Five Arab Films Submitted for the 2025 Oscars

Five Arab films have been submitted for the 'Best International Film' category at the 2025 Oscars. 

The five Arab entries are from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Palestine, and Morocco. 

Flight 404 (Egypt)

Flight 404, directed by renowned Egyptian filmmaker Hani Khalifa, is a gripping psychological thriller, featuring Mona Zaki as Ghadha who needs to arrange a large sum for her mother's emergency surgery days before her travel to Makkah for the Hajj pilgrimage. She encounters various people from her past and has to make some difficult ethical decisions.

'Flight 404' was released in January this year and made more than three million dollars in ticket sales. 

Everybody Loves Touda (Morocco)

The Moroccan film Everybody Loves Touda is a story about a single mother named Touda who dreams of being a Sheikha, a traditional Moroccan performer. 

She sings various kinds of songs in her village's bars, but she soon sets her sights on making it to Casablanca after being disgraced. 

Nabil Ayouch has directed this film, which competed in the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film featured Nisrin Erradi as Touda. 

Algiers (Algeria)

This film is about the kidnapping of a little girl, which brings together a psychiatrist and a police officer who investigate the kidnapping. 'Algiers' features Meriem Medjkane, Nabil Asli and Hichem Mesbah in lead roles and is directed by Chakib Taleb-Bendiab.

From Ground Zero (Palestine)

This film is a compilation of 22 short films from Gazan filmmakers with the project led by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi.

The film was screened at the 2024 Amman International Film Festival. It was expected to be shown at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, but it was pulled out of the festival in the end. 

Masharawi still hosted a screening of the film in the French resort town without any backing from the film festival. 

Baghdad Messi (Iraq)

Filmmaker Sahim Omar Kalifa adapted the 2012 short film of the same name to this feature film which follows the story of a child who lost his leg during the US invasion of Iraq. 

Despite this tragic incident, the child's dreams of playing football are not hindered because he finds a way to enjoy the sport with his crutches along with his friends. 

More Arab films are expected to be submitted for the 2025 Oscars before the submission deadline on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

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