SAFAR Film Festival, the UK’s leading platform for independent Arab cinema, returns from 11-28 June 2025 for its landmark 10th edition.

What began in one venue as a biennial event celebrating popular Arab cinema has grown into the UK’s largest Arab film festival, bringing over 170 rarely-screened classic and contemporary films to 10 cities in its tenure so far.

This year’s SAFAR programme spans decades, geographies and genres, and speaks urgently to the present while excavating the past. It presents cinema that bears witness, that dares to remember and that subverts expectation. From intimate social critique and stark reflections on war and displacement, to ecological explorations, black comedy, and musicals, these films remind us that Arab cinema is not confined to one narrative but is a multitude of voices, visions, and lived realities.

This special programme at The Garden Cinema offers a range of contemporary storytelling. Screenings include Who Do I Belong To, a haunting, magic-realist drama exploring maternal love and radicalisation in rural Tunisia, and Layla, Amrou Al-Kadhi’s euphoric debut following a queer, Palestinian-British drag performer navigating love, identity, and compromise. Audiences are also invited to the public screening of new video essays created during a five-day workshop led by artist Bahia Shehab, reimagining the legacy of Arab film stars like Umm Kulthum and Omar Sharif through creative archival engagement.

Together, the films in this year’s festival reflect the diversity, complexity and cinematic depth of the SWANA region. At a time when representation is a vital form of resistance, the programme invites audiences to encounter stories grounded in place but resonant across the world, where filmmakers channel memory, imagination, and defiance into deeply human acts of storytelling.

Get your tickets now and view the full programme on www.safarfilmfestival.co.uk.

SAFAR Film Festival 2025 runs from 11-28 June with screenings in London, in 9 other cities across the UK and online in partnership with Aflamuna. It is organised by the Arab British Centre and is supported by the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery, the British Council, the Bagri Foundation, the Asfari Foundation, the City of London Corporation and Barjeel Art Foundation. Presented in partnership with Shubbak Festival.