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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

Kandahar (2001)

6.8/10
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Starring: Nelofer Pazira, Hassan Tantai, Sadou Teymouri, Hoyatala Hakimi

Nafas, a young Afghan journalist now living in Canada recieves a desperate letter from her sister in Afghanistan who intends to kill herself at the ne... Read more

Paradise Now (2005)

7.5/10
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal, Amer Hlehel, Hiam Abbass

Golden Globe's Best Foreign Film is this taut drama concerning two Palestinian friends who have signed up to become suicide bombers. They are assigne... Read more

The Salesman (2016)

7.8/10
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Babak Karimi, Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini

Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and his wife Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) are actors in an amateur Tehran production of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. When... Read more

Close-Up (1990)

8.3/10
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Ahankhah, Mehdrad Ahankhah

Regarded as one of the greatest films of the '90s, acclaimed director Abbas Kiarostami's brilliant exploration of a misguided cinephile's attempts to... Read more

Children of Heaven (1997)

8.3/10
Director: Majid Majidi
Starring: Mohammad Amir Naji, Karnal Mirkarimi, Amir Farrokh Hashemian

This acclaimed heart-warming tale follows two young siblings in an Iranian city as they try to keep the loss of their sister's only shoes from their p... Read more

Fill the Void (2012)

6.7/10
Director: Rama Burshtein
Starring: Yiftach Klein, Hadas Yaron, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir

"Fill the Void" tells the story of eighteen-year-old Shira (Hadas Yaron), who is the youngest daughter of her family. Her dreams are about to come tru... Read more

Capharnaum / Capernaum (2018)

Director: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Zain Al Rafeea, Nadine Labaki

After running away from his negligent parents, committing a violent crime and being sentenced to five years in jail, a hardened, streetwise 12-year-ol... Read more

Walk On Water (2004)

7.4/10
Director: Eytan Fox
Starring: Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, Carolina Peters, Gidon Shemer

Eyal is a Mossad assassin sent to kill an aging Nazi war criminal. The target's grandaughter is living on a kibbutz in Israel and her brother is abou... Read more

Turtles Can Fly (2004)

8.1/10
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Starring: Soran Ebrahim, Hirsh Feyssal, Avaz Latif

On the border of Iraq and Turkey, in the days leading up to the second US-led war, a young technology-obsessed boy nicknamed Satellite convinces the v... Read more

Live and Become (2005)

7.9/10
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Starring: Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Moshe Abebe, Sirak M Sabahat, Roni Ha...

In 1984, at the height of the Ethiopian famine, Israel put 'Operation Moses' into effect where they airlifted over 8000 Jews from the afflicted region... Read more