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Al Majalla

Al Majalla's Film Watch: the best of Youssef Chahine

On the centenary of his birth, Al Majalla highlights some of the many standout films of the legendary Egyptian director's illustrious career

Areej Jamal 25 January 2026
The Saudi Film Festival saudi film festival

Saudi Film Festival 2025 focuses on the cinema of identity

Featuring a production market, workshops, discussions, and international collaborations, this year's festival shows that the event has evolved into a space that shapes films before they are made.

Noor Hisham Alsaif 17 April 2025

Saudi film 'Rouge' shows the pressure women face to look young

Al Majalla speaks to Saudi film director Samaher Mously on her debut short film that uses dark humour to explore the tyranny of beauty as perpetuated by the global cosmetics industry

Asmahan Al-Sha’abouni 10 February 2025
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Welad Rizk 3: Saudi cinema’s new use of characters and techniques

A visionary film, and the state-of-the-art way in which it was shot, shows how modernised production is moving the country's movie-making up to global standards with a new genre: Arab action

Shadi Alaa Aldin 05 August 2024
Saudi film director Tawfik al-Zaidi

Saudi filmmaker Tawfik al-Zaidi gets candid in Cannes

'Norah' is the first Saudi film to be featured at the Cannes Film Festival. In an interview with Al Majalla, its director discusses the challenges he faced and how he feels about the landmark moment.

Firas Al-Madi 22 May 2024
The Saudi film industry had a blockbuster year but there is room for improvement. Lina Jaradat

Saudi cinema’s blockbuster year still leaves room for improvement

Filmmakers are being adventurous, and production quality is superb, but the tendency to over-indulge has lessened the impact of some Saudi films. Still, the future is bright.

Obaid al-Tamimi 16 April 2024
A still image from the film 'Four Daughters' Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

'Four Daughters' explores themes of femininity under the Islamic State

Film director Kaouther Ben Hania's innovative and unconventional docudrama is part-real, part-fiction. The Tunisian family it depicts is real, as is their pain, and it is scooping up many awards.

Ibrahim Haj Abdi 09 March 2024
This year, the festival selected three films produced by Ithra: Hajjan, Hadi Al-Ess (pictured), and the documentary Khaled Al-Sheikh: Between the Thorns of Art and Politics.

Ithra’s head of cinema: Saudi stories deserve to be told 

Majid Zuhair Samman says Ithra aims to help Saudi filmmakers tell authentic stories and support a new generation of creative storytellers

Abeer Younis 02 January 2024
CEO of Red Sea International Film Festival, Mohammed Al Turki speaks on stage during the Closing Night Gala Awards at the Red Sea International Film Festival on December 08, 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Getty

Red Sea Film Festival kicks off with international and Saudi productions

The festival kicks off with the world premiere of the Saudi film "Inheritance", directed by Yasir Al-Yasiri, along with 35 other Saudi films.

Abdul Rahman Farouk 30 November 2023
Behind the scenes of Saudi film 'Hajjan', which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Saudi cinema shines at Toronto International Film Festival with three participating films

As three Saudi films participate in the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, Al Majalla talks to the directors about their ambitious productions, telling Saudi stories and global audiences.

Mohamed Jameel Ahmed 15 September 2023
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Business & Economy

The tiny waterway that put the global economy into a chokehold

18 April 2026

Disruption in the Hormuz can have major implications for global trade, but it also creates opportunities for smaller nations like Iran to become global political players

Steve Hewitt
Pete Reynolds
Politics

Glimpses of Bush's Iraq debacle appear in Trump's Iran war

15 April 2026

The Iraq war was viewed as disastrous in retrospect, while the Iran war was unpopular from the get-go. Al Majalla highlights the similarities and differences between the two.

Robert Ford
Al Majalla
Business & Economy

The US plan to turn Syria into an oil transit hub

16 April 2026

Pipelines have a chequered history in the Middle East, but the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led US Tom Barrack to conclude that a new route through Syria could solve some problems.

Al Majalla - London
An Iranian woman flashes the V-sign as she takes part in a rally to pay tribute to women killed during war, in Tehran on 17 April 2026. AFP
Politics

Has Iran's ideology actually hardened?

16 April 2026

The change in tone and presentation of policy isn't a fundamental redirection, but rather the consolidation of a system under pressure

Alex Vatanka
Egyptian director Daoud Abdel Sayed holds two awards during the opening ceremony of the Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, late on 14 September 2010. AMR AHMAD / AFP
Culture & Social Affairs

Daoud Abdel Sayed and the cinema of quiet rebellion

16 April 2026

Throughout his career, the renowned Egyptian film director challenged authority, rejected easy answers, and remained rooted in lived experience

Hazem Massoud

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OPINIONS

New book tackles the fading art of Koranic recitation

Fadi El-Abdallah
Fadi El-Abdallah

Round 2: Lebanon-Israel talks inch forward

David Schenker
David Schenker

The Iran war is reshaping the China-Gulf economic model

Charbel Barakat
Charbel Barakat

Iran refuses to attend Islamabad talks

Fares Garabet
Fares Garabet
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