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Echoes of the Past opens with a tragic event—Nadia dies during a scuba dive. Her brother Yahia is wrongly sent to prison for the crime, and the story begins with his release after 15 years. The narrative quickly transforms from a simple revenge plot into a deeper investigation as Yahia seeks the truth about his sister’s death, which Ali’s wealthy family portrayed as an accident. What starts as a typical vengeance story becomes a complex web of mysteries, with Yahia discovering family secrets that could destroy everyone involved.

The series distinguishes itself through its investigative approach. It skillfully manipulates the revenge thriller format, weaving together past and present scenes that continually surprise viewers. Yahia’s search follows an unpredictable path, reflecting the fragmented nature of memory. Each new piece of evidence introduces additional mysteries, moving suspicion between different characters and maintaining viewer interest. The killer’s identity emerges...

We're halfway through December, and Netflix has already released so many great shows this month. We're talking about series like The Ultimatum: Marry or Move on season 3, Black Doves, Queer Eye season 9, No Good Deed, etc.

Of course, some become instant hits with viewers, but others end up flying under the radar. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad. It's just that people either didn't know about them or they just didn't pull them in right away. These are called hidden gems, and they deserve some love and attention, just like the more popular shows.

In this article, we shared four underrated Netflix shows released this month that you should add to your watchlist. Don't you think it's time to broaden your horizons and watch something different from what you're used to watching? We think so!

Ali Wong as Jentry Chau in Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld | Netflix Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld...

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Netflix is ready with an entertainment-packed December this year. We already covered the new movies that are coming to Netflix in December 2024. In this article, we will see what new shows will be coming on the streaming service in the upcoming month, including the return of top-rated original shows like Squid Game and Virgin River and new original shows like Black Doves. Just like every month, Netflix is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the best 7 new TV shows coming to Netflix in December 2024.

Black Doves Season 1 (December 5) Credit – Netflix

Black Doves is an upcoming British spy action thriller drama series created by Joe Barton. The Netflix series follows Helen, an undercover agent who begins a passionate affair that threatens her real identity. Still, when her lover is killed...

“South of Hope Street” is a new live-action science fiction ‘dystopian’ feature, written and directed by Jane Spencer, starring Judd Nelson, William Baldwin, Tana Frederick, Michael Madsen, Asser Yassin, Craig Conway, Meredith Ostrom, Wendy Thomas, Niklaus Trenk, Pascal Ulli and Elana Krausz, streaming November 15, 2024 on Paramount+:

“…in 2038, Earth enters a mysterious universe. People hide behind a gigantic wall and engage in wars.

“Meanwhile, ‘Denise’ walks on thin ice spurred on by ‘Tom’, a caretaker, who promises that a renaissance is on its way…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Netflix has unveiled the highlights of its Original Arabic-language content for the Middle East and North Africa in 2024, with shows coming out of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan.

Fresh announcements included the second season of hit female-driven, Kuwaiti finance world drama The Exchange and a third season of unscripted show Dubai Bling, which Netflix promised would “delve deeper” into the lives of the existing characters and expand the “Dubai Bling family”.

Netflix also announced the arrival of Tunisia acting star Dhafer L’Abidine in the cast of the second season of Hend Sabry’s drama Finding Ola.

He joins Sabry in a cast also featuring Sawsan Badr, Hany Adel, Nada Moussa, Mahmoud El Leithy, Acel Ramzy, Omar Sherif, Yasmina El-Abd and Tarek el Ebiary.

In this new season, as the titular Ola’s business teeters on the edge of collapse, she discovers the need to reinvent herself and embarks...

“Suits,” the hit U.S. TV show created by Aaron Korsh, is getting a high-end Arabic adaptation that will play on prominent West Asia satellite pay-tv and streaming service Orbit Showtime Network (Osn) and Egyptian broadcaster Ums.

NBCUniversal Formats, a division of Universal Studio Group, has teamed up with Cairo-based media production company TVision and Osn, as well as Egypt’s Ums, to produce the Arabic redo of the show. Shooting began in January on the first two seasons, comprising 30 episodes. The Arabic-language “Suits” is slated to start playing on Osn and its streaming app Watchit across West Asia, the region also referred to as the Middle East, during the region’s upcoming Ramadan TV season, starting April 2.

“‘Suits’ is one of the most popular TV shows in the world, and we are thrilled to be adapting it for Middle Eastern audiences and partnering once again with our friends at TVision,...

Director Peter Webber is preparing a six-part series sequel to his Colombia-set teen drama “Pickpockets” (“Maestros del robo”), which Netflix launched globally in 2018. The film tells the story of aspiring teenage thieves learning how to be successful pickpockets.

“Apparently, it did really well amongst teenagers,” Webber told Variety. “They asked us to do a sequel, so at the moment we are working on six one-hour episodes following up the main characters.”

Netflix is not believed to be officially attached to the sequel, which is still in development stages.

It’s understood that the project will have a broader scope than the film. “As the series develops, the locations change,” Webber said. “It’s a bit more international than the last one.”

British native Webber is currently at the El Gouna Film Festival, where he is serving as jury president of the Feature Narrative Competition section. The jury also comprises iconic Egyptian actor Asser Yassin,...

Exclusive: Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (October 23-30), the Middle East’s first sizeable Covid-era physical film event, has set Peter Webber (Girl With A Pearl Earring) as jury president.

Gérard Depardieu will receive the festival’s Career Achievement Award and actor Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) will received the Omar Sharif Award.

Hannibal Rising and Emperor director Webber told us: “It has been a difficult year for many and especially those of us in the film industry, yet it is important to remember that it is our work that has been keeping so many people entertained, inspired and engaged as they were trapped in their homes or struggling during the biggest pandemic in living memory.

“Therefore it’s a great delight and a privilege to be invited to be president of the jury at El Gouna Film Festival, a festival that will celebrate the importance of film at this crucial time.

Shahid VIP, the premium Middle East streamer run by Mbc Group, will begin premiering Arabic feature films prior to their theatrical release for the first time.

The endeavor will star with the exclusive premiere of Mohamed El Adl’s Saheb El Makam, which will debut on the platform on July 30, the first day of Eid Al-Adha. Starring Yousra, Asser Yassin, and Amina Khalil, the drama revolves around a troubled man whose only hope for a better future is in the hands of one woman who tries to get him closer to God.

Produced by Ahmed El Sobky, the movie is Yousra’s first feature film in nearly eight years, her last being Game Over. It also marks the third collaboration between Yousra and Yassin, who have previously starred together in the film The Yacoubian Building and the TV series Lahazat Harega.

The second film premiere will be Al Hareth, starring...

Films include Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon and Mohammed Diab’s Amira.

Cairo-based Mad Solutions has boarded Arab sales and distribution rights for 11 anticipated films from the Middle East and North Africa, most of which are now in post-production.

It is handling three of the titles with Shahinaz El-Akkad’s Lagoonie Film Production: Amira, Huda’s Salon and Daughters Of Abdulrahman

Amira, the third film from Egypt’s Mohamed Diab following the award-winning dramas 678 and Clash, is in post-production. Palestinian Oscar-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad thriller Huda’s Salon is midway through shooting.

Daughters Of Abdulrahman is the debut feature...

Rags and Tatters which I saw in Toronto, at first seemed like a documentary, and it does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.

Film Clinic, held the premiere of its new production Rags and Tatters on Monday, November 18th, 2013, at Nile City cinemas in Cairo, with the presence of the film's cast and filmmakers along with several celebrities, critics, and intellectuals who were keen on watching this distinctive experience.  Among the celebrities and filmmakers who attended the premiere were: Producer and Scriptwriter Mohamed Hefzy, founder of Film Clinic, Director Ahmed Abdallah, Asser Yassin and Dorra Zarrouk.

Mohamed Hefzy stated that the reason behind launching the film in theaters for only one limited week is that the film market is currently in a recovery phase after ending the curfew that has been imposed for months. He added, "the film is of a special nature and some believe that it unfolds an untraditional narrative experience. I personally think that the audience will enjoy watching the film and maybe having it released for a limited period of time will help draw the attention of the audience who would come to watch it. Of course we wanted to release the film for a longer period in theaters, however the on-going conditions make that impossible."

Ahmed Abdallah's feature Rags and Tatters' release in seven Egyptian film theaters across Cairo and Alexandria by Film Clinic for one week only from November 20th, 2013, makes it the first film in the history of Egyptian cinema where the production house releases its own production for only one week.

The film won the Golden Antigone Prize for the Best Narrative Feature at the 35th Cinemed International Mediterranean Film Festival of Montpellierin France, which has recently closed on November 2nd, 2013. The film took part at the Narrative Features Competition within the 7th Abu Dhabi Film Festival which has recently closed. Recently, Ahmed Abdallah's Microphone placed the 95th among the 100 Most Important Arab Films listed in Cinema of Passion: Dubai International Film Festival. Released by Dubai International Film Festival and supported by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dcaa), the book is considered the first reference book of its kind in the Arab world.

Written and directed by Ahmed Abdallah, the film unfolds a new experience in Egyptian cinema as the story builds up with minimal dialogue between the characters based on visual narration within a balanced equation of documentation and narration. The film tells the story of a prison inmate who escapes from jail following the incidents that took place on January 28th, 2011, when police forces were withdrawn from the streets and chaos prevailed. The film stars Asser Yassin who plays the leading role of the fugitive inmate who moves in a number of poor alienated Egyptian districts.

Rags and Tatters has recently participated in the BFI London Film Festival, the only Arab film competing in the official competition of the prestigious film event this year, and had its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival, one of the world's most prestigious film events.

Rags and Tatters is produced by Mohamed Hefzy's Film Clinic in co-production with Mashrou', Ahmed Abdallah's new production house formed with Asser Yassin, and Producer and Writer Amr Shama, scriptwriter of After the Battle film. Shot on location in Mansheyet Nasser and Old Cairo, Rags and Tatters also stars Amr Abed, Mohamed Mamdouh, Seif Al Aswani, Yara Gobran and Latifa Fahmi.

Ahmed Abdallah started his career as a film editor in several films, the most distinctive of which is Ain Shams. In 2010, he presented his directorial debut Heliopolis, which tells the story of a group of people living in Heliopolis. Abdallah also directed Microphone, which is about independent music productions and underground art scene in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Starring Khaled Abul Naga, Hani Adel, and Youssra AlLouzi, the film premiered in Egypt in January 26th, 2011, coinciding with the second day of the revolution at that time. Both of the two films were screened in previous installments of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Festival kicks off Thursday with gala screening of Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime.

Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.

The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.

Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.

International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.

Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...

Festival kicks off Thursday with gala screening of Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime.

Forest Whitaker will be among the guests when the Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicks off Thursday evening. Whitaker will receive the festival’s Black Pearl Career Achievement award.

The festival will open with a gala screening of the Middle East premiere of Life of Crime with director Daniel Schechter and actor Mark Boone Junior both in attendance and participating in an audience Q&A.

Another career achievement award winner will be actress and director Hiam Abbass, who stars in festival world premiere Peace After Marriage.

International guests will include Danis Tanovic, Amma Asante, Jia Zhangke, Beeban Kidron, Emir Baigazin, Agnes B, Cedomir Kolar, Uberto Pasolini, Tao Zhao, Eugene Domingo, Louis Garrel, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Catherine Dussart.

Arab stars set to attend Adff include Mervat Amin, Hend Sabri, Ahmad Ezz, Basel Khayat, Eyad Nassar, Kinda Aloush, Abed Fahad, Manal Khader, Nesrine...

The anger and confusion on the peripheries of Egypt's Tahrir Square protests form the background of this nuanced drama

• The London film festival's opening week - in pictures

• More from Lff 2013

Egyptian film-maker Ahmad Abdalla has given us a complex, nuanced, humane drama about the Tahrir Square protests. Having seen this movie so soon after Ibrahim el-Batout's superb but very different film on the same topic, Winter of Discontent, it came home to me that contemporary Egyptian cinema may be giving us more information about the Egyptian uprising than we'll ever get from the TV news.

Rags and Tatters refuses the easy answers – actually, it refuses the difficult answers, or any answers, in favour of a more open and questioning approach, which borders on a distinctive kind of mystery. The movie haunts the peripheries, away from the central action, intuiting the ambient rage and confusion and anxiety swirling around Cairo,...

Exclusive: Rotana Studios has acquired a slew of rights to Ahmad Abdalla’s Rags And Tatters, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section.

Egyptian production house Film Clinic struck the deal with Rotana which includes TV networks in the Middle East, DVD, online streaming and worldwide in-flight entertainment. Film Clinic has theatrical rights in the Middle East and the film will be released in Egyptian cinemas in October.

Set in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution, Rags And Tatters follows a fugitive, played by Asser Yassin, who has escaped from prison and is seeking shelter. It was shot in Ezbet El Zabbaleen – a 30,000-strong settlement of rag-pickers on the outskirts of Cairo, which has rarely been seen on film.

Us-based sales company Visit Films is repping Rags And Tatters outside the Mena region at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Abdalla’s credits include award-winning drama Microphone, about Egypt’s...