The Each morning, Yusef, a doting father-of-one, has no other choice but to queue for hours and navigate the harrowing Checkpoint 300, an infamous, crowded Israeli crossing point between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, to get to work on time. But, on his wedding anniversary, Yusef has arranged to pick up a new fridge for his wife, Noor, and even though the store is in JerusalemPresent

On June 9, 1967, Egyptian president at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser appeared on television and the radio to inform Egyptian citizens of their country’s defeat in the war. During this unusual speech, he also announced his resignation. For many, Nasser’s speech marked the doom of the Arab nationalist movements that he had led and inspired; this moment encapsulates the loss and disillusionment of his pan-Arab vision.

"The Return of Osiris" weaves together footage extracted from numerous stylistically divergent Egyptian films and television series produced between 1976 and 2016. The found footage was edited to reconstruct Nasser’s resignation speech according to the original text.

By collecting, cataloging, and rearranging visual materials from popular culture, Palestinian artist Essa Grayeb’s film sheds new light on the challenge of conveying historical and political events in art along with the power that cinema has in building a collective memory, especially among post-traumatized nations.

Wajib, or A Duty, is an experimental short film that explores the Koufiyyeh Scarf as mask-- something that can protect.
This film is an intimate response to a recent personal experience that occurred in New York City, one month before the Covid-19 shutdown. A passerby pointed to the scarf around my neck and called it, "a terrorist scarf."

2019 in Martigues, France, the French national amputees football team played against their counterparts from the Gaza Strip. Patrice Forget gives us an uncompromising documentary on the brutality of which Gazans are victims. With respect and empathy, the film focusses on the courage of these young men despite their handicap and their disastrous living conditions in the Gaza Strip.

Al Tabbab is the story of a boy and his father, accompanied with their goat, on an old dhow sailing to a secret ritual site where they perform an ancient offering ritual in order to harvest pearls from a mysterious Sea Monster. On this journey, the boy sets sail determined to impress his father and make him proud. But searching for pearls is no easy task and with the odds against him, the boy struggles with his father’s demands and he can’t help but feel like he’s a big disappointment. But when the Sea Monster prefers the boys pet goat to the usual offerings, the boy must perform a gallant rescue in order to save his friend from certain death and to show his father that he’s ready to be his own man.

Spanish director Jan Pauls brings to life a photograph taken by Emad Nassar in Gaza in 2015 depicting two girls being cared for by their father. What they call 'home' may be something else from now on.

Two months after the massive explosion that devastated Beirut, the inhabitants of the city are still reeling from the force of the blast and the accumulated evil they have been subjected to for decades. Carol Mansour explored her city in the aftermath of the blast, talking to friends and exchanging reflections on what has happened and its implications on them, in candid unscripted voice note messages. Feelings of helplessness, frustration and overwhelming anger at the political class, permeate this short film as we are taken on a tour of the destruction of homes, livelihoods and lives.

Ome (My Mother)
Following the death of his mother, 9-year-old Elias goes to extreme lengths to naively bring her back from Jesus' heaven all while defying his faith.

Drawing upon his Iraqi-Jewish heritage, Michael Rakowitz critiques ongoing systems of colonization in his sculptural and participatory work. The artist recounts a formative memory from his childhood, when his mother took him to see reliefs depicting the lion hunt of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian galleries at the British Museum and posed the question, “What is this doing here?” For Rakowitz, this moment crystalized his understanding of museums as places of extraction, colonization, and crime. In his work today, Rakowitiz explores ways to subvert the imperialist role of museums, interrogate the value they place on objects over people, and create ongoing systems for repair and accountability.

One day Ahmed, employed at the public baths and nearing retirement, encounters Mike, a teenager adrift. Between the bath house walls, in a place on the point of disappearing, a strange relationship will develop between these two fractured souls.

Suhail, a young Emirati is going on a date with Leila. While the date seems to be going well, things soon start going pretty bad, the main reason, Suhail’s mother is in his ear and she is taking over controlling every step Suhail should be doing.

The Palestinian refugee Ibrahim Harb spent his life photographing people, telling their stories by transferring moments of their lives in a way that radiates Palestinian values and struggles. His granddaughter Bissan, followed her grandfather's way as she drew a road map of her journey to find beauty through the camera lens that her grandfather gave her. To My Grandfather is trying to refresh the memory with stories, memories and feelings.
A film by Aesha Balaha main character Bissan Harb

A man in his seventies suffering from loneliness blames himself for the past and gets into a life changing situation

FATIMA (10) tiptoes through the family home one night, peering through a door to see her father BABA (38) tending to her dying GRANDMA (92). Baba asks Fatima to say one final goodbye, but she flees to her bedroom filled with sorrow and despair.

Sitting sadly by the window with her trusty cat, Fatima hears the traditional drumming of the approaching Ramadan announcer EMSAHAR

Based on a series of folktales and mythological creatures, Ya Hoota tells the story of a curious little girl who is determined to save the Moon from a lunar eclipse. According to her grandmother's tale, a lunar eclipse occurs because a whale eats the moon. As there will be no moonlight if the eclipse takes place, the little girl tries to save the moon from the whale.

Note: This film is in Berber languages with English subtitles. Abdellah, a young shepherd living in the mountains, is forced to brave the snow blocking him in order to get food and save his cattle. Once he gets to the village, he faces a supernatural phenomenon.