The title of the film is a Sudanese phrase which translates literally into “the rooster’s sleep”; figuratively it refers to a person who tries to sleep standing, trapped between a state of slumber and wakefulness, limbo. Such is the reality of Sudanese refugees living in Cairo.

In Montana, a headstrong teenager Mickey Peck is doing what she can to keep her single veteran father afloat, navigating his mercurial moods, opioid addiction, and grief over the loss of his wife.

Nurse Um Ibrahim, Dr. Hamza Al Khatib and photographer Abd AlKader Habak are close friends and endured months of siege in Aleppo vowing not to leave their city.

When British aid worker Hana returns to the ancient city of Luxor, she comes across Sultan, a talented archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.

Nudži, a proofreader from Sarajevo, is determined to change her life and be the first hijab-wearing woman in Europe to finish a half Ironman triathlon.

In contemporary France, Stéphane recently joined the Anti-Crime Brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburbs where Victor Hugo had set his 1862 famed novel with the same title.

On his way to attend a wedding with his adolescent son Waleed, a middle-aged father, Nasser, receives news of his father’s serious illness. He turns in the direction of his rural hometown south of Riyadh.

The documentary takes viewers to explore the life of immigrants from North African countries in European prisons, and notably in a highly protected detention center in Verona, Italy.

Malek, the father of the filmmaker, told her nothing about his childhood in Algeria. Several years later, he revealed his story in a written script. The father and daughter finally made the journey to Mansourah, his home village: to see his house again, to meet other men who have experienced the same tearing.

In 1987, Lina Alabed’s Palestinian father, Ibrahim, set off on a mission he never came back from. He was a member of the Abu Nidal group, also known as “The Revolutionary Council”.

“Huda” is a short social commentary, set in Jordan, on the idea of getting married, no matter what. The film opens with Huda, getting dressed for her wedding at home, helped by her sister, Mariam.

Set in Baghdad in 2006, Haifa Street is one of the most dangerous places suffering from the civil war and violence that have plagued the city.