The Official Oscar entry for Morocco, Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer, but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their home. Gradually,...

In the not-so-distant future, the free-spirited Badri family have escaped the toxic pollution and social unrest of Beirut by seeking refuge in an idyllic mountain home. Without warning, the government starts to build a garbage landfill right outside their fence, intruding on their domestic utopia and bringing the trash and corruption of a whole country to their doorstep. As the landfill rises, so does tension in the household, revealing a long-simmering...

1916. While war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb in a traditional Bedouin community that is isolated by the vast, unforgiving desert. The brothers₂ quiet existence is suddenly interrupted when a British Army officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them to a water well located along the old pilgrimage route to Mecca. So as not to dishonor his recently deceased father, Hussein agrees to lead them on the long...

Nineteen-year-old Hala escapes an arranged marriage by crossing the Euphrates River to find a new home at a Kurdish Women's Protection Unit -a unit which soon after liberates her hometown of Minbij from the Islamic State. For her female fellow soldiers, the enemy is not just IS, but patriarchy in general, with forced marriage as the ultimate oppressive institution. The brutalities these young women have experienced at the hands of their husbands and...

Three short stories by the American expatriate, Paul Bowles, are brought to sinister life - Merkala Beach; Call at Corazon; and Allal. All are haunting films that capture the essensce of Bowle's vision of humanity and his love of strange, colorful locals.

Halim and Mina run a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco's oldest medinas. To keep up with the commands of the demanding customers, they hire Youssef. Slowly Mina realizes how much her husband is moved by the presence of the young man.

Disc includes 70 minutes of video, female and male native speakers, and quizzes to monitor progress.