In a record year for Academy Awards foreign film submissions 8 Arab films were entered for the best Foreign Film category of the Oscars.
92 submissions from around the world included films from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisa.
Algeria
Road to Istanbul is a French-Algerian drama film directed by Rachid Bouchareb about Belgian mother Elisabeth sets off to find her young daughter who has joined ISIS in Syria.
Egypt
Sheikh Jackson by Amr Salama talks about a religious cleric has a crisis of faith when he hears the news that his childhood idol, Michael Jackson, has died.
Iraq
In Reseba by Hussein Hassan, radical militants attack a village in Iraq where a young Yazidi love couple prepares for marriage. From that moment onwards their lives are turned into a nightmare.
Lebanon
The Insult by Ziad Doueiri finds Toni, a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee, in court over a heated argument that creates a social explosion.
Morocco
The streets of Casablanca provide the centerpiece for five separate narratives that all collide into one in Razzia by Nabil Ayouch.
Palestine
Annemarie Jacir’s Wajib shows how a father and his estranged son must come together to hand deliver his daughter’s wedding invitations to each guest as per local Palestinian custom.
Syria
The story of iconic Syrian peace activist Ghiyath Matar is explored in Little Gandhi. His death at the age of 26 outraged the international community and erupted into one of the most violent uprisings in modern history in the film by Sam Kadi.
Tunisia
In the Last of US Ala Eddine Slim tells the story of a young African man looking to escape to Europe and finds himself in a forest where he gradually becomes one with his surroundings.
