Lebanese Dialect

Caramel

A Beirut beauty salon becomes a treasured meeting place for several generations of women, from various walks of life, to talk, seek advice and confide in one another.

Rent on Amazon

Where Do We Go Now?

Set in a remote village where the church and the mosque stand side by side, WHERE DO WE GO NOW? follows the antics of the town's women to keep their blowhard men from starting religious war. Women heartsick over sons, husbands and fathers lost to previous flare-ups unite to distract their men with clever ruses, from faking a miracle to hiring a troupe of Ukrainian dancers.

Rent on Amazon or rent on YouTube.

فيلم بيروت الغربية (West Beirut)

A 1998 Lebanese drama film written and directed by Ziad Doueiri. The film was selected as the Lebanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards.

Watch on: YouTube

Ghadi

In a small Lebanese costal village, growing fear by the neighbours towards Ghadi, a young special needs boy in their midst forces his father Leba, the town's only music teacher to concoct a crazy scheme to convince his fellow townspeople that his son is not the "demon" they fear but rather an angel who holds all the answers to their problems.

Included with Amazon Prime

Martyr

A young man's tragic death at Beirut's seaside causes his friends to grapple with loss and to partake in his community's rites and ceremonies, exposing the city's schisms and its society's fault lines.

Included with Amazon Prime

Palestinian Dialect

Omar

Omar is a young Palestinian man who, after experiencing years of Israeli persecution and the resulting frustration, orchestrates an attack on an Israeli checkpoint along with his friends Tarek and Amjad. Amjad ends up killing an Israeli soldier, but it’s Omar who’s captured by Israeli authorities in the pursuit. He’s then blackmailed by the Israeli secret service an agent to act as a double agent. Meanwhile, Omar must prove his loyalty to Tarek if he hopes to gain Tarek’s permission to marry his sister Nadia.

This movie was one of the five finalists for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards.

Stream on Netflix

Paradise Now

This Palestinian movie is about two childhood friends, Said and Khaled, who have resolved to commit a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. They’re unsuccessful and are separated from one another as they flee from Israeli guards. While separated, each undergoes a spiritual journey reflecting on his own reasons for sacrificing his life to rebel against the Israeli occupation.

The movie is primarily in the Palestinian dialect with the exception of Suhu, a Tunisian woman who speaks in a North African Arabic dialect.

Watch on YouTube

Junction 48

In a violent part of Tel Aviv, Israel, a Palestinian hip hop artist and his girlfriend pursue their musical dream within the politically charged city.

Stream on Netflix

Syrian Dialect

Damascus with Love

"Damascus with Love" is a Syrian film that takes its viewers into the heart of Damascus and captures the most stunning imagery of Syria, one that is seldom portrayed in today's media. The movie was made pre-revolution, it takes up the social, not the political, issues of Syrian society. It sheds light on the minority Christian and Jewish sects within Syria, and depicts their rootedness to their homeland, as well as the rich colours they bring into the Syrian canvas. The imagery in the movie is simply breathtaking...

Watch on YouTube

In Syria

A tenacious mother in a Damascus apartment tries to keep her charges safe as rockets and thugs threaten violence in modern day Syria.

Included with Amazon Prime

Salam

A female Lyft driver navigates the night shift in New York City while waiting to hear life-or-death news from her family in Syria. Official selection of 2018 Tribeca, Helsinki Film Festival, BFI and many others. Arabic language film with English subtitles.

Included with Prime

Arabian Gulf Dialect

Wadjda

Wadjda recounts the tale of an 11-year-old girl in Riyadh who wants nothing more than to own a green bicycle that sits in the window of a store she passes by each day on her commute to school. However, cycling is not looked well upon for girls in Saudi society, and so her mother refuses to buy it. As Wadjda tries to raise the money herself, she encounters a variety of issues relating to standards of Saudi society, especially concerning women and girls.

The movie was the Saudi Arabian entry at the 86th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film. Though it was not nominated for that award, it did successfully secure a nomination for the Best Foreign Film at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.

Rent of Amazon

Jordanian Dialect

Captain Abu Raed

Abu Raed is an airport janitor at the Queen Alia International Airport in Amman. After finding a Royal Jordanian captain's hat in the trash, the neighborhood children mistake him for an airline pilot and beg him to tell them stories of his adventures. At first refusing, he later concedes and tells them about his fictional travels to England, France, and New York, earning the name "Captain Abu Raed."

Watch on YouTube. Currently available subtitles: Spanish.

Saudi Dialect

A Collection of Short Films in the Saudi Dialect can be viewed on YouTube here.

Egyptian Dialect

Lion's Heart (Qalb El Asad)

Kidnapped as a child and raised in the circus, a young lion tamer's tough side emerges when he gets entangled in an underworld murder mystery.

Stream on Netlix

Asmaa

The film tells the history of a woman egyptian with HIV who struggles to live under the burden of keeping her HIV status secret, and then the dilemma she faces when offered the opportunity to appear on a television talk show. It is based on a true story

Watch on YouTube

KitKat

Sheikh Hosny is a blind man who lives with his old mother and his frustrated son in the Kit Kat neighborhood. His son Youssef dreams of going to Europe to find work, and has a relationship with a divorced woman named Fatima. Sheikh Hosny refuses to admit his handicap and dreams of riding a motorcycle like every sighted person, he also spends his nights smoking marijuana with the locals in order to forget his miseries after the loss of his wife and selling his father's house. He knows everything about his neighbors and their secrets and love affairs.

Watch on YouTube. English subtitles.

What Comes Around

'One big family' is how Um Ghareeb describes her community in one of Cairo's poorest districts. Driven by the women who rule the roost, all members regularly contribute a small amount of money into a pot. At meetings, a collective decision is made as to how to share it. Reem Saleh spent six years following this colourful community, revealing their daily struggles and touching solidarity.

Included with Amazon Prime

The Yacoubian Building

Based on the widely acclaimed novel of the same title by the author Alaa Al Aswany. Ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, "The Yacoubian Building" is a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the Revolution of 1952. The story takes place in downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the novel's action takes place.

The Yacoubian Building as one of the most luxurious and prestigious apartment blocks in Cairo following its construction by Armenian businessman Hagop Yacoubian in 1934, with government ministers, wealthy manufacturers, and foreigners residing or working out of offices there. After the revolution in 1952, which overthrew King Farouk and gave power to Gamal Abdel Nasser, many of the rich foreigners, as well as native landowners and businessmen, who had lived at the Yacoubian fled the country. Each vacated apartment was then occupied by a military officer and his family, who were often of a more rural background and lower social caste than the previous residents.

It has been reported to be the highest-budgeted film in the history of Egyptian cinema. It is a masterpiece of the Egyptian Cinema.

Watch on YouTube. No subtitles.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

Al-mummia - The Night of Counting the Years

Considered a classic film, "The Mummy: The Night of the Counting Years" is based on the story of the discovery of the cache of mummies found in Dayr Al-Bahri in 1881.

Watch on Youtube

Uncategorized Dialects

شبح

This website compiles many TV shows and movies in various dialects. Most have reliable English subtitles, however I can't guarantee this is the case for everything on the website.

Theeb

In 1916, Theeb lives with his Bedouin tribe in a remote part of the Ottoman Empire. When his older brother has to escort a British officer across the desert, Theeb tags along for the adventure.

Rent on Amazon

We are the Bus Guys احنا بتوع الاتوبيس (Ehna Betoua El Otobis)

A quarrel erupts between two passengers, Jabir and Marzouq, on a bus, leading to their arrest. Once in the detention center they are accused of distributing pamphlets calling for the overthrow of the regime and asking them to sign a confession. But Jabir and Marzouq refuse to sign, for which they are tortured, humiliated and insulted for days and nights.

This movie is based on true events from the book "A Dialogue Behind Bars" from Galal El Din El Hamamsy.

Watch on YouTube. English Susbtitles.

Search on Youtube

Because the links above to movies uploaded to YouTube may break, you may need to search for yourself further. There are many language learners translating movies in Arabic with Arabic AND english subtitles as learning resources (no intention of copyright infrigement!).

I suggest checking the lists of movies under "Arabic Movies with English Subtitles" (or fill in your native language for english) regularly to find new movies and clips to use for language learning resources.