The music of the United Arab Emirates stems from the Eastern Arabia music traditions. Distinctive dance songs from the area's fishermen are also well-known. Liwa is a type of music and dance performed mainly in communities which contain descendants of Bantu peoples from the African Great Lakes region, and hybrid Afro-Arab rhythms such as the Sha'abi al-Emirati and Bandari remain the standard in both traditional and popular music in this historically cosmopolitan country.
Kal Naga, is an Egyptian actor, director and producer. He is recognized primarily for his work in Egypt and the Middle East, but has increasingly ventured into American and British film and television roles. He started acting and directing plays and musicals in Egypt while studying theatre at The American University in Cairo. Beginning his professional acting career in 2000, Naga starred in several movies through the next decade with roles encompassing several genres, from musicals None but that! (2007), action Agamista (2007), ''Eyes Of A Thief'' (2014), thrillers Kashf Hesab (2007), art-house Heliopolis (2009), Villa 69 (2013), Decor (2014), and slapstick comedy Habibi Naêman (2008). Additionally, he has participated in several European film festivals, where he received a range of awards as an actor and producer. Since 2016, he has acted in several English-speaking roles, such as Tyrant on FX, History Channel's Vikings, and the BBC's TV mini-series The Last Post, and announced to appear in the upcoming Netflix Show Messiah 2019. In a film festival in 2016 that celebrated Arab film submissions to the Oscars, he was noted as being the most submitted actor in Arabic films submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is often tagged in western media as "Egypt's Brad Pitt", and he has also been described as "the next Omar Sharif" especially after his American debut movie Civic Duty in 2007. Chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 2007, Naga played a pivotal role in child rights awareness, as well as the very first HIV awareness campaigns in Egypt and the Arab world, and participated in several international causes, including advocating for democracy in his home country Egypt. He is one of the most recognizable celebrity faces of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, taking part in mass demonstrations in Cairo that led to the removal of President Mubarak. He faced defamation campaigns against him by the state-owned media during the Mubarak era before the January 25th, 2011 revolution in Egypt, and several times again from the 2013 "coup d'etat" General Sisi government in Egypt in retaliation for his advocacy about the deterioration of human rights situation in Egypt.
Mohamed Saad Abdel-Hamid Ibrahim is an Egyptian film actor and comedian, active since 1988. Saad known for comedic roles.
Abdullah Al-Eyaf is a Saudi Arabian film director also known as Abdullah Al Eyaf or Abdullah Aleyaf. He has directed many award-winning films.
Cinema of Palestine is relatively young in comparison to Arab cinema as a whole. Palestinian films are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are even produced in English and French. Elia Suleiman has emerged as one of the most notable working Palestinian directors.
Amr Waked is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film Syriana. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh called Muhammad in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Pierre Del Rio in Luc Besson's Lucy and Farouk Hassan in Ramy.
Bushra Rozza, is an Egyptian actress and singer. She earned the Best Actress award at the Dubai International Film Festival for her role in 678.
Ahmed Ezz Eldine Ali Ezzat, is an Egyptian film and television actor ,"with numerous accolades in his professional career spanning over 20 years and over 30 Film/TV prolific credits to his name.. His popularity stems from his versatility as an actor in comedy, drama, thriller and action film and television. In 2022, he starred in the epic action drama "Kira & El Gin" which became the highest grossing film in the history of the Egyptian cinema.
Salem Ahamed is an Indian film director, screen writer and producer. After working for a long time as a travel consultant, he joined as a creative director and script writer in a television channel. His directorial debut, Adaminte Makan Abu (2011), fetched him numerous accolades and was screened at various international film festivals. It was also chosen as India's official entry to be considered for nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for the 84th Academy Awards. Then he made two movies Kunjananthante Kada (2013) and Pathemari (2015) with Mammootty as the lead. The latter won the Best Feature Film In Malayalam award at the 63rd National Film Awards. Salim's latest film is And the Oscar Goes To...(2019), which tells about his own experiences with production and marketing of his first film.
Rana's Wedding, also known as Jerusalem, Another Day, is a Palestinian film released in 2002. It was produced in partnership with the Netherlands and funded by the Palestinian Film Foundation. The film was directed by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad in Jerusalem. This was the first film by a Palestinian film director to reach the Cannes Film Festival, and was selected for screening at the International Critics' Week in 2002. Rana's Wedding presents the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the couples' marriage drama, using romance and dark comedy to portray a vivid image of a Palestinian's daily struggle towards living a somewhat normal life.
Amir El-Masry is an Egyptian-British actor. He won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in the film Limbo (2020) and was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. He was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 Screen International Star of Tomorrow.
Naji Abu Nowar is a British-Jordanian film director, writer and producer. Best known for his works Death of a Boxer (2009), Till Death (2012) and Theeb (2014) for which he received wide spread acclaim and recognition, including a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at 88th Academy Awards, nomination for Best film not in the English language, and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Theeb is the first Jordanian film to receive an Oscar nomination.
Saleem Haddad is an author, filmmaker and aid worker of Iraqi-German and Palestinian-Lebanese descent, whose debut novel Guapa was published in 2016.
Finding Your Feet is a 2017 British romantic comedy film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard. The film stars Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, Joanna Lumley and David Hayman, and was released on 23 February 2018 in the United Kingdom.
The 2018-19, UAE Pro League was the 45th edition with Al Ain being the defending champions after winning their 13th title. Both Baniyas and Kalba returned to the pro league after getting relegated back at 2017. After losing Al Shabab and Dubai last season the league has been reduced to 12 teams. Both the teams needed to get back to 14 teams so they held a relegation play off between bottom two teams of last year and the 3rd and 4th placed teams of the 2nd division. Sharjah set a record of the longest unbeaten run in a UAE Pro League season for 23 games before losing to Al Wasl 3–2. In 2019, Sharjah won their first title since 1996 after beating Al Wahda 3–2, this was the first time a team outside of Dubai and Abu Dhabi won the league since the 1996. On 26th May, Emirates and Dibba Al Fujairah were relegated after a fixed match between Shabab Al Ahli and Fujairah favored Fujairah and got them out of relegation. The Emirates demanded that the UAEFA investigate on the match between Shabab Al Ahli and Fujairah, questioning the legitimacy of the two penalties that was rewarded to Fujairah and the two goals that was disallowed for Shabab Al Ahli. However the UAE court later rejected their complaint and the team got relegated
Ahmad Alyaseer is a Jordanian director, producer and writer.
Palm Springs is a 2020 American science fiction romantic comedy film directed by Max Barbakow, from a screenplay by Andy Siara. It stars Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J. K. Simmons, and follows two strangers who meet at a wedding in Palm Springs only to get stuck in a time loop.
Muhaned Abu Khumra is an Iraqi director, writer, and producer. He is most prominently known for creating the television series Hawa Baghdad. His TV series became one of the most famous TV series in Iraq. His show has been broadcast on Al-Sharqiya.
Urgent is a 2018 Moroccan drama film written and directed by Mohcine Besri. The film stars Rachid Mustafa, Fatima Zahra Bennacer, Said Bey, Youssef Al-Alaoui, Ghalia Bin Zawia and Younes Bouab. Rachid Mustapha. It was produced by Elisa Garbar, Lamia Chraibi and Michel Merkt.
Majid Al Ansari, is an Emirati filmmaker. He is best known as the director of critically acclaimed film Zinzana: Rattle the Cage and Netflix's first Egyptian television series Paranormal.
