In memory, in family archives and in contested public spaces: the 20 works selected for AFAC’s 2025 Documentary Film program – by filmmakers from Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Yemen – explore histories that remain unsettled, shaped as much by absence as by what endures.
Some return to places on the verge of disappearance – a family theater in Ramallah, a home under threat in rural Morocco – while others sift through the past, in archival footage and psychiatric records, in search of what was silenced, scattered or erased. From cities suspended between collapse and survival to coastlines eroded by extraction, the films that make up the 2025 AFAC Documentary Film cycle ask how stories are remembered, whose voices endure and what remains possible in the wake of rupture: a shared impulse to question what we inherit and how we choose to carry it forward. And in this act of questioning, excavating and reassembling, the filmmakers try to make the past into something composite – layered, resonant, alive. Personhoods, homes and the imaginaries of nationhood and belonging become sites of an ongoing effort to synthesize time.
This year’s applications were reviewed by three readers’ committees, which included Djamel Kerkar (Algeria) and Liwa Yazagi (Syria); Amal Ramsis (Egypt) and Kais Kassem (Iraq); and Rula Nasser (Jordan) and Raed El Rafei (Lebanon). Projects that made it past this initial round were then reviewed by a jury of three independent film professionals.
The 2025 jury – Lebanese film editor Gladys Joujou, Algerian artistic director Laila Aoudj, and Egyptian filmmaker, curator, and educator Marouan Omara – convened to make the final selection. At the end of their deliberations, they issued the following statement:
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“The jury selected 20 projects. We carefully reviewed each application with attention to diverse perspectives and sensitivities that enriched our discussions and informed our decisions. The chosen projects span a wide range of themes, including identity, memory, ecology and the crises shaping our region today. Our final selection reflects the depth and breadth of concerns among contemporary filmmakers.
Many of the selected projects are debut films. The directors come from diverse backgrounds, generations and levels of experience. Some works are deeply personal. Others are rooted in current events. What they all share is a distinctive worldview and a commitment to exploring issues that resonate both locally and globally. This selection highlights bold, singular voices that are deeply engaged with the urgent questions of our time.
We look forward to seeing these projects completed and connecting with audiences.”
The selected projects
- Before our Diaspora by Theo Panagopoulos, Palestine | Development
- Pure Madness by Inès Arsi, Tunisia | Development
- Letters from a Ceasefire by Myriam El Hajj and Omid Hashemi, Lebanon | Development
- Damascus - Queen of Hearts by Diana El Jeiroudi and Orwa Nyrabia, Syria | Development
- Onions to Forget the Past by Emilien Awada, Lebanon | Development
- Disappeared by Anas Khaled Zawahri, Palestine | Development
- 524 Grams by Benjamin Salama, Algeria | Development
- Condemned to Dream by Ashtar Muallem, Palestine | Development
- House No. 7 by Rama Abdy, Syria | Production
- Women in the Sun by Merieme Addou, Morocco | Production
- The Salt of the South by Rami Jarboui, Tunisia | Production
- Don’t Let the Sun Go Up on Me by Asmae El Moudir, Morocco | Production
- A City Without Doors - When Life Stirs by Eyad Aljarod, Syria | Production
- Green Island Girls by Rogena Tarek, Egypt | Production
- Foug Selk by El Mahdi Lyoubi, Morocco | Production
- My Name is Khalil by Bilal Alkhatib, Palestine | Production
- Akal by Sonia Kessi, Algeria | Post-production
*3 project holders chose to remain anonymous.