African & Middle Eastern
Alice has precious few (but building) films from the Middle East and even fewer from the vast continent of Africa.
Middle Eastern films are often highly politicised, bringing subjects to the attention of audiences that would otherwise know little about them. Film makers are often dealing with various forms of political and social oppression and even armed conflicts to bring their stories to light. Exotic scenery, allegorical storytelling and close-up exposure to cultural norms, so different from our own, bring a kind of immersion only rivalled by being there.
To find a title from a specific country use the By Country link on the left.
Pictured: A Time for Drunken Horses
Strangers (2009)
6.9/10
Director: Guy Nattiv, Erez Tadmor
Starring: Patrick Albenque, Lubna Azabal, Liron Levo, Dominique Lollia
When two travellers mistakenly exchange baggage on the Berlin U-Bahn during the 2006 World Cup, little do they know the effect it will have on their l... Read more
Stray Dogs (2004)
7.2/10
Director: Marziyeh Meshkini
Marziyeh Meshkini's beautifully crafted and moving insight into post-Taliban Afghanistan follows the fortunes of a young brother and sister and the di... Read more
Taste Of Cherry (1997)
7.7/10
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Homayoun Ershadi, Adolhossein Bagheri
One of the great works of recent international cinema and the apex of contemporary Iranian film, Abbas Kiarostami's brilliant and deceptively simple f... Read more
Tehran Taxi (2015)
Director: Jafar Panahi
Starring: Jafar Panahi
The great Iranian director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) has never let being barred from filmmaking stop him. For the third time since the ban wa... Read more
Ten (2002)
7.5/10
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Mania Akbari
Aka "10". A perceptive and revealing portrait of contemporary Iran set in Tehran, "Ten" begins with a beautiful and articulate female driver (Mania Ak... Read more
The Apple (1998)
7.3/10
Director: Samira Makhmalbaf
Starring: Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Azizeh Mohamadi
Based on a true incident and using the family involved, this unique film tells a bizarre but engaging story. In Tehran, two twin daughters live as vir... Read more
The Assassin Next Door (2009)
Starring: Olga Kurylenko, Liron Levo
A woman forced to work for the Russian Mafia as an assassin agrees to help her next-door neighbor kill her abusive husband. Read more
The Band's Visit (2007)
7.6/10
Director: Eran Kolirin
Starring: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Shlomi Avraham, Rubi...
A wryly elegant, slice-of-life comedy in which an Egyptian Ceremonial Police Band, due to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Centre in Israel, fi... Read more
The Color of Paradise (1999)
8.2/10
Director: Majid Majidi
Starring: Mohsen Ramezani
This beautifully rendered film centers on an 8-year-old blind boy named Mohammad whose poor, widowed father has no interest in raising him. After he's... Read more
The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
7.3/10
Director: Marziyeh Meshkini
Starring: Fatemeh Cheragh, Akhar, Shabnam Toloui, Azizeh Sedighi
Marziyeh Meshkini's compelling and poignant study of the elementary problems faced by women in Eastern societies looks at three different generations... Read more