Hada News
Three Arab film calls: Oran's project lab closes 31 October, Baghdad's youth festival 31 December, Malmö open
Algerian feature projects, young filmmakers' shorts and new Arab features and documentaries each have a door open this autumn, with very different deadlines.
Three Arab film calls have very different closing dates: the Oran International Arab Film Festival's Basta Cinema lab, which L'Expression says is for Algerian feature projects, closes on Saturday 31 October 2026; the Iraq International Youth Film Festival in Baghdad takes shorts until Thursday 31 December 2026; and the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden is open with no published deadline.
**1. Oran, Algeria: Basta Cinema, deadline Saturday 31 October 2026.** The Oran International Arab Film Festival, whose 14th edition runs from 18 to 24 December 2026, has launched Basta Cinema, a development and training programme for feature-film projects. The festival's call page states that training and mentoring from 19 to 24 December is compulsory for selected projects. According to L'Expression, this opening round will take seven Algerian projects, across fiction, documentary and animation, and prepare their teams to pitch to an international jury of industry professionals. Applications go through the festival's website.
**2. Baghdad: Iraq International Youth Film Festival, deadline Thursday 31 December 2026.** The festival's third edition takes place in Baghdad from 5 to 10 April 2027 under the slogan "Cinema Makes Dialogue". Its president, Ahmed al-Mubarqa, said submissions are open to young filmmakers from Iraq, the Arab world and elsewhere, in short fiction, short documentary and animation. Eight prizes are on offer: best short fiction, best documentary, best Iraqi film, a special jury prize, best actor, best actress, cinematography and screenplay. Entry is by an online form on the festival site, according to Al Mada and Akhbar El Yom.
**3. Malmö, Sweden: Malmö Arab Film Festival, deadline not yet published.** The 17th edition is set for 23 to 29 April 2027. Competitions cover feature fiction, feature documentary, and short fiction and documentary combined. The festival's founder and chief executive, Mohamed Keblawi, listed side programmes including Future Talents for graduation films and short animation. The festival said it received more than 100 submissions on the day its call opened; entries go through the submission form on maffswe.com. Neither release reported by Al Bilad gives a closing date.
**Why it matters:** Oran's lab, as L'Expression describes it, takes Algerian projects and shuts on 31 October; Baghdad and Malmö take work from across the region and beyond.