Iraq, Morocco and Palestine have selected the films that will represent them in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2027 Academy Awards.
The three films tackle markedly different subjects, from the legacy of the battle against ISIS in Iraq to the treatment of Moroccan seasonal workers in Spain and daily life during the war in Gaza.
More Arab countries are expected to announce their selections before the academy's September 30 submission deadline.
The 15-film shortlist for Best International Feature Film will be announced on December 15, followed by the five final nominees on January 21. The 99th Academy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on March 14, 2027.
Here are the Arab films to know.
Iraq: No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman
Iraq has selected No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, an action drama by Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker Halkawt Mustafa.
The Kurdish-language film follows Vyan, a sniper who has learnt to suppress her emotions after years of war. When she discovers that her younger sister, believed to have disappeared during a 2014 ISIS assault, may still be alive, she returns to Mosul to find her.
Mustafa has said the film was inspired by Kurdish women who fought ISIS and by his encounters with women Peshmerga fighters on the front line in 2014.
Starring Kurdish actress Avan Jamal and Norwegian actor Thorbjorn Harr, the film is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, where it is screening in the Venice Open section, out of competition.
The film is a Norway-Iraq-UAE-Sweden co-production, giving this year's Iraqi submission a UAE connection.
It is Mustafa's second film to represent Iraq at the Oscars, following El Clasico in 2016.
Morocco: La Mas Dulce
Morocco will be represented by Laila Marrakchi's La Mas Dulce, also known internationally as Strawberries.
The film follows Hasna and Meriem, two young Moroccan women who travel to Andalusia to work as seasonal strawberry pickers in the hope of improving the lives of their families.
They instead encounter exploitation, harassment and poor working conditions, eventually facing the decision of whether to speak out against those employing them.
The film had its premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in May. Marrakchi has said the project developed after she learnt about Moroccan women working in Spain's strawberry industry and travelled there to understand their experiences.
Morocco's selection committee chose La Mas Dulce unanimously on September 2, citing its subject, technical and artistic qualities, as well as its distribution prospects. It was selected from four films under consideration.
The film marked Marrakchi's return to Cannes two decades after Marock, her 2005 debut about young people in Casablanca, and follows her 2013 feature Rock the Casbah.
Palestine: Citizen Osama
Palestine has chosen Ahmed Hassouna's documentary Citizen Osama, filmed in northern Gaza during the war.
The 69-minute film follows Osama Al-Ashi, a former artistic photographer who becomes a war documentarian, recording the devastation around him while trying to protect his wife and newborn child.
The film has already emerged as one of the Palestinian highlights of this year's Venice Film Festival line-up. When the programme was announced in July, Citizen Osama was one of two Palestinian features selected, alongside Muayad Alayan's Conversation With the Sea.
It had its world premiere at Venice earlier this month, screening out of competition.
Moving between Al-Ashi's work and his family life, the documentary offers an intimate account of survival in northern Gaza amid hunger, loss and displacement.
Palestinian Minister of Culture Imad Hamdan announced the Oscar selection on August 31 following a recommendation by an independent committee of film professionals.
The selection makes Citizen Osama Palestine's 19th submission in the category since 2003.
