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.

The voices on the phone are real.

Source: Palestine Red Crescent Society

Awards:

• 82nd Venice Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize; nominated for Golden Lion

• 98th Academy Awards:Tunisian entry for Best International Feature Film

• 73rd San Sebastián International Film Festival: Perlak section — audience score 9.52/10

RT: 89 mins.

Director: KAOUTHER BEN HANIA

María Ángeles is a 79-year-old Spanish woman who has lived her entire life in Tangier. She has her routines, her neighborhood, her friends — and no intention of going anywhere.

When her daughter arrives from Madrid to sell the apartment, determined to uproot her, María Ángeles fights back with everything she has. And in the process, unexpectedly rediscovers love and sensuality.

Source: Press kit

Awards:

• 82nd Venice Film Festival: Audience Award, Spotlight section

• Toronto International Film Festival 2025: Official Selection

• Morocco's official entry for the 98th Academy Awards, Best International Feature Film

RT: 116 mins.

Director: MARYAM TOUZANI

Saudi Arabia, 2001. Twelve-year-old Janna is traveling with her strict grandmother Sitti and rebellious older sister Sarah from the south of the country to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage. When Sarah suddenly vanishes without a trace, Janna and Sitti are forced to continue northward across the Kingdom in a desperate search — crossing ancient pilgrimage routes, meeting strangers, and discovering far more than they bargained for.

Source: Press kit

Awards:

• 82nd Venice Film Festival: Official Selection, Venezia Spotlight; Best Asian Film Award

• Carthage Film Festival (JCC): Best Cinematography Award; Best Actor Award

• Red Sea International Film Festival: Jury Award; Audience Award — Best Saudi Film

• 98th Academy Awards: Saudi Arabia's official entry for Best International Feature Film

RT: 105 mins.

Director: SHAHAD AMEEN

In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, teenage Nafisa is raised on heroic tales of resistance against British colonizers, passed down by her grandmother Al-Sit, the village matriarch. When a young businessman arrives with a new development plan and genetically engineered cotton, Nafisa becomes the center of a power struggle over the village's future. Awakening to her own strength, she sets out to save the cotton fields — and herself.

Awards/Festivals: World Premiere, Venice International Film Critics' Week 2025 · Golden Alexander (top prize), Thessaloniki International Film Festival · Prix ArteKino International (development award, Cannes 2022)

RT: 93 mins.

Director: SUZANNAH MIRGHANI

From a small Nile Delta village where as a girl she sang disguised as a boy, to her final concert as a woman battling illness — El Sett traces seven decades in the life of Umm Kulthum (1904–1975), the Egyptian singer who became the Voice of the Arab World.

Starring Mona Zaki in a career-defining performance, the film follows her journey from provincial obscurity to Paris, Cairo concert halls, and global legend — a woman whose voice Bob Dylan, Maria Callas, and Robert Plant all claimed as an influence.

Source: Press kit

Date: (insert screening date)

RT: 155 mins.

Director: MARWAN HAMED