Arab women filmmakers are increasingly shaping the language and concerns of contemporary Arab cinema, telling stories that have long remained on the margins. At this year’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, four influential women directors presented work that reflected both personal histories and broader social realities, marking a noticeable shift in who gets to tell stories on screen.
Palestinian American filmmaker Cherien Dabis premiered All That’s Left of You, a multigenerational narrative tracing one family’s journey from the 1948 Nakba to the present day. Moving across decades, the film explores themes of displacement, loss and survival, anchoring political history in intimate family memory. Dabis has often spoken about her motivation to tell stories she rarely encountered while growing up in the United States. The absence of authentic Arab and Palestinian representation in Western media, coupled with her experiences of racism in the diaspora, pushed her towards filmmaking as a means of reclaiming narrative space. Even so, she has acknowledged the challenges women directors face, including the pressure to counter assumptions about authority on set. Her film was awarded the Silver Yusr Feature Film prize at the festival.
Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen also emerged as a key voice with Hijra, which won the Yusr Jury Prize. The film follows three women — a grandmother and her two granddaughters — travelling from Taif to Mecca to perform Hajj, only for the journey to take an unexpected turn when one of them disappears in the desert. Ameen’s interest in cinema began in childhood, inspired by historical television dramas. For her, filmmaking has been a way to speak from within the culture rather than have stories interpreted by outsiders. She describes directing as a continual process of starting over, with each film requiring renewed belief from collaborators and audiences alike.
Amira Diab’s route into cinema was less conventional. Formerly working in financial investment in New York, she found her way to filmmaking after encountering Omar, directed by Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad. She later studied film production in Los Angeles and directed short films, including As a Husband, part of Netflix’s Love, Life, and What’s Between. Her work often captures emotional contrasts — joy alongside grief — reflecting lived realities in the region. Diab’s feature Wedding Rehearsal evolved from a Palestinian setting to Egypt, a shift she felt expanded the story’s cultural resonance. Despite international exposure, she remains committed to telling Arab stories, particularly those centred on women.
Jordanian director Zain Duraie premiered her debut feature Sink at the festival, a film addressing motherhood and mental health, subjects rarely explored in Arab cinema. Drawn to filmmaking from an early age, Duraie worked across multiple roles behind the scenes before directing, often confronting gendered expectations along the way. Her storytelling focuses on psychological depth and challenges stereotypes around women’s experiences.
Together, these filmmakers signal a growing, if gradual, transformation within Arab cinema — one where women’s perspectives are no longer peripheral, but integral to how stories are imagined and told.
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