The line-up for this year’s Venice Film Festival has been announced, with several films from or about the MENA region set to screen. No films from the region are in this year’s main competition category; however, there are a number of regional selections in other categories, including two in competition. 

Aicha, the second feature from Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Barsaoui, by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund and the Red Sea Souk, will premiere in the Horizons category.

“Infinite gratitude to all of my cast of the film, my superb producers and my amazing team, without whom none of this would have been possible,” Barsaoui posted on Instagram.

Horizons Extra, a category that features more offbeat films, includes the first Egyptian film – Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo, directed by Khaled Mansour.  

Out of competition, the Lebanese documentary Maroun Returns to Beirut, from director Feyrouz Serhal, is set to screen in the Venice Classics—Documentaries about Film category. Also screening in the festival is the documentary Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958 – 1989, which uses decades of footage to weave together the rise of the Israeli state with the Palestinian fight for freedom.

The international jury for this year’s festival is led by award-winning French actor Isabelle Huppert and includes Arab filmmakers, such as Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako and Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan. The Orizzonti jury, chaired by American director and screenwriter Debra Granik, includes Iranian writer, director, and producer Ali Asgari.

The Venice Film Festival is set to run from August 28 to September 7.

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