The selection includes three films in Competition, three in Un Certain Regard, one in the Directors’ Fortnight and two documentaries featured in the parallel ACID section.
The Cannes Film Festival’s 78th edition is set to shine a spotlight on the Arab world, with nine films from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region selected for various official and parallel sections of the event. Running from May 13 to 24, this year’s festival highlights the continued artistic vitality and socio-political relevance of Arab cinema, with stories rooted in complex identities, regional tensions and evolving cultural narratives.
Among the standout selections is Once Upon a Time in Gaza, featured in the Un Certain Regard section. Directed by Gaza-born twins Tarzan and Arab Nasser, the revenge thriller is set in 2007 amid Hamas’s consolidation of power in the Gaza Strip. The film follows Yahya, a student who becomes entangled in Gaza’s criminal underworld, ultimately seeking vengeance after the murder of a close friend. Known for their acclaimed film Gaza Mon Amour, the Nasser brothers return to Cannes with another hard-hitting portrait of life under siege.
The festival’s official competition will feature Eagles of the Republic by Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker Tarik Saleh, chronicling the fall from grace of a fictional Egyptian actor caught in a web of scandal and survival. Also in competition is La Petite Dernière by French filmmaker Hafsia Herzi, whose Tunisian-Algerian heritage informs a coming-of-age tale about a young woman navigating life between two cultures.
The Un Certain Regard section includes Aisha Can’t Fly Away by Egyptian director Morad Mostafa, a Cairo-set story that follows a Somali caregiver confronting the realities of migrant life. French-Tunisian filmmaker Erige Sehiri opens the section with Promised Sky, inspired by attacks on sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia. Her previous work, Under the Fig Trees, was widely praised for its humanistic approach to social issues.
Documentaries also have a strong showing, with Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi offering an intimate portrait of life in Gaza through video conversations with Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna. Tragically, Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike just one day after the film was announced as part of Cannes’ ACID lineup, a parallel section dedicated to independent films.
In the Directors’ Fortnight, The President’s Cake by Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi will make its world premiere. The film centres on a young girl in Saddam-era Iraq, tasked with baking a birthday cake for the dictator—a mission loaded with danger and dark irony.
Palestinian actor Tawfeek Barhom makes his directorial debut with I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, a haunting short film in the official Shorts Competition. Also competing in Critics’ Week is L’Mina by Moroccan director Randa Maroufi, which portrays the quiet unrest brewing in the coal-mining town of Jerada.
While these selections affirm the global recognition of Arab storytelling, only one of the nine films has been produced without European co-production support, underscoring the continuing reliance on international partnerships.
