Rotterdam Arab Film Festival – An annual festival dedicated to Middle Eastern and North African films in Rotterdam

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RAFF 2024 Awards

Feature Film Awards
Documentary Film Awards
Short Film Award
Audience Award

Masterclass with the Egyptian star Ahmed Helmy

Discover the secrets of acting success!

Filmmakers and socio-political commentaries

Panel Discussion: “Film as Nonviolent Resistance”

How the filmmakers use film as a form of social and political commentary

Deserts - Faouzi Bensaïdi - Morocco - 2023 - 125 min

Déserts

Faouzi Bensaïdi – Morocco – 2023 – 125 min
Arabic spoken with English subtitles

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From Abdul to Leila

Best Documentary Award
Leila Al Bayaty – Belgium, Germany, Saudi Arabia
2024 – 92 min – documentary
Arabic, French & English spoken with English subtitles

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Six Feet Over

Karim Bensalah – Algeria – 2023 – 96 min
Arabic & French spoken with English subtitles

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Palestine Film Day

Films, music, interviews & spoken word performances

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Rotterdam Arab Film Festival developed from the port city of Rotterdam into an annual International festival devoted for Middle Eastern & North African films and related activities.

When?

June, 2025

Where?

LantarenVenster
Otto Reuchlinweg 996
3072 MD Rotterdam

Verhalenhuis Belvédère
Rechthuislaan 1
3072 LB Rotterdam

From comedy to drama and from road movie to biopic,
The Arab Film Festival takes you on a cinematic journey through the cultural, political, social
and artistic alleys of the Arab world in more than thirty films.

This film festival not only shows you the politics and daily life in the Arab world,
but above all the beauty, art, culture and zest for life of the people who live there.

Through films, conversations with filmmakers, music, debate and video art
you will get to know the Arab world (even) better.

For many people from the west, the MENA region remains a mystery!
But film, one of the most beautiful art forms in the world if you ask me, prospers:
mystery, social issues and complex love stories produce the most beautiful films.