My Favourite Middle East Movies
by Smoover1 | created - 16 Jul 2018 | updated - 10 Nov 2018 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Doa al karawan (1959)
109 min | Drama, Romance
This compelling tale of love and betrayal, set in the upper Egyptian countryside, follows the story of Amna as she plots her revenge on the engineer who destroyed her family's honor.
Director: Henry Barakat | Stars: Faten Hamamah, Ahmad Mazhar, Aminah Rizq, Zahrat El-Ula
Votes: 1,970
2. Winter Sleep (2014)
Not Rated | 196 min | Drama
A hotel owner and landlord in a remote Turkish village deals with conflicts within his family and a tenant behind on his rent.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Stars: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan
Votes: 55,546 | Gross: $0.17M
3. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
R | 90 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Director: Ari Folman | Stars: Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ori Sivan
Votes: 60,395 | Gross: $2.28M
4. Crimson Gold (2003)
Unrated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An Iranian pizza delivery man sees the worst of corruption and social unbalance in his city and is driven to crime.
Director: Jafar Panahi | Stars: Hossain Emadeddin, Kamyar Sheisi, Azita Rayeji, Shahram Vaziri
Votes: 5,297 | Gross: $0.15M
5. Gett (2014)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama
After a lukewarm marriage of over twenty years, a woman appeals to her husband's compassion to obtain the desirable divorce document in front of a court, which proves to be more challenging than she would expect.
Directors: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz | Stars: Ronit Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian, Gabi Amrani, Dalia Beger
Votes: 6,883 | Gross: $0.99M
6. Nausea (2015)
112 min | Drama
Upon losing his wife and son, Ahmet has to struggle with the feeling of loneliness.
Director: Zeki Demirkubuz | Stars: Zeki Demirkubuz, Sebnem Hassanisoughi, Öykü Karayel, Çaglar Çorumlu
Votes: 2,849
7. Mustang (2015)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama
When five orphan girls are seen innocently playing with boys on a beach, their scandalized conservative guardians confine them while forced marriages are arranged.
Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven | Stars: Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan
Votes: 40,894 | Gross: $0.85M
8. Divorce Iranian Style (1998)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary
A documentary about real divorce cases in Iran's tribunals.
Directors: Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Votes: 554
9. Facing Mirrors (2011)
98 min | Drama
Rana has chosen a path in order to support her family, while Adineh (Eddie) has fled his home and city to escape his complicated situation as a transgender man prevented from living as his ... See full summary »
Director: Negar Azarbayjani | Stars: Shayesteh Irani, Ghazal Shakeri, Homayoun Ershadi, Maryam Boubani
Votes: 641
10. Dry Summer (1963)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
A farmer has a violent dispute with his fellow villagers by claiming ownership of the water that comes out of his land. He is as sexually frustrated as greedy.
Director: Metin Erksan | Stars: Erol Tas, Hülya Koçyigit, Ulvi Dogan, Alaettin Altiok
Votes: 5,687
11. Cairo Station (1958)
Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama
A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
Director: Youssef Chahine | Stars: Farid Shawqi, Hind Rustum, Youssef Chahine, Hassan el Baroudi
Votes: 5,350
12. A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
Not Rated | 80 min | Drama, War
Young Iranian Kurdish siblings try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi, Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini, Madi Ekhtiar-dini
Votes: 8,828 | Gross: $0.70M
13. The Past (2013)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery
An Iranian man deserts his French wife and her two children to return to his homeland. Meanwhile, his wife starts up a new relationship, a reality her husband confronts upon his wife's request for a divorce.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet
Votes: 50,875 | Gross: $1.33M
14. A Separation (2011)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Director: Asghar Farhadi | Stars: Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
Votes: 258,435 | Gross: $7.10M
15. 5 Broken Cameras (2011)
Not Rated | 94 min | Documentary, War
A documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.
Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi | Stars: Emad Burnat, Soraya Burnat, Mohammed Burnat, Yasin Burnat
Votes: 6,636 | Gross: $0.11M
16. A Borrowed Identity (2014)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama
A Palestinian-Israeli boy named Eyad is sent to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem, where he struggles with issues of language, culture, and identity.
Director: Eran Riklis | Stars: Tawfeek Barhom, Razi Gabareen, Yaël Abecassis, Michael Moshonov
Votes: 1,881 | Gross: $0.28M
17. Hanna K. (1983)
R | 111 min | Drama
An Israeli lawyer is defending a Palestinian charged by The Military Court System in the Israeli-Occupied Territories. It's a tough case because of a strong political background.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, Gabriel Byrne, Mohammad Bakri
Votes: 946 | Gross: $0.11M
18. Wadjda (2012)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour | Stars: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd
Votes: 21,471 | Gross: $1.35M
19. Children of Heaven (1997)
PG | 89 min | Drama, Family, Sport
After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.
Director: Majid Majidi | Stars: Mohammad Amir Naji, Amir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Nafise Jafar-Mohammadi
Votes: 80,663 | Gross: $0.93M
20. Ajami (2009)
Not Rated | 124 min | Crime, Drama
Ajami is the religiously mixed community of Muslims and Christians in Tel Aviv. These are five stories about the everyday life in Ajami.
Directors: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani | Stars: Fouad Habash, Nisrin Siksik, Elias Saba, Youssef Sahwani
Votes: 6,527 | Gross: $0.62M
21. In Syria (2017)
85 min | Drama, War
A mother attempts to keep her family safe as war rages and a sniper lies in wait outside her home.
Director: Philippe Van Leeuw | Stars: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Abou Abboud, Juliette Navis, Mohsen Abbas
Votes: 2,973
22. Beyond the Hill (2012)
94 min | Drama
When some people from the other side of the mountain invade the territory of a farming family, the family head tries to unite the family and fight back. But then problems within the family start to appear as well.
Director: Emin Alper | Stars: Tamer Levent, Reha Özcan, Mehmet Özgür, Berk Hakman
Votes: 3,943
23. West Beirut (1998)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In April, 1975, civil war breaks out; Beirut is partitioned along a Moslem-Christian line. Tarek is in high school, making Super 8 movies with his friend, Omar. At first the war is a lark: ... See full summary »
Director: Ziad Doueiri | Stars: Rami Doueiri, Naamar Sahli, Mohamad Chamas, Rola Al Amin
Votes: 4,859 | Gross: $0.34M
24. Jellyfish (2007)
Unrated | 78 min | Drama
Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life... See full summary »
Directors: Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret | Stars: Sarah Adler, Nikol Leidman, Gera Sandler, Noa Raban
Votes: 2,744 | Gross: $0.34M
25. The House Is Black (1963)
20 min | Documentary, Short
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
Director: Forugh Farrokhzad | Stars: Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri
Votes: 5,560
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