Film – War Watch

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Hold on to Her review – horrific death of a two-year-old puts immigration crackdown in spotlight
ByPhil Hoad February 2, 2026

Robin Vanbiesen’s documentary uses the killing of Mawda Shawri in Belgium as the starting point to explore the dehumanising machinery of border policyHere is an insightful but perhaps over oblique Belgian documentary that sets itself an ambitious goal:…

Read More Hold on to Her review – horrific death of a two-year-old puts immigration crackdown in spotlight
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Iraq | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

‘Yes, they would execute a child’: the film about a girl who has to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein
ByCath Clarke February 2, 2026

Warm, funny and heartbreaking, The President’s Cake tells the story of a brutal ruler and a girl forced to make him a present in a time of sanctions-induced hardship. Its Iraqi director Hasan Hadi remembers his own fearful childhoodThere were no cinema…

Read More ‘Yes, they would execute a child’: the film about a girl who has to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Documentary films | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Lebanon | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

Do You Love Me review – exhilarating documentary is ode to the collective courage of Lebanese people
ByPhuong Le February 2, 2026

In this freewheeling film Lana Daher draws from more than 20,000 hours of archival footage to channel the resilient spirit of BeirutAs freewheeling as a travelogue, Lana Daher’s mercurial documentary eschews talking heads and voiceover, drawing instead…

Read More Do You Love Me review – exhilarating documentary is ode to the collective courage of Lebanese people
Afghanistan | Africa | Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Cate Blanchett | Culture | Donald Trump | Drama films | Europe | Festivals | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Migration | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Rotterdam film festival | Short films | Somalia | South and central Asia | Syria | Ukraine | World news

Displacement Film Fund review – Cate Blanchett masterminds short film collection that brims with life and intensity
ByPeter Bradshaw January 30, 2026

Rotterdam film festivalA set of shorts by film-makers from Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Syria and Somalia are shocking, funny and mysterious in equal measureWith considerable chutzpah and elan, and in her capacity as producer and UNHCR Goodwill ambassad…

Read More Displacement Film Fund review – Cate Blanchett masterminds short film collection that brims with life and intensity
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Jafar Panahi | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

Khamenei regime will not be able to keep control of Iran, says dissenting film-maker
ByPhilip Oltermann European culture editor January 16, 2026

Jafar Panahi, director of Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, says Iranian leaders want to destroy countryThe Khamenei regime will not be able to maintain control over Iranian society after the violent suppression of the latest wave of protests,…

Read More Khamenei regime will not be able to keep control of Iran, says dissenting film-maker
Activism | Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Human rights | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Protest | World news

Film-makers condemn Iran’s internet blackout as ‘blatant tool of repression’
ByDonna Ferguson January 10, 2026

Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof’s intervention comes amid outpouring of solidarity from cultural figures in Iranian diasporaThe Iranian film-makers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof have slammed the internet blackout in their country as a “blatant …

Read More Film-makers condemn Iran’s internet blackout as ‘blatant tool of repression’
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel-Gaza war | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Nuclear weapons | Palestine | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | World news

‘It felt like she was asking me to save her’: the film based on a five-year-old Palestinian girl’s dying pleas
ByJulian Borger January 7, 2026

The Voice of Hind Rajab has stunned audiences with its use of the real-life audio of a girl’s call for help after her family’s car was attacked by an Israeli tank in Gaza. Its director explains why she had to tell Hind’s tragic storyWhen Kaouther Ben H…

Read More ‘It felt like she was asking me to save her’: the film based on a five-year-old Palestinian girl’s dying pleas
Africa | Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Donald Trump | Drama films | Film | Gaza | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Middle East and north Africa | Morocco | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | Science fiction and fantasy films | World news

Animalia review – megaflood strikes in haunting, eerie debut about liberation and the unknown
ByCath Clarke December 9, 2025

A pregnant woman’s journey becomes a surreal exploration of class, gender and spiritual transformation in Sofia Alaoui’s striking debutThis film’s tagline tells only half the story: “A young pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.”…

Read More Animalia review – megaflood strikes in haunting, eerie debut about liberation and the unknown
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Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight
ByPeter Bradshaw December 3, 2025

Hersh’s record on uncovering the big stories, from My Lai to Abu Ghraib, speaks for itself. This documentary watches him at work: dogged, nonconformist and combativeRenowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh was never played in a film by Robert Re…

Read More Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | Benjamin Netanyahu | Culture | Documentary films | Donald Trump | Film | Gaza | Investigative journalism | Iran | Iran's nuclear programme | Iraq | Israel | Israel–Iran War | Laura Poitras | Media | Middle East and north Africa | New York Times | Newspapers | Newspapers & magazines | Nuclear weapons | Palestinian territories | Petrol prices | US news | US press and publishing | Watergate | World news

Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight
ByPeter Bradshaw December 3, 2025

Hersh’s record on uncovering the big stories, from My Lai to Abu Ghraib, speaks for itself. This documentary watches him at work: dogged, nonconformist and combativeRenowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh was never played in a film by Robert Re…

Read More Cover-Up review – atrocity exposer Seymour Hersh, journalist legend, gets a moment in the spotlight