Art & Culture

The Best Saudi Movies Everyone Should Watch at Least Once

BYMeriem Belhiba

September 24, 2026

Saudi cinema has come a long way in a very short time, and its most interesting films are doing far more than filling screens. They’re documenting a country in flux, using stories about women, love, class, family, crime, and social expectations to capture what life in Saudi Arabia looks and feels like right now.

From the groundbreaking Wadjda and eerie fantasy of Scales to the awkward romance of Barakah Meets Barakah and true-crime drama Alhamour H.A., Saudi filmmakers are proving there is no single Saudi story, or even a single way to tell one.

‘Scales’

Shot in haunting black and white, Shahad Ameen’s Scales takes place in a mythical fishing village where families sacrifice their daughters to mysterious creatures lurking beneath the sea. Hayat was supposed to meet the same fate, but after surviving, she grows up challenging the tradition that has claimed generations of women before her.

Dark, strange, and beautifully unsettling, the film uses fantasy to explore gender, conformity, and the cost of choosing your own fate. Starring Basima Hajjar, Ashraf Barhom, Yagoub Alfarhan, and Fatima Al Taei, Scales premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019 before becoming Saudi Arabia’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

‘Wadjda’

Few Saudi films have travelled as far as Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda. Released in 2012, the film made history as the first feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and introduced much of the world to a Saudi cinema that was only beginning to find an international audience.

At its center is Wadjda, a rebellious young girl with one very specific goal: she wants a green bicycle so she can race her friend Abdullah. There is just one problem: she cannot afford it. Her solution is to enter a Quran recitation competition and use the prize money to buy it herself.

What sounds like a simple childhood mission becomes a sharp, funny, and deeply affecting story about girlhood, freedom, and the rules women are expected to live by. The film went on to win awards around the world and became Saudi Arabia’s first-ever submission for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

‘The Tambour of Retribution (Had Al Tar)’

An unlikely romance sits at the heart of Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s The Tambour of Retribution, but the film has much bigger things on its mind. Set in Riyadh, it brings together two people from very different social worlds to dig into class, prejudice, and the complicated relationship Saudi society has with art.

Much of the story revolves around taqaqat, female singers hired to perform at weddings, whose music is welcome at the party even when the women themselves face judgment for making it. The film picked up the Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Cairo International Film Festival, where Faisal Al-Dokhei also won Best Acting Performance, before taking Best Narrative Feature at the 2021 Saudi Film Festival. Later that year, it was selected as Saudi Arabia’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

‘Alkhallat+’

If you prefer your Saudi movies with considerably more chaos, Alkhallat+ delivers. The 2023 comedy follows four groups of people united by one thing: they have made some very questionable decisions and are now desperately trying to avoid the consequences.

There are tire thieves who accidentally crash a wedding, a man scrambling to protect his dead friend’s secret, an employee meddling in her parents’ marriage, and a father who catches his teenage son somewhere he absolutely should not be. Released as Netflix’s first Saudi original film, Alkhallat+ grew out of Telfaz11’s wildly popular online series, bringing its distinctly Saudi humor and talent for turning everyday problems into complete disasters to the big screen.

‘Zero Distance’

Things get considerably darker with Zero Distance. Set in Riyadh in 2004, the thriller follows Majid, a photographer who finds three deeply concerning things in quick succession: memory medication prescribed in his name, a photograph of a dead body inside his apartment, and a gun in his car with one bullet missing.

With no idea whether he is being framed or simply cannot trust his own memory, Majid starts digging for answers, pulling himself further into a mystery where even his version of events is up for question. Directed by Abdulaziz Alshlahei and starring Khaled Saqer, Zero Distance went on to win the Golden Palm for Best Narrative Feature at the 2019 Saudi Film Festival.

‘Raven Song’

A brain tumor, a mysterious woman, and a love song make for an unusual combination in Mohammed Al-Salman’s Raven Song. Set in Riyadh in 2002, the film follows Nasser, a young man drifting through life until a brain tumor and the risky operation needed to remove it suddenly put a deadline on his indecision. Then he falls in love and decides his best shot at winning her over is to write her a song.

Funny, strange, and occasionally surreal, Raven Song uses Nasser’s romantic mission to capture Riyadh at the turn of the millennium, when competing cultural and intellectual currents were shaping the city around him. The film was selected as Saudi Arabia’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023 and later picked up three awards at the 2023 Saudi Film Festival.

‘Amra and the Second Marriage’

Imagine finding out your retired husband wants a second wife because he has decided, at 44, that what he really needs is sons. That is the predicament at the center of Mahmoud Sabbagh’s black comedy Amra and the Second Marriage, in which Amra learns her husband plans to marry a Syrian woman roughly 20 years her junior.

What follows is less a straightforward marital drama and more a darkly funny look at a woman suddenly questioning the life she has spent years building. As Amra tries to make sense of the situation, the film digs into marriage, gender, aging, and the expectations placed on Saudi women with plenty of bite along the way. Filmed in Saudi Arabia, Amra and the Second Marriage made its international premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in 2018.

‘Barakah Meets Barakah’

Dating is hard enough without having to figure out where you are actually allowed to go on a date. That is the problem at the heart of Mahmoud Sabbagh’s Barakah Meets Barakah, a charming 2016 rom-com about two people trying to fall in love in a society where spending time together in public is anything but straightforward.

Hisham Fageeh plays Barakah, a mild-mannered municipal employee who falls for Bibi, an Instagram-famous beauty played by Fatima AlBanawi. Their increasingly complicated attempts to see each other turn into a funny, sharp look at romance, social expectations, and intimacy in Saudi Arabia. The film became an early international breakout for Saudi cinema and was selected as the Kingdom’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.

‘Alhamour H.A.’

Long before crypto bros and “financial freedom” TikTok, there was Hamed. Inspired by one of Saudi Arabia’s most notorious financial scandals, Alhamour H.A. follows a security guard who goes from modest beginnings to extraordinary wealth by convincing people to hand over their savings and promising them lucrative returns.

Naturally, there is a catch. The entire operation is built on deception, and the richer Hamed becomes, the harder it is to keep the scheme from collapsing around him. Directed by Abdulelah Alqurashi, the film turns a real-life fraud case into a fast-moving story about money, greed, status, and the dangerously seductive promise of getting rich quick.

The Best Saudi Movies Everyone Should Watch at Least Once

‘Scales’

‘Wadjda’

‘The Tambour of Retribution (Had Al Tar)’

‘Alkhallat+’

‘Zero Distance’

‘Raven Song’

‘Amra and the Second Marriage’

‘Barakah Meets Barakah’

‘Alhamour H.A.’

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