Still from The Battle of Algiers
For the past fifteen years, Arab cinema has been undergoing a historic shift. From the industry boom in the Arabian Gulf, to the numerous independent filmmakers making a name for themselves on the festival circuit, the Arab world has witnessed an impressive and exciting rise in ambition and in form. Contemporary auteurs are brimming with both talent and confidence, tackling challenging subject matters not yet explored in the region’s rich history. However, despite this undeniable cultural movement, Arab cinema remains widely underseen, and global recognition lags behind. From mainstream media, to mainstream cinephile culture, even to my family and friends who were born and raised in the region, Arab cinema is not as well-known or revered as cinema from the Western world. There is a stark lack of visibility for Arab stories, with films buried underneath thousands of other titles on streaming services, receiving limited promotion or distribution, and hardly any exaltation from major entertainment outlets. In the near 100-year history of the Oscars, less than twenty Arab films have been nominated for the Best International Feature award, and no Arab filmmaker has ever received the prize; outlets that distribute, preserve and restore world cinema have consistently overlooked Arab film — 2022’s BFI Sight & Sound Top 250 list came and went, and once again, Arab filmmakers were entirely absent.
It was then, after the genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, that a sense of urgency began to settle in for me. It was no longer an option to wait for mainstream recognition from Western institutions; Arab stories needed to be told, heard, and exalted, by us and for us. Arab filmmakers and storytellers needed to be uplifted, and solidarity throughout the Arab world needed to be immediate and loud. It was with all this and more in mind that the Arab Film and Media Institute’s 100 Greatest Arab Films of All Time list began to take shape.
The first major effort of this kind was conducted by the Dubai International Film Festival in 2013; much has changed in the decade-plus since. To carry on the torch, AFMI’s 100 Greatest Arab Films of All Time list offers an updated canon of the best narrative feature films the Arab world has to offer. Voting took place over a period of five months, beginning in December 2024 and officially closing in April of this year. The body of participants for this poll was composed almost entirely of critics, academics, curators, programmers, archivists, lecturers and select filmmakers of Arab descent. We strived to invite film experts from all countries in the region, including underrepresented nations (i.e. Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain), as well as from the diaspora (the United States, Europe, Australia) to vote for the list. This allowed for the list to be as authentically “Arab” as possible, straight from the source of those who live and breathe Arab arts and culture.
This list had two major caveats: one, the definition of “Arab film” was not restricted to films directed by an Arab filmmaker, nor films strictly in the Arabic language. The primary dictating force was the content of the film, and whether it showcased an “Arab narrative” — leaving the prompt open to voter interpretation. The second caveat was to exclude short films, or films classified as documentaries. This decision was well-contested, for good reason: the documentary genre is absolutely essential to the fabric of Arab cinematic history. Knowing this, it was our choice to differentiate between the art form of documentary and the realm of fictional film, to highlight the work of incredible Arab auteurs, actors, screenwriters, costume and set designers, and all below-the-line craftsmen who deserve to have their distinct line of work recognized.
And so, after many, many months of outreach, voting, tallying and preparation, we are deeply proud to present AFMI100 to the public. The overall contents of this list shows a notable jump in the breadth of films represented across the region, with placements from Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Kuwait and Libya. While Shadi Abdel Salam’s The Night of Counting the Years topped the DIFF list in 2013, a different beloved classic now sits at the number one spot. The amount of films helmed by women directors has nearly tripled, from 7 in 2013 to 20 in 2025. In an exciting development, several films from the twentieth century that did not appear on the DIFF list have found a home on the AFMI100. This corresponds with various efforts in the past decade to restore and redistribute rare Arab films; a handful of these recent restorations were recognized by our voters.
Our intention for The 100 Greatest Arab Films of All Time (or AFMI100, as we have taken to call it) is not to create an end-all-be-all list of great Arab cinema, but to open a dialogue among the cinephile community. This list acts as a snapshot of the current state of the industry, a glimpse of where we’re headed, and the storytellers who are spinning the tale. But perhaps most importantly, the AFMI100 list functions as a beginner’s guide to Arab cinema, an easily accessible resource, available to anyone aiming to discover these fantastic works of art that demand to be seen.
