Best Egyptian documentary movies

The Square looks at the hard realities faced day-to-day by people working to build Egypt’s new democracy. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is the heart and soul of the film, which follows several young activists. Armed with values, determination, music, humor, an abundance of social media, and sheer obstinacy, they know that the thorny path to democracy only began with Hosni Mubarak’s fall. The life-and-death struggle between the people and the power of the state is still playing out.

In the slums of Cairo, youth dancing to electro chaabi, new music that blends folk song, electro beats and freestyles chanted in the style of rap. The idea is to merge the sounds and styles so chaotic. One slogan mangling! Victim of corruption and social segregation, youth in neighborhoods exorcise partying. Release of body and a speech repressed transgression religious taboos: more than just a musical phenomenon, Electro Chaabi is a healthy outlet for youth oppressed by the prohibitions imposed.

Raised in an environment where socialism and the pursuit of justice in Egypt were central, the filmmaker navigates through mixed emotions—pride, burden, and alienation—stemming from his and his parents' intense activist lives. His journey to trace back his family's history highlights the substantial emotional and psychological toll this activism took the thee of them.

In Rod El Farag, one of the poorest residential areas in Cairo, obtaining meat, fruit and daily bread is a constant struggle. But the sense of community shared by the inhabitants there helps them to some extent overcome their hardships through a social practice known as ‘al Gami’ya’, or ‘the assembly’.

The movie is a collection of episodes from the series "The Choice 2", Ramadan 2021, where the series deals with the heroism of the Egyptian policemen in the face of the dangers that the country was exposed to after the fall of the terrorist Brotherhood in 2013, with a focus on the events of the Rabaa sit-in dispersal, and the events of Kerdasa

The story of several young women living on the streets of Cairo.

Fajr is a famous temptation star, and the heroine of the first feature film of a young director. She rejects the kissing scene in the film, which provokes the director and the producer, and everyone tries to reach common ground to complete the film and get out of this dilemma.

Explores the daily life and work of children in Abnoud, a rural village located 600 kilometres to the south of Cairo, where the trains that carry the tourists to the south of Egypt pass through without stopping. A boy outsmarts the meagerness of his circumstances by dripping goat’s milk on a piece of stale bread and turning it into a special sandwich.

Motivated by the public rape of her best friend in the streets of Cairo, the Director uses her camera as her weapon against sexual harassment and embarks on a journey of self-awakening as she confronts her own haunting past.

After seeing a grainy video of what is supposed to be an apparition of the Virgin Mary, Abdel Messeh sets out to make a documentary about belief, family and religion, much to the disapproval of his mother.

A documentary series chronicling the life of egyptian director Youssef Chahine.

A documentary that captures fragments of the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the twentieth century until their second grand exodus after the tripartite attack of 1956. An attempt to understand the change in the identity of the Egyptian society that turned from a society full of tolerance and acceptance of one another to a rejection of the minorities. How did the Jews of Egypt turn in the eyes of Egyptians from partners in the same country to enemies?

Jerusalem: Center of the World tells the epic story of the world s most incredible city, capturing the rich mosaic of the city s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. Covering a sweeping history of over 4,000 years, the film explores the founding of the city; the birth and convergence of the world s three major monotheistic religions; and the key events in Jerusalem s history as described in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Talmud, the Hagaddah, the Koran, and the Hadith. Highlights include: Mount Moriah, the site of the First and Second Temples; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; the Dome of the Rock; and the Western Wall. Directed by Andrew Goldberg, and hosted by Ray Suarez (The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer), the film includes interviews with locals, top scholars and clergy.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has reported that 22 royal mummies will be transferred in a wonderful parade from their present location in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to their new permanent place in Fustat’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which is located near the Babylon Fortress and overlooks Ain Al Sira in the heart of the historic city of Fustat. This event will take place in Cairo on the 3rd of April. The announcement was made in an official statement, which noted that the parade will start at 6 PM on Saturday and will contain 22 mummies that belong to between the seventeenth and twentieth dynasties. Valley of the Kings, the area of southern Egypt hosting their original tombs.

The construction of the Aswan dam as seen by those who took part in it: engineers, workers, Egyptians, and Soviets.

Six strong-willed women whose adventurous streak changed the face of film industry in early twentieth century Egypt – a time when the country was, despite the liberal ripples, still steeped in conservative tradition. The film shows how these women, different as they were in class and social background, broke taboos and dismissed conventional wisdom to fulfill their overpowering passion for filmmaking. Women Who Loved Cinema takes us to the past and brings us, seamlessly, to the present day. Aziza ... Fatema ... Behidja ... Amina ... Assia … Mary... theirs is a story that will remain indelibly etched in the memory of Egyptian cinema.

Decades after his death, Noha ElKholy uncovers letters, diaries, and photographs left behind by her great-grandfather, the Azharite scholar Mohamed Abdallah Draz. Through this archive, she embarks on a journey to illuminate M.A. Draz’s life story, from his humble beginnings in the village of Mahallat Diyay, to his formative years in Alexandria, and his scholarly pursuits in Paris.

This concise masterpiece began as a commission by French TV for the news series Envoyé spécial. By filming Cairo with his unique sense of artistic digression, Chahine transformed this portrait of a city into the self-portrait of a filmmaker.

Rhythm of the sea is a short experimental documentary film directed by youssef askar

The filmmaker goes to discover Meir the village where her great-grandparents were born, the place her grandparents left, but continued to love. When she goes, she discovers a village that people are trying to leave.

Paranormal : What's Behind The Story documentary

A person calls a taxi only to find himself entering a surreal world.

A mother and her daughter explore together the trajectory of four generations of women from their family, an Egyptian family from the Levant where life and cinema have been intimately linked and still are. A cross look between family archives where the real and the fiction and the autobiographical films of Youssef Chahine mingle. From Alexandria to Cairo, passing through Paris and Havana, an intimate and visceral narrative where mother and daughter cross space and time to trace destinies and question their emotions

Cheryl Ward, American archaeologist and world specialist in ancient navigation, is coordinating the design and construction of the replica of an Egyptian ship from the time of the New Kingdom. Details for building the ship come from a bas-relief from the temple of Deir el-Bahri in Luxor. This inscriptions recounts that a fleet of five ships, supplied by Queen Hatshepsut in the year 1500 BC, succeeded in finding the marvelous and far-off land of Punt, from whence they brought back the most extraordinary riches. Once the reconstruction is completed, the team intends to sail in the wake of Hatshepsut’s fleet aboard their reconstructed vessel to find the mythical land of Punt and prove that the Egyptians were a seafaring people. This film proposes a unique explanation of this historic voyage, following the true adventure of historians, Egyptologists and archaeologists, and sheds new light on the reign of Queen Hatshepsut.

Raml Station is one of the most famous places in all of Alexandria. This documentary captures the beauty of Raml Station.

Rhythm of the sea (monochrome version) is the new version of the original Rhythm of the sea released in 2024.

Documentary short film inspired by symphony of the cities. About The Iconic Stanley bridge in Alexandria

A banana seller invites people to smile.

The Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy talks about his life and work. Footage of Cairo, Gharb Assouan, New Gourna, Kom-Ombo.

Procession of the sacred carpet.

Heba and Aya are two young women who are leading a single life in Cairo. We follow these two women as they make difficult choices and face their fears in the tough city of Cairo.

A short experimental documentary film directed by youssef askar.

Seldom has Egypt's capital been so evocatively captured. A fly-on-the-wall doc exploring the mysterious and hard-knock reality of a typical Egyptian belly dancer clan in working-class Cairo. Unparalleled access to this hidden world leaves the viewer fascinated and surprised that at night they dance. Such frankness among Arabic women is all too rare in films.

a documentary about girls and education in the traditional rural societies of Egypt. by the late Atiyat Al-Abnoudi sheds light on the conditions of Egyptian girls in rural areas in Egypt in the year 1995.

TBA. Said to be released in late 2024

A film about Alexandria. Collecting footage filmed by Youssef Askar.

Documentary by Ateyyat El Abnoudy

Revolves around the Egyptian bedouin-man called "Ghazi" who works secretly in the Egyptian resistance against the British Army in Egypt, who is later try to get closer to the Major officer of the British Army "Collins" by getting closer to his Business partner, the avaricious weapon dealer called khawaga "Zaki" so he can access Major's office and steal the weapon treasuries and British stashes hidden in the desert by the help of his Bedouin folks and the resistance from Alexandria.

Documentary by Ateyyat El-Abnoudy

A documentary short telling about Salah Abdel Karim the scrap artist.

Consequences of the collapse of a new realty.

A short documentary about the social and economic reality in Egypt in the 1990s

A short documentary about the Upper Egypt train.

One of the earliest films by one of the pioneers of documentary films in Egypt, Ali Al-Ghazuly.

A short documentary based on the book "A Bedouin Physician".

A review of the artists' works, lives and coexistence with the people of Aswan who are busy with their lives and their own celebrations.

A short documentary about Naguib Mahfouz, narrated by Nour El-Sherif.

In the wake of the Egyptian revolution, four women speak of their fight for the future and what it means to be a woman in Egypt.

First film directed by Khairy Bishara.

In many ways the sister film to 'Horse of Mud', Al-Abnoudy’s graduation film at the Film School in Cairo is a portrait of Cairo’s street performers. The artistry of this community of fire-eaters, acrobats, child contortionists, and musicians is captured through the lens of Al-Abnoudy’s unobtrusive camera, accompanied by the spare and haunting narration provided by poet Abdel Rahman Al-Abnoudy. Playing with the poetry that offers image and cinema, she pays tribute to those underground enterteiners, giving back its letters of nobility to a marginalized and downgraded popular art.

El Abnoudy's first documentary depicts women in a mud-brick factory in the centre of Cairo, where they are treated like 'horses', working at repetitive and monotonous tasks in miserable conditions. Nevertheless, El Abnoudy brings out the women's dignity, showing a beautiful choreography to their movement. By giving control of the microphone to the workers themselves, she also allows the women's own stories to be interleaved with their work.

1960s Egyptian documentary showing scenes of local life along the banks of the River Nile, with narration by Salah Jahin

The film was produced following the defeat of the Egyptian army in the 1967 war. It is seen by some critics to be the first Egyptian experimental documentary.

A documentary which depicts the life of Bassem Samra and his friends and family. The film discusses issues concerning love and the veil.

Stunning and surreal, this hybrid documentary finds a group of hotel staff reflecting on their life, hopes and dreams in a deserted Egyptian holiday resort.

Salah, a boy, wanders about with his uncle through the Cairo museum, where he is fascinated by the statues and especially the restauration work in progress on Tutankhamun's throne. His uncle tells him the story of ancient Egypt and of the relation between Tutankhamun and Akhenaten.

This documentary tries to capture the fresh sense of triumph in the eyes of the Egyptian soldiers after the 1973 war with Israel.

In a quiet film, where words are almost absent, Nabiha Lotfi films children from a village in Upper Egypt. They create their own toys with everyday objects and utensils.

About some aspects of Bedouin life on the northern coast.

In july 1987 palestinian cartoonist Naji Al Ali was shot by unknown assassin. this documentary traces his life and work from his birth in Galilee to his death in London it examines the forces that shaped Naj Al Alii as an artist and as a human being and shows how his experiences mirror of other exiled palestinians.

In the north of Egypt, communities living near the salty lakes of El Borrolos during a treacherous drought.

Director Samir Auf provides through his film a depiction of Egypt based on the paintings by David Roberts, through which he reviews the history of Egypt during the nineteenth century.

The film follows, in a documentary form, the life of the artist Bassem Samra, who was at that time a teacher in an industrial school, and took his first steps in the field of art with director Yousry Nasrallah, as well as the film.

DIARY IN EXILE is a documentary film that uses a combination of sound, image, colour and peoples testimonies to historically account for the period following the fundamentalist military coup in the Sudan in 1989. This period witnessed the migration of a staggering number of Sudanese from their country to all parts of the World. The Sudan became an expellant of its people. The greater majority of Sudanese migrants headed to Egypt, where the film was shot, there is an estimated number of 3 million Sudanese migrants to Egypt since the military coup. Moving between different strata of Sudanese communities in Egypt the film, through various personal testimonies, throws light on the living conditions of ordinary people. All provide pieces of the saga, all have taken refuge in Egypt. All dream of returning back to Sudan, one day. The film was premiered at the United Nations Human Rights Conference, Vienna, in 1993.