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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

A Separation (Blu-ray) (2011)

8.3/10
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat

Set in contemporary Iran, A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and... Read more

Where Do We Go Now? (2011)

7.5/10
Director: Nadine Labaki
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Layla Hakim, Yvonne Maalouf

Christians and Muslims lived peacefully together for years in this small Lebanese village, but animosities begin to build among the men as a result of... Read more

Policeman (2011)

6.2/10
Director: Nadav Lapid
Starring: Michael Moshonov, Yiftach Klein, Yaara Pelzig, Menashe Noy, Michael Aloni, Gal H...

Yaron and his fellow unit members are the weapon: the gun the state is pointing at it's opponents, the 'Arab Enemy'. An encounter with a radical, viol... Read more

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

7.8/10
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Starring: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" is an engrossing crime drama from the celebrated director of "Cl... Read more

The Source (2011)

7.3/10
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Leila Bekhti, Saleh Bakri, Hafsia Herzi, Biyouna , Sabrina Ouazani,...

A.k.a. "La source des femmes". Romanian-born filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu ("The Concert") directed and co-wrote this 'battle of the sexes' comedy drama s... Read more

A Separation (2011)

8.3/10
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi

Iranian drama, winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards and Golden Globes, and Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival 2011. "A... Read more

Circumstance (2011)

5.9/10
Director: Maryam Keshavarz
Starring: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho, Sin...

Within the oppressive society of contemporary Iran, two Tehran schoolgirls are romantically drawn to each other and seek the freedom to live their liv... Read more

Footnote (2011)

7.1/10
Director: Joseph Cedar
Starring: Nevo Kimchi, Lior Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar Aba, Daniel Markovich, Alisa Rosen, Alma...

A.k.a. "Hearat Shulayim". Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar Aba) and his son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi) are both Talmud scholars who teach at the Hebrew Univer... Read more

This is Not a Film (2011)

7.5/10
Director: Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Starring: Jafar Panahi

This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-t... Read more

Incendies (Blu-ray) (2011)

8.3/10
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Remy Girard, Melissa Desormeaux-Poulan, Lubna Azabal, Maxim Gaudette

In the highly-acclaimed suspense thriller 'Incendies', a mothers dying wish creates a painful puzzle her children are forced to solve. At the reading... Read more