the landscape of Italian cinema and also influenced filmmakers from the MENA with his groundbreaking vision and irreverent works of art.

Selected projects include 14 feature narratives, 12 feature documentaries, seven series, and 11 shorts, for this in-person Qumra meeting, the first since 2019.

While the war didn't bring filmmaking in Lebanon to an end, but the political climate in the Arab world would try to handicap the efforts by the new wave of Arab filmmakers, writes in his third installment of 'Cinema & I' critic and film historian Mohammed Rouda.

The Yemeni film, which screened in the Panorama section and won the Amnesty International Film Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival, is a groundbreaking oeuvre which transcends the already strong power of cinema.

Complete with an anti-conformist, against type performance by its leading man Simon Baker, the film delves into the everyday racism experienced by the indigenous community Down Under and Nagihan Haliloğlu caught up with filmmaker Ivan Sen for a quickfire round on his latest work, which screened in Competition in Berlin.

Doha Film Institute’s annual industry incubator event, Qumra 2023, will be held in an innovative hybrid model with an in-person session from March 10-15 followed by an online program from March 19-21 and among the Masters tapped to inspire filmmakers are also David Parfitt and 'Dune' costume designer Jacqueline West.

In Part 2 of his series on Arab cinema, critic and film writer Mohammed Rouda reminisces about a Beirut of times gone by, when cinema united people from different background and differing beliefs. And how that all came to an end one tragic day.

This week, we kick off an ongoing series by esteemed film writer and critic Mohammed Rouda, where he delves into an analysis of film & war and how cinema changes when a country, or a people, experience conflict. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!

Eran Kolirin's touching film, hitting all too close to home these days, is based on the novel by Sayed Kashua and premiered in Cannes in 2021. Now, it is finally coming to the U.S., kicking off with NYC and LA on February 3rd, before going nationwide on the 17th.

While the lack of representation of films from the MENA is disappointing, there are some titles that caught our attention.

And a program to celebrate Berlin's arthouse cinema culture, as well as a date for the upcoming press conference announcing all the line up is confirmed.

And they include a few MENA-centric gems in Forum and Forum Expanded.

The film by Maryam Touzani will be distributed by Strand Releasing and is Morocco's Official Selection for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards®.

UK distributor Studio Soho have just dropped the new trailer and poster for Saim Sadiq’s debut feature 'Joyland' -- the first film by a Pakistani director to win at the Cannes Film Festival 2022.

Among them, the biopic 'Golda' by Guy Nattiv, starring Helen Mirren, Camille Cottin, Liev Schreiber and the short 'Back' by Yazan Rabee will screen at the German festival slated to kick off on February 16th.

With his latest short, the Jordanian, Germany-based filmmaker proves once again that he can tackle women's stories perfectly, while also bringing a special sensitivity to them -- all the while gently educating audiences. And, last but not least, making great cinema in the process!

With a healthy selection of MENA-infused stories, and one film by and about phenomenal woman Bethann Hardison, this year's Sundance Film Festival, under the new direction of Eugene Hernandez for 2024's edition, has clearly outdone itself.

The title, directed by the Israeli filmmaker behind the global phenomenon 'The Band's Visit', will be released in theaters in the U.S. starting February 3rd by Cohen Media Group.

From its first images 'The Island of Forgiveness' envelops the viewer into a world far away, in times gone by. It possesses the perfect balance of nostalgia and forward thinking, to create a masterpiece that is both historically correct but also fantastically mesmerizing to watch.

The upcoming film stars a new generation of talented German actors like Louis Hofmann, Alexander Fehling, Lilith Stangenberg and Tom Xander, as well as the wonderful Geraldine Chaplin and the handsome Julian Sands.

With titles from Palestine, Syria, Iran, Israel and Kuwait, there is something for everyone on the list, from art house film lover to blockbusters fans.

Along with a poster clearly celebrating audiences as well as a return to watching cinema in big movie theaters surrounded by people, Berlinale also announced a series of line-ups that are simply awe inspiring.

Hint: they are six Sardinian donkeys, male and female and they will break your heart!

The 73rd edition of the Berlinale will take place, in person and at full speed, from February 16-26. 2023.

In his feature debut, Kuwaiti-born Zeyad (Z) Alhusaini manages the impossible -- he creates a blockbuster for the Arab world which premiered at this year's Red Sea International Film Festival where it deservedly received the coveted Film AlUla Audience Award for Best Saudi Film.

The Iranian-born, Scotland-based filmmaker's love song to cinema is the UK's official submission to the 2023 Best International Feature Film Oscar race.

Before the film received one more award, this time at the Cairo International Film Festival, MIME sat down with the Polish filmmaker to talk cinema, inspiration and what constitutes the best soundtrack of all to him in a film.

It was a great time for Arab cinema at this year's Cairo International Film Festival, but also groundbreaking independent world cinema -- and awards night proved it.

Sixteen of the most highly-anticipated films of the year make up the Arab and International Spectacular sections of the Festival.

The second edition selection of the Red Sea Shorts in Competition presents thirteen films from Myanmar, Iran, Mongolia, China, Ghana, Indonesia and beyond.

The inaugural Qisah International Film Festival (QIFF) is slated to take place between 9th-12th November in London and will bring an assortment of films from across the Muslim world.

More than just an homage to a beautiful, inimitable woman, Shlomi Elkabetz's film about his sister and collaborator Ronit is a journey to the heart of cinema and a fantastic treasure hunt which, if followed through, brings us to the perfect depth of our human connection.

A few of our personal favorites, like Venice titles 'Nezouh', 'Dirty Difficult Dangerous', 'The Last Queen' and 'The Banshees of Intisherin', as well as 'Harka' and others from Cannes, 'A Gaza Weekend' from TIFF and the Saudi submission to this year's Oscar race 'Raven Song' are included in the initial announcement, with American filmmaker Oliver Stone set to preside over the competition jury.

Among those participating this year are next projects by Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan, Palestinian documentarian Mahdi Fleifel, Iraqi-Italian filmmaker Haider Rashid and Syrian-Palestinian helmer Ameer Fakher Eldin -- but also the talented wonder women Sofia Djama from Algeria and Sara Mesfer from Saudi Arabia.

Every Fall, the festival held inside the Institut Français' iconic Ciné Lumière, lights up London with French favorites and new discoveries.

With a line up of films from Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Iran, Algeria, Turkey and beyond, as well as the 6th edition of MedMeeting, with a section curated by film programmer, writer and producer Paolo Bertolin, the Med Film Festival in Rome is set for a landmark year.

The festival, which further champions independent cinema through their Raindance Discovery Award at the BIFAs, runs from October 26th to November 5th in London.

Among some of the tried and true talents are Emirati pioneering filmmaker Ali Mostafa and Jordanian producer and director Tariq Rimawi with his latest 'Zoo'.

Plus the whole line up and program for the upcoming 44th edition of the Egyptian festival was just announced, featuring several gems from the Region.

As the festival announced a first slate of films in the lineup of the upcoming edition, an impressive selection of the country's own Arab filmmakers of tomorrow is featured in their New Saudi/New Cinema Shorts selection.

The Turkish selection at this year's festival featured "several films that treated the subject of the city-country divide that has been a big theme since the early days of Turkish cinema," as Naghihan Haliloğlu writes from Antalya.

The highly anticipated return of the Moroccan festival, the first full edition in two years, will also feature the latest work by James Gray, Maha Haj, Tarik Saleh and Yasmine Benkiran.

The festival at the end of October will showcase 70 movies from 25 countries with cast & crew from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Europe and USA in attendance to light up the red carpets and premieres, as Dubai hosts the first film festival after five years.

With James Ivory's latest, a doc on his life-changing trip to Afghanistan, and MENA gems like Firas Khoury's 'Alam' and Mounia Meddour’s 'Houria' the festival's new management is off to a great start.

Shorts 'It's Nice in Here', 'It Feels Personal' and 'Canary' also walked away the winners for Best Short Film Awards in the Bader, Hilal and Mohaq categories, respectively.

The Egyptian film '19B' by director Ahmed Abdalla has also been selected to screen within the International Competition of Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (November 13-22) where it will world premiere.

There are Academy Awards submissions and assorted films that cannot be missed at this year's festival celebrating cinema in London -- and all featured on our list have roots in the SWANA region!

Sideshow and Janus Films are also planning an awards campaign for the persecuted Iranian filmmaker for Best Director.

Iranian cinema occupies a special place in this year's program for the event held in Florence, from 4 to 9 October 2022 at Cinema La Compagnia, Cinema Stensen and other locations throughout the city.

There has never been a more timely film than Arian Vazirdaftari's 'Without Her', explaining to our senses what it must feel like to be in Iran at this very moment -- and Nina got to interview the filmmaker along with his two extraordinary leading ladies in Venice, for a chat you won't want to miss.

Line-up includes the latest film by Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb and will be divided into three categories to be screened for Ajyal Jurors in the Mohaq, Hilal and Bader categories.

This year's line up includes a healthy mix of Arab, Iranian and international titles, with of course Turkish cinema taking centerstage at the event, vying for the three national competition prizes.

Ehab Tarabieh's film is a fascinating watch, one that has us questioning our own ideas of what is good and what is bad, but also tickles our curiosity to discover more about the Druze community it so carefully portrays through its story.

The Ajyal Film Festival this year will hold a special anniversary edition where more than 500 youth, aged 8 to 25, will watch, discuss, and evaluate short films.

Wife and husband team Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri seem to have created the impossible: a feminist, epic, blockbuster film which features an Algerian story and plays out as a kind of MENA 'Game Of Thrones'.

And as a reward for their hard work, the talented filmmakers spent a week in Venice, attending festival activities and getting used to being in the spotlight. Inshallah.

'The Whale', which is the film version of the play by Samuel D. Hunter, deals with an obese man's last chance at redemption.

The film will enjoy its world premiere at the upcoming 53rd Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm).

The much-anticipated festival on the Lido opened with the Netflix title 'White Noise' and featured a Competition jury headed by the glamorous Julianne Moore.

Twelve titles from the MENA, one film from Indonesia, land across different sections of the Venice Film Festival and some projects are in post-production, included in this year's prestigious Final Cut -- all supported at some stage by the Doha Film Institute.

Among the titles which received support from the Red Sea Fund is Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan's magic realism masterpiece 'Nezouh', pictured here.

Among the other titles, 'The Dam' by Ali Cherri, a short on 70's actress Maria Schneider featuring Manal Issa and Abbas Fahdel's 'Tales of the Purple House' fresh from its Locarno premiere.

Director Andrew Dominik explores the complicated life of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana de Armas and the upcoming Netflix title is based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.

Among the gems, two MENA titles which question the lines drawn by our religious identity and how damaging those can be.

Among them, the Iranian serial killer story 'Holy Spider', Palestinian helmer Maha Haj's 'Mediterranean Fever' and Tarik Saleh's 'Boy from Heaven'.

The films for the Toronto International Film Festival lineups in Documentary and World Cinema sections have been announced and they include some familiar titles as well as new discoveries.

Among the WCF Production Funding projects are a film from Egypt as well as one from Iran while Amjad Abu Alala's 'You Will Die at Twenty' is recommended for Distribution Funding for a German release.

The award-winning Palestinian filmmaker contributed to a collection of cinematic visions from the future which will be screened each night on the Piazza Grande.

Among the films premiering in Toronto are 'A Gaza Weekend', the much anticipated feature debut by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Basil Khalil and the real-life tale of Syrian sisters Olympians 'The Swimmers' which kicks off the festival on September 8th.

The tale of an impossible love will premiere as the opening film in competition at Giornate degli autori in Venice.

An impossible love story set in Beirut, a historical drama set in 16th century Algeria, a mother and son on an unlikely trip across Morocco and a little boy in Iran who has an unconventional future in mind for his sisters are among the films in this year's line up on the Lido.

While Venice does Iranian helmers right in their line up, with four titles divided between Orizzonti and the main Competition, the typical selection of Arab poverty porn and desolation in Syria and Iraq makes up the remaining films from the MENA region.

The Venice sidebar's mission is "to draft a map of the cinema of the future by choosing seven debut features from all over the world," and this year the line up includes the woman-centric debut feature from Morocco's Yasmine Benkiran as well as Kazakh-born Alex Schaad's psychological thriller 'Skin Deep'.

As the 3rd Awal Film kicks off in the Jordanian capital, we look at MIME favourites and audience pleasers.

The festival, which is scheduled to take place between 13-22 November, 2022 under new leadership, has unveiled ten titles, all which will be MENA premieres.

The much anticipated new film commenced shooting this week and will move to the Liwa desert as well as return to the Wadi Rum, along with additional scenes filmed in Altivole, Italy and Budapest.

Akl's subtle confidence as a filmmaker is what makes 'Costa Brava, Lebanon' such a beautiful, soulful and important watch.

Included in the five documentaries and three narrative features are 'Backstage' by Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane and Nada Riyadh collaboration with Ayman El Amir on the doc 'Land of Women'.

What we know so far is that this year the festival will be chock full of great films, with wonderful jury members considering the projects and there is even a green initiative titled "Storytelling for Climate" which we just love!

Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) announced its full programme for 2022, with the festival making its highly anticipated return to The Civic for the Opening Night Gala in Tāmaki Makaurau on Thursday 28 July.

Fresh from his win at yet another film festival, garnering the Audience Award in Portugal, we spoke to Jordanian filmmaker Zaid Abu Hamdan about his inspiration, the Arab version of 'The Golden Girls' and how he felt when a critic called his film a bad word...

'Polaris', which world premiered in Cannes ACID sidebar, is a stunning work of cinematic art, and Ainara Vera a filmmaker to watch.

This year's theme for the event held from July 1-17 in London, as well as 7 other cities around the UK, is "The Stories We Tell in Arab Cinema."

Among the world premieres at the festival this year, a documentary on Palestinian freedom fighter Marwan Barghouti, a film about the ever-changing city of Beirut by Nadim Mishlawi and 'El Arena' on a rap competition in the Middle East.

A stunning exercise in the power of cinema, Mohammad Rasoulof's film opens in NYC on June 17th and Los Angeles on June 24th.

The film will be released in theatres on August 11th, and is an official Indian adaptation of 'Forrest Gump' which starred Tom Hanks.

Selection of films from the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora returns to UK cinemas from 23rd June to 3rd July 2022 with a selection of titles available to view UK-wide through the festival's online platform.

The film, directed by five women filmmakers took home five awards on closing night.

The festival, running between the 15th and 22nd June in Riyadh, will welcome 14 films from different European countries and is a collaborative effort of the Delegation of the European Union and Arabia Pictures Group.

The short film directed by Charles Thiefaine follows the youngest professional drifter in Baghdad, nicknamed "Hassouni the King."

In an open letter to the Algerian Minister of Culture, the country's filmmaking community raises the alarm on the cancellation of the National Fund for the Development of the Arts and Techniques of Cinema and the Promotion of the Arts and Literature.

The Red Sea International Film Festival announced its pride in supporting the longest running event in Saudi Arabia, once again held inside ITHRA in the Eastern city of Dhahran.