Arab Shorts Program

At The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi

Five hit Arab short films that made it to the Oscars

Watch the trailer

The program covers:

1. Ayny by Ahmed Saleh

• The Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Animation.
• Set against the backdrop of a war, two young boys run away from home chasing after their dream of playing music, leaving their mother behind. Will war come between their dream?

2. Nocturne in Black by Jimmy Keyrouz

• Shortlisted for the Best Live-Action Short Film at the 89th Academy Awards.
• In a war-ravaged Arab neighborhood, a young musician struggles to rebuild his piano after Jihadists destroy it.

3. The Rifle, the Jackal, the Wolf, and the Boy by Oualid Mouanes

• Shortlisted for the 89th Academy Awards’ Best Live-Action Short Film.
• Set in a mountain village in Lebanon, two brothers use their dad’s rifle behind his back, unaware of the dire consequences of their action!

4. Baheya & Mahmoud by Zaid Abu Hamdan

• Official Jordanian submission to the Academy Awards for the Best Live-Action Short.
• The film tells the story of an aging married couple, Mahmoud and Baheya, who have fallen into a monotonous lifestyle of bickering and making one another miserable. However, this changes one day when Mahmoud wakes up to find his wife Bahiya gone.

5. Ave Maria by Basil Khalil

• Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short.
• The silent routine of 5 nuns living in the West Bank wilderness is disturbed when an Israeli settler family breaks down right outside the convent just as the Sabbath comes into effect! Will the nuns help them?