‘A Matter of Life and Death’
Director: Anas Batheef
Starring: Sarah Taibah, Yaqoub Alfarhan
Taibah also wrote this fantasy-tinged rom-com about Hayat, who is convinced she is cursed to die on her upcoming 30th birthday. By chance, she meets Youssef, a “brilliant, but emotionally detached” heart surgeon who has a unique medical condition: an unusually slow heartbeat. “Together, they plan a mad scheme to cheat death, igniting a chain of chaos, comedy, and an impossible love racing against time,” the synopsis states.
‘Hijra’
Director: Shahad Ameen
Starring: Khairiya Nazmi, Lamar Feddan, Nawaf Al-Dhufairi
Set against the backdrop of Hajj, Ameen’s film follows a grandmother and her two granddaughters as they travel from Taif to Makkah. When the eldest girl goes missing, the grandmother sets out with the youngest on “a journey across the desert and her memory, uncovering family secrets and exploring the meaning of faith, belonging, and womanhood in her homeland,” the festival synopsis states. “It’s a story of women navigating who they are, and understanding what freedom means to them. It’s about the pilgrimage we make toward ourselves, and the cost of that journey,” Ameen told Arab News in September.
‘Rabsha’
Director: Mohammad Makki
Starring: Aziz Gharbawi, Najlaa Alabdullah
Makki’s thriller centers on a young couple marking their wedding anniversary with a quiet celebration at home. But when a mysterious guest arrives, the night “takes a dark and unexpected turn,” meaning that secrets are revealed that leave both husband and wife wondering if they can really trust each other.
‘Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream’
Director: Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji
Starring: Youssef Husham Al-Thahabi, Hussein Raad Zuwayr
Nine-year-old Chum-Chum — an orphan on the streets of Baghdad — believes the Tigris River hides a gate to the underworld, where he can be reunited with his parents. His 13-year-old friend and fellow orphan, Moody, dreams of escaping to the Netherlands, but in trying to make the money to do so, he becomes tangled up in a world of crime and violence.
‘Sa3oud Wainah’
Director: Mohammed Al-Ibrahim
Starring: Mishaal Al-Dosari, Abdelaziz Al-Dosari, Saad Al-Naimi
Qatari filmmaker Al-Ibrahim’s debut feature is a thriller about two brothers who decide to entertain their friends by performing a magic trick that their father once showed them. But then one brother disappears before their friends’ eyes and the remaining brother is unsure if it’s an elaborate prank or something far more sinister. When a mysterious stranger shows up, the latter begins to seem more likely.
‘BAAB’
Director: Nayla Al-Khaja
Starring: When her twin sister dies, a “mysterious rhythm” begins to haunt Wahida. She journeys into the mountains in search of answers, but her grief leads her only into madness. Emirati filmmaker Al-Khaja told Arab News in June last year that “BAAB” was a continuation of her fascination with psychological horror and filming in low light. “You feel like you are pulled like a magnet into a very ethereal, very haunting world,” she said. “It is just so visually beautiful.”
