Ahead of this year’s Academy Awards, we look back at the six defining Oscars moments in Arab cinema.
Egypt’s first Oscars submission
In 1959, Youssef Chahine’s “Cairo Station” made history as the first Arab film submitted to the Academy Awards.First Arab actor to be nominated
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif was the first Arab actor to obtain an Oscars nomination for his role in the historical epic “Lawrence of Arabia” at the 1963 Academy Awards.First Arab film to win an Oscar
“Z,” an Algerian-French political thriller directed by Costa-Gavras, was submitted by Algeria in 1969 and it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.Saudi Arabia’s first Oscars submission
Haifaa Al-Mansour's drama “Wadjda” was the Kingdom’s official submission for the 2014 Academy Awards. It was the first time the nation selected a film to compete for an Oscar.First Arab female director to be nominated
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki made history when she became the first Arab female director to be nominated for an Oscar for “Capernaum” in 2019.First Arab actor to win an Oscar
US-Egyptian actor Rami Malek became the first Arab actor to win an Oscar award for Best Actor at the 91st Academy Awards.
