Malmo Arab Film Festival (MAFF) has announced the opening of film submissions for its 16th edition, which will take place in Malmo, Sweden, from April 10 to 16, 2026.
The festival competitions are divided into three sections: Feature Fiction Competition, Feature Documentary Competition, and Short Film Competition for both fiction and documentary.
Alongside the official competitions, the festival will present a variety of special programs (Arabian Nights, School Screenings, Opening and Closing Films, among many others), as well as panels and meetings gathering prominent film professionals from the Arab world and Scandinavia. These activities will take place as part of MAFF Industry Days, the festival’s industry platform, which will be held in parallel from April 11 to 14, 2026.
The Founder and CEO of the Malmö Arab Film Festival, Mouhamad Keblawi, stated that the opening of submissions marks a new step toward an exceptional edition of the festival. He added that launching the call for entries for the 16th edition reaffirms the festival’s continued commitment to supporting Arab cinema and strengthening its presence on the international stage, through a platform that brings together art, dialogue, and collaboration between creators from the Arab world and Scandinavia.
Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF) is the leading and largest film festival dedicated to Arab cinema outside the Arab world. The festival has been held annually since 2011 and has developed into one of the most important platforms for Arab cinema in Europe. It started as a grassroots initiative and had since undergone a tremendous development, and is now one of the largest film festivals in southern Sweden. The organization is now a year-round operation working with special events and festivals across Sweden.
Around 60 features, short films, and documentaries from all over the Arab world are screened during the festival. The program offers competition sections, panoramas, special screenings, workshops, seminars, and celebrations.
Parallel to the festival is MAFF Industry Days, MID. MID is an industry forum for collaboration and co-production between the Nordic and Arab film industries that was initiated in 2015.
MAFF Industry Days offers several funding initiatives for Nordic-Arab co-productions. The initiatives present an excellent opportunity for film professionals to pitch their projects to film experts and a jury chosen from a selection of prominent filmmakers and critics.
TunisianMonitorOnline (Douha Essafi)
