From generational sagas to stand-up comedy, here's what to watch in Arab cinema in 2026

Arab cinema rarely cuts through to the Western mainstream, not that it needs its approval. But when it comes to theatrical distribution, that's a blessing for those of us living outside of the Arab world.

Four Arab films have been shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2026 Academy Awards, a record number for the Oscars, and a telling shift in appreciation for the stories coming out of the Arab world, especially as three contend with the politics, pain and humanity of what it means to be Palestinian.

Here are some of the best Arab films you can catch in 2026:

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Kaouther Ben Hania's docudrama about the efforts to save the eponymous Palestinian girl has rightly earned its place on the Oscar shortlist.

A reconstruction of the final hours of the six-year-old's life, it centres on the Red Crescent workers trying to rescue her. It's a deeply heartbreaking film, performed with emotional rigour by its cast, including Motaz Malhees and Saja Kilani.

A film that delicately weaves the real recordings of Hind into this fictionalised space, where even though you know how it ends, the struggle gives you hope for the countless other victims of Israel's violence, whom the Red Crescent endeavours to save.

UK release: 16 January 2026

All That's Left of You

Cherin Dabis writes, directs and stars in this beautiful generational portrait of trauma and occupation.

The saga centres on a Palestinian family and their journey from the 1948 Nakba through to the 1988 Intifada, as told by Dabis's mother, who recollects her family's tragic history in the present day.

It features one of the late Mohammed Bakri's last performances, opposite his son Saleh Bakri and other members of the Palestinian acting family, making the film ever more poignant; an epic tale of resilience and humanity that has also been shortlisted for Best International Feature at the Oscars.

UK release: 6 February 2026

Palestine Comedy Club

Alaa Aaliabdallah's earnest documentary offers a mirthsome respite to the dramas that dominate Palestinian cinema. 

It follows a troupe of stand-up comedians in 2022 as they take their comedy show across Palestine, from Ramallah and Nablus to Jerusalem and Jenin, and various towns and villages in between.

The diverse experience of these comedians is explored through their routines, offering light relief to the darkness of occupation and displacement. A comic articulation of the tension of life for Arabs treated as second-class citizens.

UK release: 1 February 2026

Eagles of the Republic

The final instalment of Tark Saleh's Cairo trilogy, following 2017's The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and 2022's Boy from Heaven, the filmmaker once again tackles Egypt's corruption, oppression and bureaucracy this time from an artist's perspective.

Longtime collaborator, Fares Fares, returns as beloved film star George Fahmy, who is pressured into starring in a propaganda film about the sitting President and gets sucked into a conspiracy.

It's a stylish film noir with a darkly humorous flourish that expertly captures the danger and delusions of authoritarian regimes.

UK release: Exact date not yet announced

The President's Cake

There's always something rather poignant about seeing society through a child's eyes, and in Hasan Hadi's coming-of-age tale, set against the backdrop of Saddam Hussein's regime in the 90s, we observe inequality through a bittersweet lens.

Lamia is a poor nine-year-old girl being raised by her grandmother, Bibi, in the Mesopotamian Marshes. She must secure the ingredients to bake a compulsory cake to celebrate the president's birthday, or face the consequences.

It's a masterful film that conveys the loss of innocence with emphatic strokes.

UK release: 13 February 2026

Special mention: Giant

Although this Prince Naseem biopic is frustratingly centred on his trainer rather than the boxer himself, Giant is one of the few British films of late that centres on the British-Arab experience.

Amir El-Masry plays Naseem with such sharp charisma and hidden depths that it's worth watching just to see one of the best working British-Arab actors in action.

UK release: 9 January 2026

Looking forward to:

My Father's Scent

Mohammed Siam swaps documentary for narrative fiction in this paternal drama set in Alexandria, on the eve of Eid al-Adha.

Starring Kamel El Basha as Omar, a widowed father returning home after being in a coma, and Ahmed Malek as Farouk, his wayward son tasked with looking after his ailing dad, conflict and memories begin to bubble over.

Already earning solid reviews out of the festival circuit, My Father's Scent looks set to be an enticing and intricate exploration of masculinity and fatherhood. 

UK release: Exact date not yet announced

Hijra 

Shahad Ameen follows up her 2019 debut feature Scales with this intimate mystery, Saudi Arabia's submission to the 2026 Oscars.

The film centres on grandmother Sitt and her granddaughters, Janna and Sara, who voyage together from Taif to Mecca to perform Hajj.

Along the way, her eldest granddaughter, Sara, goes missing, forcing them into a search across the increasingly Westernised land and their own faith to reunite. Reviews have championed Ameen's assured and precise direction, a Saudi filmmaker who looks set to follow in the footsteps of Haifa Al Mansoor as an exciting storyteller to watch. 

UK release: Exact date not yet announced

Hanna Flint is a British-Tunisian critic, broadcaster and author of Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us. Her reviews, interviews and features have appeared in GQ, the Guardian, Elle, Town & Country, Mashable, Radio Times, MTV, Time Out, The New Arab, Empire, BBC Culture and elsewhere

Follow her on Instagram: @hannainesflint