Are you constantly scrolling through Netflix, unsure of what to watch next? And are you also tired, like us, of mainstream cinema and its recycled tropes, rewrapped in shiny posters that barely hide the imperial propaganda and blatant hypocrisy?
To make your movie nights more interesting, we’ve compiled a list of talented Muslim filmmakers from around the world whose creative work is worth your attention.
1. Sofia Alaoui
If you are on the lookout for filmmakers who can bend genre and create something beautiful and unique, French-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui’s films are the ones to watch. Her breakout short So What If the Goats Die, set in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, blends mysticism, sci-fi, and class critique in a way that feels completely new. It also won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2020 and the César Award for Best Short Fiction Film in 2021.
Her debut feature, Animalia, builds on that, using the framework of an alien invasion to reflect on power, belief, and the unknown. It premiered at Sundance in 2023 and was awarded the Special Jury Prize
She’s now working on a detective series, Let the Earth Burn and two upcoming films, including Tarfaya, an apocalyptic thriller in the Moroccan desert. Alaoui crafts surrealist cinema that can feel both strange and spiritual.
2. Farah Nabulsi
Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi’s work is rooted in justice, using film not only to witness but to disrupt systems of apartheid. Her films speak to justice, displacement, and the human cost of occupation.
Her breakout short, The Present, which she co-wrote and directed, won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar. In just 24 minutes, the film captures moving glimpses of the everyday humiliation of checkpoints and the quiet resistance of everyday Palestinian life under Israeli occupation.
Her debut feature, The Teacher, premiered at TIFF in 2023 and has already picked up multiple awards, including the main Jury Prize at the Red Sea IFF. What captivates us most is that this isn’t a period piece about events long past, but a film shot on a land still witnessing these atrocities unfold in real time.
Born and raised in London to Palestinian parents, Farah’s movies are sharp, beautifully crafted, and rooted in a deep moral clarity.
3. Abbas Kiarostami
A legend of Iranian cinema, how do you even begin to describe Abbas Kiarostami, often cited as the pioneer of Iranian cinema and one of the greatest filmmakers of our time? Born in Tehran in 1940, he wasn’t just a filmmaker; he was a quiet revolutionary.
His minimalist, contemplative films like Taste of Cherry and Where Is the Friend’s House? blur the line between fiction and reality, centring the philosophical in the everyday. Kiarostami’s legacy lies in his refusal to explain; instead, he trusts viewers to find meaning in stillness and silence.
He used sparse dialogue, stillness, and open-ended storytelling that left space for reflection rather than resolution and in 1997, he became the first Iranian director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes with Taste of Cherry.
Deeply rooted in Persian philosophy, Kiarostami’s films speak on universal human emotions such as grief, joy, waiting, and wonder. He was also a published poet and photographer. His collection Walking with the Wind, translated into English and released by Harvard University Press, gives another glimpse into the same stillness that shaped his cinema.
4. Muna Malik
Artist and filmmaker Muna Malik is known for blending visual art with immersive storytelling to explore themes of identity, migration, gender, and the gaps left in history when Black and Muslim narratives are excluded.
Based in LA, she’s an emerging voice in cinema, and yet, her installations and short films reflect a deep intentionality, rooted in her Somali-Yemeni heritage and faith. Malik’s work doesn’t just ask you to watch, it invites you to reflect, feel, and respond, always coming back to the same questions: Who gets to belong? Whose stories are preserved? And what does freedom look like when you’re from a place the world often refuses to see?
Whether it’s an interactive sculpture in Battery Park City, New York or a moving-image piece that lingers in your mind, her art makes space insistently for the stories we don’t usually get to sit with.
5. Bassam Tariq
A storyteller with a unique lens, Bassam Tariq is a Pakistani-American director who started as a copywriter in New York. From documentaries to fiction, his work feels raw and deeply thoughtful, with an ability to tell Muslim stories with nuance and complexity.
His feature film Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed, is a poetic take on illness, belonging, and cultural inheritance. It premiered at Berlinale and won the International Critics Prize. Before Mogul Mowgli, he directed These Birds Walk, a documentary following runaway boys and ambulance drivers in Karachi, which was named one of the best films of the year by IndieWire, Sight & Sound, and The New Yorker.
Tariq is also a TED Fellow and was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Instead of offering neat resolutions, his work invites you to sit with the discomfort and beauty of being in-between.
Whether you’re in the mood for a quiet watch or something bold and genre-bending, these Muslim filmmakers are showing us what’s possible when we tell our own stories, on our own terms. Their work stays with us long after the film ends, asking us to reflect, feel more and look again.
If you’re keen to keep up with interesting film festivals in and around London, or want honest, thoughtful reviews of films like these, check out Sally Watches Films on TikTok.
Amaliah Team
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