Art & Culture

These Are the Six Arab Films Screening at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival

BYYassine Hariss

July 28, 2026

Arab filmmakers are set for a strong showing at the 83rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival, with six films selected across the official program. Scheduled to take place from Sept. 2 to 12, the annual 10-day celebration of cinema is widely regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, regularly serving as the launchpad for titles that usually go on to compete for — and often win — some of cinema’s highest honors. This year four out of the six films from our region are competing, representing Egypt, Palestine, and Lebanon across the festival’s different sections and competitions.

Leading the lineup is Egyptian-Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown, the sole Arab title selected for the festival’s prestigious Golden Lion competition. The drama follows Marie, a former housekeeper preparing an elaborate engagement dinner with the patriarch of the household where she once worked. As the celebration draws closer, long-buried secrets from her past begin to surface, threatening to unravel both the evening and the life she has carefully constructed.

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Lebanese filmmaker Rami Kodeih will premiere Furies in the Venezia Spotlight section. Set against Lebanon’s devastating financial collapse, the film follows two women who, after being denied access to their own savings during the country’s banking crisis, devise an overnight heist to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

Lebanon also features in the Orizzonti short film competition with A Few Moments of Happiness, directed by Shaden Safieddine Tazi. Blending screen recordings, family voice notes, and moments of silence, the short centers on a young Lebanese filmmaker in Paris watching the war unfold on her phone, capturing the surreal experience of witnessing the destruction of home from afar.Representing Palestine in competition is Muayad Alayan’s Conversation With the Sea, which will screen in the Venezia Spotlight section. The drama follows Kamal, a 60-year-old Palestinian man living in Jerusalem, who is ordered by an Israeli court to pay a substantial social security debt allegedly owed by his son, Wael, who was drowned in the Red Sea decades earlier.

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A post shared by Shaden Safieddine Tazi (@shadenadela)

Outside the competition, Palestinian filmmaker Ahmad Hasouna presents Citizen Osama, a documentary set in northern Gaza. The film follows Osama, an artistic photographer who becomes a war documentarian while trying to protect his wife and newborn child. As he records the destruction surrounding him amid hunger, displacement, and grief, the documentary offers an intimate portrait of life under siege.

Lastly, Iraq is represented by No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, an action-drama from director Halkawt Mustafa screening out of competition. The film follows Kurdish sniper Vyan, who returns to Mosul after learning that her sister, presumed lost during ISIS’s 2014 assault on the city, may still be alive.

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A post shared by Halkawt Mustafa (@halkawtmustafa)

With four titles competing across the festival’s official sections and two more screening out of competition, Arab filmmakers are set to play a significant role in one of cinema’s most prestigious events. Watch this space.

These Are the Six Arab Films Screening at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival

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These Are the Six Arab Films Screening at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival

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