Directed by Ahmed Abdallah and starring Karim Kassem, Mona Hala, Sherif El Dessouky, and Ahmed Malek, the film was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, and won Sherif El-Dessouky the award for Best Actor at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival for his role in the film. When a frazzled young director hails a cab, the ride turns into a bumpy exploration of class and gender with a sharp sex worker and a testy driver. We’re honoured to share these classic and contemporary films with our members in the Arab world and globally.”Įven though not all the trailers featured here have English subtitles, the films on Netflix are available with Arabic, French, and/or English subtitles according to the country. “We also believe that great stories come from anywhere and can travel everywhere, connecting with audiences far beyond their place or language of origin. “We want more people around the world to have access to great stories and have the chance to see their lives represented on screen,” said Netflix MENAT Director of Content Acquisitions Nuha El-Tayeb. With these new additions to Netflix’s existing Arabic titles, the streaming giant has become a veritable cornucopia for the Arabic cinema auteur. Netflix most recently released a new catalogue of 44 movies by Arab directors, including Youssef Chahine, Youssry Nasrallah, Nadine Labaki, Moustapha Akkad, Anne Marie Jacir, Laila Marrakchi and many more. A lot of the offerings are Egyptian pop comedies which, sure, have their timeless charm, not least in the new library of classic comedy plays, but the hidden gems, festival darlings, and forgotten treasures might take a little bit longer to find.
So there’s a bunch of Arabic titles on Netflix now - iconic masterpieces of the Arabic cinema canon and rising stars of the independent scenes alike.