DUBAI: Streaming giant Netflix launched a new catalogue of 58 films in a push to celebrate Arab cinema, bringing the best of the region to the global stage.
“This collection is another way we're celebrating the breadth and beauty of Arab cinema. We're proud to give these masterpieces a home on Netflix and showcase the best of the Arab world to a global audience,” Nuha El Tayeb, director of content acquisitions, Turkey, Middle East & North Africa at Netflix, told Arab News.
The 58 films come from 47 different filmmakers, including heavyweights of the region's film industry like Nadine Labaki, Annemarie Jacir, Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu-Assad and Ziad Doueiri, among others.
Many of the movies were selected to represent their country in the Oscar submissions for best international feature film, spanning different parts of the Arab world and covering Egyptian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Jordanian and Iraqi stories.
“We really hope the younger generation also enjoys this collection, as it represents a piece of history and culture that has built collective pride for the Arab world over the years. The stories, filmmakers, people, and countries represented in this collection reflect the depth and diversity of unique experiences from the Arab world, and we can’t wait to give the world a peek into this incredibly diverse yet tightly knit region,” El Tayeb said.
The films’ plots range across stories of love, romance, family, friendship, childhood, war, separation, big dreams and ordinary lives.
The collection went live on Dec. 9 at www.netflix.com/celebratingarabcinema.
