The race for the 2027 Oscars has begun across the Arab world. Seven countries have now chosen films for the Best International Feature category. They are Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine. Together, the entries span horror, family drama, social realism and political history. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia opened selection processes but have not announced entries.
Egypt Bets on a Family Story
Egypt has selected The Stories “El Qesas” by director Abu Bakr Shawky. The 2025 semi-autobiographical anthology drama follows a romance between an aspiring Egyptian pianist and an Austrian woman. It traces their lives against Egypt’s backdrop from the late 1960s to the 1980s. According to Variety, the story draws on how Shawky’s parents began as pen pals. The cast includes Nelly Karim, Ahmed Kamal, Amir El Masry and Sabry Fawaz.
Egypt’s committee chose the film after two rounds of voting. In total, it considered 36 films produced between September 2025 and September 2026. Notably, this is the second time Egypt has picked a Shawky film, after Yomeddine in 2018. Egypt has submitted films since 1958, yet it has never earned a nomination.
Lebanon Turns a Banking Crisis Into a Heist
Lebanon has chosen Rami Kodeih’s Furies, a heist thriller inspired by the country’s banking crisis. The story follows sisters Maro and Dalia. They plan to break into a bank to recover their own savings, partly to pay for Dalia’s life-saving surgery. Kodeih and his wife and co-writer, Nora Mariana, drew on a similar experience of their own. The film premiered in the Venezia Spotlight section at Venice and is backed by Smokehouse Pictures. Lebanon’s committee chose it unanimously.
Algeria and Iraq: Memory and War
Algeria has selected Yanis Koussim’s Roqia, a horror film rooted in the violence of the 1990s. It centres on an ageing spiritual healer living with Alzheimer’s disease. Alongside him is an amnesiac man who returns to his village. As a result, supernatural horror merges with memories of Algeria’s civil conflict. The film premiered at Venice’s Critics’ Week in 2025. Algeria has received five nominations in the category and won with Z in 1970.
Iraq has chosen No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman by Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker Halkawt Mustafa. The Kurdish-language action drama follows Vyan, a sniper who has learnt to suppress her emotions. When she learns her sister may have survived a 2014 ISIS assault, she returns to Mosul. Avan Jamal and Thorbjørn Harr star. The film is a Norway-Iraq-UAE-Sweden co-production, which gives the entry a UAE connection.
Morocco and Palestine: Work and Witness
Morocco is represented by Laila Marrakchi’s La Mas Dulce, also known as Strawberries. Two young women, Hasna and Meriem, travel to Andalusia to pick strawberries. Instead of better lives, they face exploitation, harassment, and poor conditions. The film premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in May. Moroccan committee members chose it unanimously from four contenders.
Palestine has chosen Ahmed Hassouna’s documentary Citizen Osama. Filmed in northern Gaza during the war, the 69-minute film follows Osama Al-Ashi. He is a former artistic photographer who becomes a war documentarian while protecting his wife and newborn child. The film premiered out of competition at Venice. It is Palestine’s 19th submission in the category since 2003.
Jordan’s First-Feature Pick
Jordan has selected Sink, the debut feature from director Zain Duraie. Clara Khoury plays Nadia, a mother struggling as her teenage son’s mental health worsens. Duraie has called the film deeply personal. She wanted to explore mental health through a Jordanian family. The drama premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025. Later, it screened at BFI London and the Red Sea Festival.
The Road to March
The Academy will announce a 15-film shortlist on December 15. Next, five nominees follow on January 21. Finally, the 99th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on March 14, 2027.
Last year offers encouragement. A record four Arab films reached the shortlist. Then Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania became the only one of those four to reach the final nominations. Eligible films must have been released between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. For now, seven stories from across the region wait for their turn.
