If you enjoy short films in Arabic, the Media Visual Audio channel on YouTube is a fun archive to explore. Dive into some of our favorite titles with the help of storyline summaries and review questions.

Catch more independent Arabic films this year with our list of film festivals around the world that focus on Arabic language movies. With in-person and virtual screenings, many of these festivals are accessible from wherever you are, as long as you have an internet connection!

In Perfect Strangers (أصحاب… ولا أعزّ), a group of friends decides to test their relationships with each other and their spouses by sharing every message, call, and email that they receive during dinner. The movie is in mostly Lebanese Arabic with colloquial subtitles.

The Swimmers is a 2022 movie that chronicles the real story of the Mardini sisters, former swimmers for the Syrian national team who made the difficult decision to flee to Europe as the Syrian war intensified. Watch the trailer and download a review worksheet for the movie.

Netflix recently upped its original Arabic language offerings with the Jordanian series, AlRawabi School for Girls, but there is a lot of other great Arabic content on the platform too. Explore some of our recommended movies and shows!

Souad is a 19-year old balancing a dual life. She both lives obediently at home with her family and has an on-and-off relationship with Ahmed, a man she met on Facebook. Her younger sister, Rabab, knows little about Souad’s relationship until a devastating family tragedy pushes her to look into it.

Nadine Labaki’s award-winning film, Capernaum, follows Zain (actor Zain Al Rafeea) through his difficult life in an overcrowded family in Beirut. The movie features a cast of amateur actors, like Zain, who portray hardships like extreme poverty from their personal experiences. Capernaum is available on Amazon with English subtitles.

As we anxiously await the release of Lebanon’s Academy Award submission, Broken Keys, we review director Jimmy Keyrouz’s 2016 short film, Nocturne in Black. The film focuses on Karim, a young Syrian man, as he struggles to rebuild his precious piano that was damaged by militants during the civil war.

Najwa Najjar’s 2019 feature film, Between Heaven and Earth, follows Tamer and Salma’s journey to get divorced. As detours and bureaucracy extend their trip, they discover secrets from Tamer’s family’s past and learn more about each other.

Asmaa has kept her AIDS diagnosis a secret. She’s given the chance to get emergency gallbladder surgery but must first reveal how she contracted the virus, a price she’s unwilling to pay. The film tells her story through flashbacks, slowly uncovering how and from whom she got HIV.

A small town in Lebanon is pushed to challenge their routines and assumptions when miraculous occurrences start happening. And Ghadi, a young boy with Down syndrome, quickly goes from being a town nuisance to their saving grace.

200 Meters is an award-winning film, directed by Ameen Nayfeh, following the life of Mustafa and his family. Mustafa lives in Palestine while his wife and kids, who have Israeli residency permits, live 200 meters away across the border wall. When a family emergency occurs, Mustafa must find a way to cross the border to reach them.

An overview of all the Arabic language feature and short films submitted to the 94th Academy Awards. This post includes trailers and a summary of each movie, as well as links for streaming and reviews, for the movies that have been released.

You Will Die at Twenty is a Sudanese film directed by Amjad Abu Alala. It follows Muzamil through childhood as he struggles with a prophecy that he will die at twenty. The film is in Sudanese Arabic and English subtitles are available.

Aziza (عزيزة) is a short and somewhat surreal film about a Syrian couple going for a drive in Lebanon. As they maneuver through the streets, they pass through imaginary situations - or perhaps memories - of a life they used to and could have had.

Writer and director Najwa Najjar’s first feature film tells the story of Kamar and Zaid, a young, newly-married couple living in the Palestinian occupied territories. Soon after their wedding, the life they are beginning to build together is disrupted when Israeli troops show up with a confiscation order for Zaid’s family’s land.

The Man Who Sold His Skin by Kaouther Ben Hania is the first Tunisian movie to be nominated for Best International Feature film at the Oscars. After fleeing Syria, Sam sellss his back to a tattoo artist in exchange for money and a visa to Brussels, where his girlfriend is living...with her husband.

Mayor is an award-winning documentary that follows Musa Hadid, the Mayor of Ramallah, and his unrelenting work at City Hall. The movie captures mundane, charming, and terrifying moments that define Ramallah and explores the impact of the Israeli occupation on the city.

Award-winning journalist Waad al-Kateab began filming Aleppo’s peaceful protests in March of 2011 and kept her camera running through the fall of Aleppo in December of 2016. In the documentary For Sama, Waad recounts the stories of those years of war in a letter to her first daughter, Sama.

The Present (الهدية) is an Arabic language short film about a man trying to get an anniversary gift for his wife in Bethlehem. It's directed by Farah Nabulsi and is available on Netflix.