October 1, 2023
WoEgypt

At the 96th Academy Awards, set to take place on March 20, 2024, eight Arab films have been submitted so far to contend in the Best International Feature Film category. The films come from Tunisia, Iraq, Yemen, palatine. Egypt, Morocco, Sudan and Jordan.

Jordan | Inchallah A Boy, directed by Amjad Al Rasheed is about Jordan’s inheritance culture under which women are pressured to relinquish their rights to property to male relatives.

Sudan | Goodbye Julia, directed by Mohamed Kordofani, tells the story of a married former singer from the North Sudan who seeks redemption for causing the death of a southern man by hiring his oblivious wife as her maid.

Morocco | The Mother of All Lies, directed by Asmae El Moudir, is about a Moroccan woman’s search for truth tangles with a web of lies in her family history. As a daughter and filmmaker, El Moudir fuses personal and national history as she reflects on the 1981 Bread Riots, drawing out connections to modern Morocco.

Egypt | Voy! Voy! Voy!, directed by Omar Helal tells the story of Hassan – a security guard living an impoverished life with his mother who dreams of traveling and living abroad. One day he stumbles on the sport of blind soccer and cunningly decides to pose as a visually impaired man to join a team right before the World Cup tournament in Europe.

Palestine | Bye Bye Tiberias , directed by Lina Soualem, tells the story of a Hiam Abbass whom years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, she returns home with her daughter. The intimate documentary is about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

Yemen | The Burdened, directed by Amr Gamal. The film is about Ahmed and Isra, parents of three children who lost their job due to the country’s economic crisis. Isra’a finds out about her fourth pregnancy at this time when they cannot afford to raise one more child.

Iraq | Hanging Gardens, directed by Ahmed Yasmin Al Daradji. The story is about Twelve-year-old orphan As’ad who makes his living picking through the trash at a dump outside Baghdad. One day he finds a discarded blonde sex doll, which not only improves his financial prospects, but offers him something of even greater value.

Tunisia | Four Daughters, director by Kaouther Ben Hania, tells the story of Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters’ life stories.

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