17th ALFILM - Arab Film Festival Berlin

The festival selection of feature films, documentaries and short films, all of which were produced in the last two years, stands for artistically sophisticated cinema on current topics.

The ALFILM Selection shows current productions from the Arab world and the diaspora and offers insights into modern film styles and thematic discourses.

This year's ALFILM Spotlight, entitled Sudan: New Projections – Retrospectives, Revolutions, and Restorations, was conceived by a guest curator for the first time in the festival's history: Talal Afifi, producer and director of the Sudan Film Factory.

The programme is dedicated to Sudanese cinema and presents contemporary works alongside newly restored archive films and artistic interventions. It reveals the continuities and ruptures of a cinema marked by revolution, memory, exile and resilience. The programme highlights the creative power of Sudanese filmmakers despite the destruction caused by war and the collapse of cultural infrastructures.

Numerous master classes, panel discussions and film talks, the 'Sudan Retold' art exhibition and a party on 24 April in the Festsaal Kreuzberg complement the film programme and invite the audience to engage in direct exchange with filmmakers, artists and experts.


This year's festival will open with Annemarie Jacir's Palestine 36. The epic historical drama will celebrate its German premiere at ALFILM before going into nationwide cinema distribution.