Arab Films at the 2025 Venice Film Festival

It’s Fall festival season! The Venice Film Festival runs from August 27th to September 8th this year and we’re here to highlight all of the films from the Arab world premiering at this gigantic festival. This year, there is one Arab film in competition for the Golden Lion in the Main Competition, and plenty of other fiction films and documentaries playing in the rest of the Official Selection, and parallel independent sections. 

So what Arab films are playing at the 82nd annual Venice Film Festival? Let’s take a look:
All film descriptions and stills are from the La Biennale di Venezia official website.

In Competition

One Arab film is competing for the Golden Lion this year, from a well-known contemporary director. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther ben Hania
Tunisia, France – Narrative Feature

January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A six-year-old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.

Kaouther Ben Hania has previously directed Four Daughters and The Man Who Sold His Skin, both of which were nominated for Oscars. 

Official Selection: Out of Competition

My Father and Qaddafi by Jihan K
USA, Libya – Documentary Feature

In My Father and Qaddafi Jihan K pieces together a father she barely remembers — Mansur Rashid Kikhia was a human rights lawyer, Libya’s foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations. After serving in Qaddafi’s increasingly brutal regime, he defected from the government and became a peaceful opposition leader. For many, Kikhia was a rising star who could replace Qaddafi, however, in 1993 he disappeared from his hotel in Egypt. Jihan’s mother, Baha Al Omary, searched for him for nineteen years until his body was found in a freezer near Qaddafi’s palace. Through encounters with family, her father’s colleagues, and historical archives, Jihan’s search for the truth evolves into a deeper curiosity, drawing her closer to both her father and her Libyan identity.

Film still from Boomerang Atomic

Boomerang Atomic by Rachid Bouchareb
France – Documentary Short

In 1960, in the heart of the Saharan desert, France detonated its first atomic bomb in Reggane, Algeria, forever altering the surrounding land and lives. The invisible populations continue to suffer its fallout in silence.

Horizons Short Film Competition

Horizons, or Orizzonti, is a parallel section of the Venice Film Festival’s official selection. While no Arab feature films are playing in the main Horizons competition, one film is playing in the short film competition. 

Coyotes by Said Zagha
Palestine, France, Jordan, UK – Narrative Short

A Palestinian surgeon drives home after a long night shift, but little does she know that a commute through a desolate West Bank road will change her forever.

Venice Spotlight

Venice Spotlight is a new addition to the film festival’s official selection, one that aims to showcase films with strong cultural and social impact, distinguished by innovation and creative originality. Two films directed by Arab women are premiering in the category. 

Calle Malaga by Maryam Touzani
Morocco, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium – Narrative Feature

María Ángeles, a 79-year-old Spanish woman, lives alone in Tangier, Morocco, and enjoys her daily routine. However, her life is turned upside down when her daughter arrives from Madrid to sell the apartment in which she has always lived. Determined to stay, she does everything she can to get her home and her belongings back and, unexpectedly, rediscovers love and sensuality.

Touzani previously directed The Blue Caftan, which opened our Arab Film Festival in 2022. 

Hijra by Shahad Ameen
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, UK – Narrative Feature

Twelve-year-old Janna sets off for Mecca with her strict grandmother, Sitti, and rebellious sister, Sarah, to perform Hajj. But before they reach their destination, Sarah vanishes — forcing Janna and Sitti into a tense, urgent search. Fearing Sarah’s father will find out, Sitti and Janna push themselves to the limit, desperate to uncover why Sarah disappeared. Their journey spans from southern Saudi Arabia to its northern borders, crossing old pilgrimage routes and confronting strangers, harsh landscapes, and long-buried family secrets. As they grow closer, Janna begins to unravel stories from Sitti’s rich and complex past. The search reveals deep intergenerational rifts among the women in their family. And as their difficult journey begins to echo the spiritual trials of Hajj, Janna and Sitti may find something greater than reconciliation — redemption.

Venice Immersive

Venice Immersive is a category devoted to immersive media, , from 360° videos to XR features or shorts, including installations and virtual worlds. 

Roqia by Yanis Koussim
Algeria, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia – Narrative Feature

In 1993, after a car crash leaves Ahmed with amnesia, he returns to his village where nothing seems familiar-not his wife, nor his children. His youngest child, disturbed by Ahmed’s fully bandaged face, harbors a deep fear of him. Each night, mysterious visitors torment Ahmed, whispering litanies in an incomprehensible language. Who are these strange figures? And why does his so-called friend, the neighbor, make him feel so uneasy? In the present day, an ageing Raqi (a Muslim exorcist) struggles with Alzheimer’s disease. His forgetfulness and erratic behavior alarm his disciple who begins to fear the worst as violence intensifies in the city and the possessed speak in an unknown tongue. While Ahmed, in the past, dreads regaining his memory, the disciple, in the present, fears that his master’s decline will unleash an ancient evil.

Festa in Famiglia by Nadir Taji
Italy – Narrative Short

On holiday, the peaceful atmosphere of a Moroccan family is suddenly shattered by a shocking event: Hassan molests his 12-year-old cousin in secret. After the incident comes to light, the adults are faced with a difficult dilemma: preserve the family or confront the uncomfortable situation. Getting through unscathed does not seem to be an option.

Independent Sections: Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori)

Venice Days is an Independent Section with the goal of highlighting smaller films, and boosting the profile of newer auteurs.
All film descriptions and stills are taken from the Giornate degli Autori official website.

A Sad and Beautiful World by Cyril Aris
In Competition – Lebanon, United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar – Narrative Feature

In this sweeping love story that spans three decades of passion, heartbreak, and hope, Nino and Yasmina find themselves drawn together by a magnetic relationship. As they face an impossible choice between love and survival, they must decide if they want to build a family and chart a path to happiness in Lebanon, despite the tragedies ravaging the country.

Do You Love Me by Lana Daher
Special Event – France, Lebanon, Germany, Qatar – Documentary Feature

Do You Love Me is a playful and personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, composed entirely of archival footage. It is a love letter to Beirut, spanning 70 years of film, TV, home videos, and photography, exploring the Lebanese collective psyche – marked by joy and intimacy, destruction and loss. Through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers and artists, the film reconstructs a fragmented history in a country without a national archive, celebrating creative expression as both resistance, renewal and a way to preserve memory.

And that’s the list of Arab films playing at the 2025 Venice Film Festival! Keep an eye out on our social media for updates if any of the films win big at the awards ceremony, and to see if any of them end up at the Arab Film Festival in November!