Global Muslim Cinema

Global Muslim Cinema

Alchemiya curates the very best of cinema from across the Muslim world. We carefully select films with a deeper, thoughtful and spiritual storyline that convey the realities, hopes, dramas and passions of everyday Muslim life.

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Global Muslim Cinema
  • Journey to Mecca: In the footsteps of Ibn Battuta

    Journey to Mecca is an IMAX® dramatic and documentary feature that tells the amazing story of Ibn Battuta, the greatest explorer of the Old World, following his first pilgrimage between 1325 and 1326 from Tangier to Mecca.

    His perilous journey resonates with adventure while presenting an unforge...

  • The Last Seljuk Hero (Direniş Karatay)

    Movie

    Sultan Guyaseddin assumed the throne when his father, Alaattin Keykubat, was poisoned and killed, but he is not as adept a statesman like his father. This leads to the increase of Mongol repression in the Kingdom. Celaleddin Karatay plans to prepare a great resistance against this oppression of t...

  • Between the Barricades

    Movie

    Nine-year-old Aya is too young to understand the politics of occupation but faces the restrictions of not being able to play outside anymore. One night soldiers raid Aya’s home, leaving her younger brother trembling behind their bedroom door. It is this night that Aya attempts to muster up the co...

  • Born a King

    Movie

    CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE
    An extraordinary real life story set in 1919. Born a King is a coming-of-age story about Faisal, a 14 year old teenage Arab prince who is dispatched from the deserts of Arabia to London by his warrior father, Prince Abdul Aziz, on a high stakes diplomatic mission to secure t...

  • Zaraab

    Movie

    Zaraab offers a two day window into the lives of four individuals of a family in the new city of Gwadar in the Baloch region of Pakistan. A city touted to be a "city of a promising future" and the hopes, fears and aspirations of this family. The film touches on important issues like unemployment...

  • Bilal's Stand

    NOTE: not suitable for young children.

    Bilal – a Muslim high school senior in Detroit – works long hours to keep up both his grades and his family’s long-owned taxi stand. “The Stand” has been the family’s social and financial hub for sixty years, and now Bilal is destined to carry the torch. Ye...

  • Camino A La Paz (Road to La Paz)

    Movie

    Sebastián takes Jalil on a most important mission. What begins as an inconvenience for Sebastián ends up being an adventure that will change his life.

    Sebastián, is a slacker who is not keen on getting a proper job, much to the disappointment of his wife. When Sebastián and his wife move to a...

  • A First Farewell

    Movie

    Subtitles available [CC]

    Wang Lina’s experimental debut explores the sensitivity shared by narrative filmmaking and documenting reality, unveiling poetry from the minutiae of Uighurs' life in Xinjiang like none other. Tailing an endearing boy named Isa in Shaya, her heavenly home village surroun...

  • Suveydâ

    Movie

    The story takes place in the poor Anatolian villages of the 1930s that are overwhelmed by the pressure of social and political events and stuck between the new culture and the traditional culture. It tells the story of 11-year-old Hadim, who secretly wanted to be a hafiz (memoriser) of the Quran ...

  • Breath of the Beloved

    Movie

    Abdurrahman, is interested in the performance and practice of the Mawlid Meşk and goes on a quest to learn and perform this traditioanl musical from a traditional teacher. The number of masters who continue the Meşk tradition, which is on the verge of disappearing today, has decreased considerabl...

  • Free Man (Hur Adam) | Bediüzzaman Said Nursi

    Movie

    “Hür Adam” or “Free Man” in English is the real life-story of a very influential scholar in Turkey of the 20th century, 'Said Nursi'. A writer, philosopher and philanthropist, he compiled many books on Islam covering various themes of faith, brotherhood and philanthropy and exploring the reasons...

  • Facing Mecca

    Movie

    Arabic and English subtitles available [CC].

    Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the funeral of his wife in accordance to Muslim burial rights. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simpl...

  • Rahm
    Movie

    Rahm

    Movie

    PARENTAL WARNING:
    This film deals with adult themes and is not suitable for children

    Rahm, a 2016 Pakistani drama-thriller Film. A virtuous woman has to choose between her honor or saving her brother’s life, in a Sufi interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

  • Nooreh

    Movie

    An eight year old Kashmiri girl 'Nooreh' residing in a small village on the India-Pakistan border believes that she has discovered a solution to end the relentless cross firing.

    Set in Kashmir, the film introduces us to young Nooreh whose life in a small village on the Indian-Pakistani border is...

  • Makr
    Movie

    Makr

    Movie

    A fake exorcist who recently lost his daughter and with it his trust in God, visits the home of Khalid, a man who claims his wife is possessed by a Djinn. He soon finds out that things are not as they seem.

    Read about Makr on the Alchemiya Journal https://journal.alchemiya.com/featured-articles/...

  • Captain Abu Raed

    Movie

    Abu Raed is a lonely janitor at Amman's International Airport. Never having realised his dreams of seeing the world, he experiences it vicariously through books and brief encounters with travellers.

    One day he finds a pilot's hat and discovers a calling, forming a friendship with a group of poor...

  • Beach Flags

    Movie

    Vida is a young Iranian lifeguard and popular on her team. She is determined to fight in order to be the one to participate in an international competition in Australia. However, when Sareh who is as fast and talented as her, joins the team, Vida will have to face an unexpected situation.

  • My Short Words

    Movie

    This film, inspired by Rumi and Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, follows three kids as they set off on an adventurous bike journey to swim in a lake, the journey turns into an unforgettable page in the story of their lives.

    On a hot summer day, three kids living in a poor Anatolian villiage go to a foun...

  • Ismail

    Movie

    Inspired by a day in the life of Palestinian painter Ismail Shammout, Ismail tells the compelling story of a young man struggling to support his parents after their expulsion to a refugee camp in 1948 by the Israeli forces.

    Despite the wretched life and distressing conditions he holds to his dre...

  • The Knight And The Princess [English]

    A young warrior's unwavering determination to save abducted women and children leads him to confront a brutal tyrant and his devious sorcerer.

    Inspired by a true 7th century warrior, the story follows the adventures of Mohammed Bin Alkassim with a fictional twist. At the young age of 15, he coul...

  • Majid

    A coming of age story of a ten years old Moroccan orphan called Majid. Following recurrent nightmares, he discovers that he can't remember his parents' faces anymore and that there are no photographs of them apart from the charred remains of a family photo with his parents’ heads burnt away. With...

  • Facing Mecca

    Arabic and English subtitles available.

    Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his wife in accordance with Muslim law. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer.

  • A Mercy to Mankind

    This film focuses on the The Year of the Elephant, the year of the Prophet Muhammad's brith. The film follows Abdulmuttalib, the Prophet's grandfather, his character and values and how he did his best to serve the pilgrims and protect the Kaaba leading to the start of Islam.

    [Subtitles available...

  • David

    As the son of the Imam of the local Brooklyn mosque, eleven year-old Daud has to juggle the high expectations of his Father and his feelings of isolation and difference. A genuine friendship grows between Daud and Yoav, one of the Jewish boys, and his family. David, as he is known to the kids, is...