The Venice Film Festival 2025 is giving Arab cinema the space and the spotlight it deserves. This year’s lineup, set for the screen from 27 August to 6 September, includes bold and deeply personal narratives.
Here’s a look at some of the Arab-directed films making waves at Venice this year:
Calle Malaga (Morocco) – Dir. Maryam Touzani
Section: Venice Spotlight
Language: Spanish
Maryam Touzani is back, and no, she’s not here to play it safe. Following her Cannes-loved hits The Blue Caftan and Adam, Calle Malaga brings us into the world of a 74-year-old woman living in the quiet colors of Tangier, fighting to hold onto her childhood home as her daughter moves to sell it. In the midst of this struggle, she rediscovers a sense of love she thought was long gone.
Hijra (Saudi Arabia) – Dir. Shahad Ameen
Section: Venice Spotlight
If Scales was a haunting fable, Hijra is a raw desert journey that blends myth, trauma, and generational power. Shahad Ameen returns to Venice with a road movie that’s not about finding a place — it’s about reclaiming voice and lineage.
When one granddaughter disappears, Sitti grabs the other and hits the road. Their path from Taif to Mecca turns into a nightmare, but also a reclamation of womanhood, across time, trauma, and dust. This isn’t just a movie about Saudi women, it’s a movie by and for them.
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia) – Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
Section: Competition
Kaouther Ben Hania doesn’t just make films. She builds cinematic resistance. After Four Daughters, she returns with a hybrid film that reimagines the real-life tragedy of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, killed during the genocide in Gaza.
On January 29, 2024, Hind made a heartbreaking emergency call while trapped in a car under fire. The Red Crescent kept her on the line, hoping help would reach in time. It never did. Ben Hania takes this horrifying reality and turns it into a quiet rebellion against forgetfulness. A film that dares you to look, to listen — and to never forget.
Venice 2025 proves that Arab cinema is at the front, rewriting how stories from the region are told and who gets to tell them. These aren’t just movies — they’re memory keepers.
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