Best Middle-Eastern Movies?

I've only seen a few, so I'll ask here.. The only one I can think of is "The Lemon Tree" but like anything else, I like to start with early talkies and move to the present-day.

You'll have to work up to it if you're starting from the early talkies, but I highly recommend the Saudi movie Wadjda (2012).

Thanks, I'll do a search right now and see if I can find any of her work. The reason I like to start with with early talkies is to see how they change, maybe how the culture changes and film-making. Of course, I love to compare it to the changes in other countries, and I know we have members from many other countries, so why not find the best of the best?

I'm not including Iran. It's not in the Middle East technically, otherwise I'd have quite a few.. My favorite is "Taste of Cherry" by Kiarostami.

Distant (Ceylan, 2002) (Turkey)

One of my favorites.

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Speaking of Turkey, my favorite Middle-Eastern movie is from Turkey -- Dry Summer (1963)

"Susuz Ya"

You've likely already heard of or seen it in the midst of all the international recognition it got a few years back, but A Separation (2011) is an obligatory watch if you're on the lookout for Middle-Eastern films. An Iranian masterpiece.

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Anything by Abbas Kiarostami. Close Up I think is a must-watch for any cinema lover.

A Moment of Innocence (aka Bread and Flower Pot) by Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a really beautiful film.

Horses of God if you are interested in a film about a suicide bombing which happened in Morocco in the early 2000's, I believe. It's a good movie, overall.



Hany Abu-Assad makes beautiful films as well. I believe 2 of his films, Paradise Now and Omar have been nominated for Oscars.



The Time That Remains, I'd also highly recommend this one.



A Seperation is an Iranian film you've probably heard of, I also highly recommend it.

Turtles Can Fly. I've heard a lot about this film, and it's been recommended to me by a few friends but I haven't watched it yet.

A few Turkish films:

Hayat Var (My Only Sunshine)



Kosmos

Uzak (Distant)

Winter Sleep

I think that's all I know. I'll add more to this list if think of something else later.

Oh I didn't realize you weren't including Iran before making my post

Technically, Iran is Middle Eastern. Turkey isn't.

I believe I mentioned a film from Morocco, 3 from Palestine, one Kurdish and the rest are Iranian.

I'll be adding some Turkish films.

Well, let's include Turkey AND Iran

I loved "Close-Up" -- I've been meaning to see "Where is My Friend's Home?" -- but, I'm trying to look for movies from the 30's and 40's.

I've seen an Israeli film about daughter and mother living together in a tiny apartment in Tel Aviv. I remember, not having washing machine, they were washing clothes while showering. It was slice-of-life movie. it's from 00s. Not sure about the name of this movie.

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Trying putting this message on the "Questions" category -- it could be answered within minutes..

Have you?

In the past, yes. We have many users, I'm sure you can find any movie you've been looking for.

I just did. Let's see.

Mystery resolved, it is Or (2004)

Iran obv has many great films and yeah just because they're not Arabs doesn't mean they're not Middle Easterners. I don't think I've seen a movie from an Arab country

For Israel a favorite of mine is a movie called Late Marriage. It's a very understated romantic comedy, kinda reminiscent of a less manic Moonstruck.

Rana's Wedding (Palestinian movie)

Iraq in Fragments



This is a great documentary and it explains both the political and social situation in Iraq after the war. I like that it doesn't take sides. Just tells different people's stories.

It's divided into three parts and gives a chance to people from all 3 major ethnic/religious groups in Iraq (Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds) to tell their story.

If Turkey counts...

Nice little adventure movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845537/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Saudi western:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3170902/?ref_=nv_sr_1