Middle Eastern submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Iran have their own lists. This is for every other country in the Middle East.
Here's the tally:
Iraq 4
Jordan 1
Kuwait 2
Lebanon 8
Morocco 6
Palestine 4
Tunisia 2
As far as I know, there were no films from Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, or Yemen. Hopefully we'll get some soon!
Here's the tally:
Iraq 4
Jordan 1
Kuwait 2
Lebanon 8
Morocco 6
Palestine 4
Tunisia 2
As far as I know, there were no films from Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, or Yemen. Hopefully we'll get some soon!
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27 titles
- DirectorJamil RostamiStarsAbdollah AhmadiAnvar FarajpourDelnia FarajpourPeople are praying for rainfall... a Land parched in drought... the illusion of snow... Rozhin is engulfed in reveries of flight from an undesirable marriage... Rozhin seeks support from a stranger... and this is not the end of the story.Iraq
- DirectorMohamed Al DaradjiStarsAseel AdelBashir Al MajidMuhammed HashimScarred Baghdad 2003... confusion, uncertainty and death engulf the bombed ruins of a Psychiatric asylum. Voyeuristically we move between the past and the present of three Iraqi lives entangled by the chaos of the American 'Shock and Awe' campaign...Iraq
- DirectorJamil RostamiStarsNzar SalamiRinas VoriaAbdol Hama JavanSetting: Sulaymaniah, Iraqi Kurdistan, in the 1940s. When his wife Kaleh goes into labor, her husband Jwamer runs to get the midwife. By ill luck, he runs into the middle of a political demonstration and is seriously wounded and arrested by mistake as the ringleader. After a rigged trial, Jwamer is sentenced to ten years in prison. He serves his sentence and, as soon as he is set free, goes in search of his wife and child.Iraq
- DirectorMohamed Al DaradjiStarsShazada HusseinYasser TalibBashir Al MajidA willful young boy follows his just as obstinate grandmother in a journey across Iraq, determined to discover the fate of her missing son, Ahmed's father, who never returned from war.Iraq
- DirectorAmin MatalqaStarsNadim SawalhaRana SultanHussein Al-SousWhen an old airport janitor finds a captain's hat in the trash, he gets pulled into the lives of children in his poor neighborhood. He weaves imaginary stories of his world adventures to offer hope in the face of their harsh reality.Jordan
- DirectorKhalid Al SiddiqStarsMohammed Al-MansourAmal BakrSaad Al FarrajThe first feature film to be made by the state of Kuwait. It is a period piece about Kuwait before the discovery of oil when fishing was the predominant occupation. Bay Ya Bahr is the story of a crippled pearl diver who forbids his son Mussaid to go to sea to dive for pearls. Mussaid's father got the 'bends' after resurfacing too fast during a shark attack on his boat. However, the boy cannot see any other way to make enough money to mary Nura, his beloved. Nura is the daughter of a merchant who wants her to marry for money. Finally, his father gives Mussaid permission to go to sea and even gives him his special black diving suit. Mussaid then works with the man to whom his father owes money. While Mussaid is away, Nura is forced by her family to marry a rich, older suitor. During his last dive Mussaid puts his hand inside a huge clam which closes on it. Mussaid is gasping for air and his friend has to amputate his arm in order to 'rescue' him. However Mussaid was dead long before he was brought to the boat. Nura meanwhile is raped by her husband on her wedding night. Mussaid's best friend looks through his cache of oysters and gradually starts opening all of them. Finally when he gets to the last one he finds a huge pearl inside. Maybe Mussaid's death will not be in vain if he can give this to Mussaid's family. When the boat reaches Kuwait, Mussaid's mother is welcomed by the dead body of her son and his prize - the pearl - for which he lost his life. The mother stares at the sea with unbridled rage and flings the pearl into it uttering the phrase: "Bas ya bahr" (enough oh sea)!Kuwait
- DirectorKhalid Al SiddiqStarsAli MahdiSunni DafallahIbrahim HujaziEveryone in his village believes that Zein is a simpleton, a half-wit, an amiable buffoon. Thus, his braying laughter and public declarations of love for village maidens only win laughter rather than anger, beatings or worse. However, Haneen, a wandering Muslim holy man, perceives something more in this figure of fun: genuine piety and an inner radiance, marked by a powerful spiritual intelligence. One other person sees more in Zein than most do- the beautiful, pious and sedate young girl in the village.Kuwait
- DirectorSarky MouradianStarsManuel KichianArmikMaurice SherbaneeJirair is an Armenian punk who falls in love with a beautfiul, but poor maid, Anahid. They promise to marry each other against her father's wishes. Jirair moves to America with his uncle while Anahid is pregnant with Jirair's child. The pregnancy shames Anahid's family, who wishes that she marries a rich American.Lebanon
- DirectorZiad DoueiriStarsRami DoueiriNaamar SahliMohamad ChamasIn April, 1975, civil war breaks out; Beirut is partitioned along a Moslem-Christian line. Tarek is in high school, making Super 8 movies with his friend, Omar. At first the war is a lark: school has closed, the violence is fascinating, getting from West to East is a game. His mother wants to leave; his father refuses. Tarek spends time with May, a Christian, orphaned and living in his building. By accident, Tarek goes to an infamous brothel in the war-torn Olive Quarter, meeting its legendary madam, Oum Walid. He then takes Omar and May there using her underwear as a white flag for safe passage. Family tensions rise. As he comes of age, the war moves inexorably from adventure to tragedy.Lebanon
- DirectorJoana HadjithomasKhalil JoreigeStarsHanane AbboudFadi Abi SamraAnne-Marie AfifLa Maison Rose (The Pink House) is an old mansion in Beirut. It is the place where the Nawfal family found shelter during the Civil War and in which they feel good. Unfortunately for them, their immediate environment is rapidly changing as many of the old shell-ridden buildings are torn down to be replaced by new construction projects. When Mattar, the owner of the Pink House, decides to sell it to make room for a large commercial center, the residents of the neighborhood become divided between the shopkeepers and businessmen in favor of modernity and the families being evicted against the project for sentimental reasons.Lebanon
- DirectorAssad FouladkarStarsBernadette HodeibTalal JurdiRenée DickZiyad and Maryam are a happy young couple in Lebanon, yet after three years of marriage they remain childless. Due to intense family pressure, they try everything they can but eventually learn that Maryam is infertile. Ziyad repeatedly reassures her of his undying love, but family and social pressure, particularly his evil, meddling mother, gradually poison their happy relationship until the love, enthusiasm and humour of their early days soon take a tragic turn.Lebanon
- DirectorRanda Chahal SabagStarsFlavia BecharaMaher BsaibesRanda AsmarA young 15 year old girl, Lamia, lives in a southern Lebanese village on the border with Israel. She is given in marriage to her cousin on the other side of the border. As Lamia crosses the barbed wire she also passes from childhood into adulthood, as brutal as our countries and the events that are to follow.Lebanon
- DirectorPhilippe AractingiStarsRodney El HaddadNadine LabakiNada Abou FarhatFifteen years after a traumatic explosion in his native Beirut, Kamal Maf'ouss returns from France, where he was nationalized and become a composer-choreographer. He reassembles youth friends from his late pa's multicultural school. They pimp a decommissioned school bus to tour the country in preparation of Lebanon's annual festival of the choral dance-song genre Debka. Opinions clash on their modern, cosmopolitan version of a traditional genre, even among their friends and family, while other personal problems complicate matters further.Lebanon
- DirectorNadine LabakiStarsNadine LabakiJoanna MoukarzelGisèle AouadA romantic comedy centered on the daily lives of five Lebanese women living in Beirut.Lebanon
- DirectorPhilippe AractingiStarsNada Abou FarhatGeorges KhabbazRawia ElchabIn the wake of Israel's 2006 bombardment of Lebanon, a determined woman finds her way into the country convincing a taxi cab driver to take a risky journey around the scarred region in search of her sister and her son.Lebanon
- DirectorSouheil Ben-BarkaStarsIrene PapasLaurent TerzieffDjohra BacheneIn a small village in southern Morocco, Amrouch cannot, because of his social position, marry the daughter of a wealthy farmer from the nearby village. Based on Federico García Lorca's play.Morocco
- DirectorNabil AyouchStarsRachid El OualiFaouzi BensaïdiAmal ChabliA young woman attending a conference in Tangier with her husband is kidnapped and raped, but rebuilds her relationship with her husband on a trip to the south of Morocco.Morocco
- DirectorNabil AyouchStarsMounïm KbabMustapha HansaliHicham MoussouneA group of children living on the street leave their gang, prompting retribution from the gang's leader. After one of the children dies, the rest try to come up with the resources to give their friend a proper burial.Morocco
- DirectorKamal KamalStarsYounes MegriAbdellah LamraniRafik BoubkerHamid is a former volunteer who participated in 1982 Lebanon War and returns from there with disappointment. He becomes homeless in the city of Casablanca. He resorts to theft and addiction to combat his homelessness and physical disability. His only dream in life is to bring his symphony into existence, so he ask the help from his homeless friends for that.Morocco
- DirectorMohamed IsmailStarsMarc SamuelRachid El OualiSouad AmidouIn 1960, two families, Muslim family and Jewish family live a quiet daily life, before this coexistence was affected by World War II and the establishment of the State of Israel, the story tells of the strong bonds between these two families that fate cruelly separated . The movie tells also story of The turbulent love ties between a young Jewish woman and a Muslim man are severed by their ultra-traditional parents, as a Jewish father prepares to liquidate his business to join his family in Israel.Morocco
- DirectorNour Eddine LakhmariStarsAnas El BazOmar LotfiMohamed BenbrahimTwo childhood friends, Karim and Adil, prowl the streets of Casablanca, their native city. They do not do much, in fact they hustle rather than work. They are also unashamed dreamers, Karim believing in his "love story" with Nabila, a rich girl, and Adil contemplating emigrating to Sweden but never taking action. One day, the two friends go onto top gear by getting themselves into a big caper...Morocco
- DirectorElia SuleimanStarsElia SuleimanManal KhaderGeorge IbrahimSeparated by a checkpoint, Palestinian lovers from Jerusalem and Ramallah arrange clandestine meetings.Palestine
- DirectorHanna EliasStarsRaida AdonMazen SaadeTaher NajeebUpon his release from an Israeli prison, Mazen (Saade) begins to fall in love with Raeda (Adun), his friend since childhood who is already engaged to Taher (Najeeb), Mazen's younger brother.Palestine
- DirectorHany Abu-AssadStarsKais NashifAli SulimanLubna AzabalTwo childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.Palestine
- DirectorAnnemarie JacirStarsSuheir HammadSaleh BakriRiyad IdeisA romantic drama about a working-class woman and her experiences traveling back home.Palestine