Middle Eastern
see all genres ›The region that stretches from Western Asia to Northern Africa encompasses ancient civilizations, diverse cultures and conflicts whose roots can go back centuries (all fascinating fodder for the movies).
Watch Middle Eastern Films
Genres / International / Middle Eastern
SUB-GENRES · Iranian · Iraqi · Israeli · Yemeni · Lebanese · Syrian · Armenian · Emirati · Kuwaiti · Jordanian · Palestinian
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The Yellow Curtain
In the 1970s, Iran seemingly had everything. U.S. President, Jimmy Carter called it "an island of stability" in a visit. Yet, only two years later, in the winter of 1979, a revolution occurred. The Shah of Iran was overthrown and the Islamic Republic was established. It was a...Watch Movie
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Fireworks Wednesday
From the two-time Academy Award® winning director of THE SALESMAN and A SEPARATION, Asghar Farhadi's FIREWORKS WEDNESDAY is a gripping, suspenseful drama – a story of marital intrigue and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Persian New Year. Rouhi, a young bride-to-be, is...Watch Movie
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Kadosh
Meir and Rivka have been married for ten years. They love each other passionately but have no children. This is a source of worry for the community's rabbi. They live in Mea Sharim, Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox Jewish quarter. Rivka's sister, Malka, is in love with Yaakov, who has chosen to leave...Watch Movie
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Ten
Celebrated Iranian writer-director Abbas Kiarostami once again casts his masterful cinematic gaze upon the modern sociopolitical landscape of his homeland, this time as seen through the eyes of one woman as she drives through the streets of Tehran over a period of several days. Her journey is...Watch Movie
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Censored Voices
In June of 1967 the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria massed on Israel's borders and threatened its destruction. Israel launched a preemptive strike and achieved a stunning and decisive victory nearly tripling its size with the occupation of the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan...Watch Movie
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Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog travelled to Kuwait with producer/cameraman Paul Berriff to shoot the oil fires left blazing by the retreating Iraqi soldiers after the Gulf War. Faced with flames spewing from the earth, a landscape blackened by fire and oil and plumes of dark smoke choking the...Watch Movie
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Plaisir d'amour en Iran
How can you talk about love when you're looking at a mosque or talk about architecture in bed? This short film is a variation on the amorous outpourings of Pomme and Ali Darius (in ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T) but it could also be any couple's dream in such an ideal setting...Watch Movie
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About 111 Girls
A government official, carrying a message from Iran's president, travels across Iranian Kurdistan with his driver and a young guide on a mission to stop 111 young Kurdish women from committing suicide in protest against conditions that have left them spinsters. Racing against the clock, they...Watch Movie
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Operation Filmmaker
In the wake of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," American actor Liev Schreiber had an idealistic notion: to rescue an Iraqi film student from the rubble of his country and bring him to the West to intern on a Hollywood movie. It promised to be a heartwarming tale, a small victory out...Watch Movie
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The White Meadows
The otherworldly salt islands of Iran’s Lake Urmia provide the fittingly surreal setting for director Mohammad Rasoulof’s mesmerizing fable. "I've come to listen to people’s heartaches and take away tears," says an old boatman as he rows among the gray waters and white salt...Watch Movie
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Pinhas
Pinhas and his mother are new immigrants from Russia. While his mother barely makes a living working night shifts, she devotes her spare time to the affair she has with a married man. On the third floor lives a religious family, and Pinhas is drawn to their warmth and unity. There he meets a girl...Watch Movie
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Jellyfish
Poignant, often witty and exceedingly cinematic, JELLYFISH tells the story of three very different Tel Aviv women whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the...Watch Movie
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Closed Curtain
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi bravely defies his twenty-year ban on filmmaking yet again, and stunningly, he has created a masterpiece that not only lives up to his earlier, pre-ban work but surpasses it in many ways. In a secluded house by the sea with the curtains shut, a...Watch Movie
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Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt
The German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt caused an uproar in the 1960s by coining the subversive concept of the "Banality of Evil" when referring to the trial of Adolph Eichmann, which she covered for the New Yorker magazine. Her private life was no less controversial...Watch Movie
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The Idol
Gaza. It’s synonymous to many with conflict, destruction and despair but to Mohammed Assaf, and his sister Nour, Gaza is their home and their playground. It’s where they, along with their best friends Ahmad and Omar, play music, football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on second hand...Watch Movie
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The Sniper of Kobani
Kurdish filmmaker Reber Dosky travelled through Kurdistan and visited the town of Kobani in Syria, close to the Turkish border. In Kobani, the fighting between Kurdish resistance and Islamic State has been particularly fierce. Islamic State attacked the town in October 2014...Watch Movie
