The Middle East and the wider Arab region are witnessing unprecedented growth in animation, with several studios producing their first films for children and young adults.
Often inspired by local culture and heritage, these works are not only created for local audiences but also aim to share regional stories and culture with the world.
Animated films from the region explore diverse themes, from coming-of-age narratives to historical accounts of Islamic figures, with new digital platforms such as mt7rk.me bringing together news, reviews, and video material from across the Arab animation scene and beyond.
Among the feature-length films aimed at younger audiences is The Knight and the Princess, a 2019 musical action-drama inspired by the seventh-century tale of Muhammad bin Qasim, a 15-year-old Arab commander from Basra in the Umayyad era.
Another is Khamsa – The Well of Oblivion (2022), Algeria’s first animated feature, which tells the story of Adi, a little boy with amnesia navigating a strange land.
Poetic tales of Beirut
As it stands, filmmakers entering the field come from varied backgrounds, including fine arts, game development, and visual effects.
Despite limited resources, they are bringing fresh approaches to a sector that now employs techniques ranging from hand-drawn images to CGI and stop-motion animation.
One example is All This Death (2025), a 17-minute Lebanese stop-motion film directed by Fadi Syriani. It follows an elderly resident of Beirut whose daily ritual involves reading obituaries and attending funerals.
"I see the main character in the film as my alter ego, an elderly man whose life is disrupted by grief and mourning, both for the loss of people around him as well as the decay of a city undergoing constant aggression,” Fadi tells The New Arab.
Trained as an architect, Fadi lived and worked in the Gulf for 15 years before returning to Beirut in 2018 to focus on animation and teaching. His film was independently produced by Attic Productions in Lebanon and Reynard Films in Germany.
The production, he explained, faced “significant financial and technical challenges due to the political and economic situation in Lebanon.”
“For the 100-day shoot, we collaborated with talented animators in Leipzig and Erfurt, and the puppets were created between France and Germany,” he said. “The complete three-month post-production occurred in Beirut, where we worked with Mahmoud Korek (Post Office) for compositing, VFX, grading, and additional animation, as well as Lama Sawaya (Db Studios) for sound design, among others.”
Often running between five and 15 minutes, these poetic short films address themes of war, peace, and nonviolence, touring international festivals.
All This Death, for example, was shortlisted for the Sony Future Filmmaker Award and has screened at events including Fantoche in Switzerland, Animage in Brazil, and the Doha Film Festival in Qatar.
Beyond filmmaking, Fadi founded the Youth Animation Platform (YAP) in 2018. The project supports underprivileged young creators in Beirut and remote areas across Lebanon, and has also run workshops in refugee camps. In 2020, YAP received funding through the AFAC Training and Regional Events Grants Programme (2019).
Bridging art and activism
Recognition of Arab animation is growing worldwide, with films circulating on television, the internet, and increasingly on mobile platforms.
A landmark work in this expansion is Alephia 2053, produced by Lebanese filmmaker Rabi’ Sweidan and directed by Jorj Abou Mhaya, in collaboration with French studio Malil’ Art.
The Arabic-language feature is set in a dystopian fictional country ruled by a dictator, but ends with a glimmer of hope for the future that may, ultimately, prove better than the past or the present.
Released on YouTube in March 2021, it quickly went viral. The despots and characters designed by Jorj – part of a generation of Lebanese cartoonists and comic book artists shaped by the civil war – resemble figures from his acclaimed graphic novel Madinah Mujawirah lil Ard (A City Neighbouring Earth).
Depicting dystopian life in Beirut, the novel won best album at the 2012 International Comics Book Festival of Algeria.
Another key figure is Jalal Maghout, an auteur of Arab animation. His animated documentary Suleima (2014), written, illustrated, and directed by Jalal – who was born in Damascus but now lives in Berlin – tells the story of a woman from Damascus involved in the Syrian revolution since its beginning.
In 2015, it became the first Arabic-language entry selected for the short film competition at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.
Jalal is also known for Have a Nice Dog! (2020) and Creatures of Inexistence (2010). Combining hand-drawn and digital methods, his work uses pencils, ink, watercolour, and collage. He is currently working on The Heaviness of Absence (expected in 2028), which follows a young man in war-torn Damascus searching for his arrested father, only to fall into a web of corruption.
From Tehran to Annecy
Iranian animation has also gained international recognition, most recently with In the Shadow of the Cypress, which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The animation follows a decades-long tradition of acclaimed Iranian animation, characterised by artistic depth, innovative storytelling, and an ability to navigate cultural and political boundaries, as seen in works like Persepolis.
Among the latest successes is At Night (2025), a four-minute Iranian film written and directed by Pooya Afzali.
Featuring animation by Hojjat Azampour and graphics by Mahmoud Mokhtari and Sara Saberi Foumani, it won international recognition at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The score was composed by Afshin Azizi, known for his work on In the Shadow of the Cypress.
This is Pooya’s fourth short film, alongside his feature Dracula in Tehran. Based on Jacques Prévert’s love poem Paris at Night, it tells the story of a man who, amid war, keeps watch over his beloved by lighting his last three matches.
“For this film, I turned to another favourite poet of mine, Jacques Prévert,” Afzali said. “I wanted to remind audiences of the painful reality of war through the voice of a major European poet, while at the same time making a film that reflects my own worldview. Unlike most films about war, I hoped it would remain hopeful and beautiful.”
Yet making such work in Iran remains difficult, with filmmakers facing strict censorship and limited financial support.
Elisa Pierandrei is an Italian journalist and author based in Milan. She writes and researches stories across art, literature, and the visual media. Elisa holds a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo (2002), after graduating in Arabic Language and Literature at Ca' Foscari University in Venice (1998)
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