1922 Tunisia: The first preindependence indigenous North African film, Zohra, directed by Albert Samama Chikly, is released. Turkey: Muhsin Ertuğrul begins making films for the newly founded private studio Kemal Film.
1923 Palestine: The British Mandate over Palestine is implemented. Turkey: The Republic of Turkey is established after the Great War of Independence (1919–1922).
1924 Iran/Turkey: The U.S. documentary Grass is shot in Iran and, partially, in Turkey.
1925 Egypt: The Misr Theatre and Cinema Company is established by Misr Bank.
1926 Iran: Reza Shah ascends the Pahlavi throne. Lebanon: Lebanon is annexed from Greater Syria but remains under the French Mandate.
1927 Egypt: Aziza Amir, a stage actress, sets up a company with Turkish writer Wadad Orfi, and in the same year they produce and codirect Layla with Stephane Rosti; Amir is thus the first Egyptian (and Arab) woman to have produced and directed a film.
1928 Turkey: İpek Film, a major production studio and dubbing facility, is founded.
1929 Lebanon: The Adventures of Elias Mabrouk, directed by Italian Jordano Pidutti, becomes the first silent film shot in Lebanon.
1930 Egypt: Zeinab (Mohammad Karim) is the country’s first full-length feature. Iran: Abi and Rabi (Oganian) becomes the first Iranian feature.
1931 Bahrain: The country becomes the first among the Arab states to discover oil. Lebanon: The Adventures of Abu Abed, directed by Jordano Pidutti, becomes the first film made with Lebanese funding.
1932 Iraq: Iraqi independence is granted. Israel: Natan Axelrod and Chaim Halachmi codirect the first Zionist feature, Oded the Wanderer.
1933 Lebanon: The Lumnar Film Company is established with financing from the Lebanese matriarch Herta Gargour. In the Ruins of Baalbek, directed by Julio De Luca and Karam Boustany and produced by Lumnar, is the first film produced entirely in an Arab country and to feature the Lebanese dialect.
1934 Egypt: The White Rose (Mohammad Karim) introduces music star Mohamed Abdel Wahab to the screen. Iran: The first Persian-language feature, The Lor Girl, is made in India by Ardeshir Irani and Abdolhossein Sepanta.
1936 Egypt: Umm Kulthum, the Arab world’s most famous singer, appears in the first of her six films, Wedad (Ahmed Badrakhan).
1936–1939 Palestine: The Arab Revolt takes place in the Levant.
1937 Tunisia: The first Arabic feature, The Fool of Kairouan, directed by Jean-Andre Kreuzy, is released.
1939 Egypt: Determination (Kamal Selim), considered the country’s first realist film, is released. Maghreb: World War II begins as Germany invades Poland; the war will take on a Middle Eastern dimension when Germany invades North Africa. Syria: Vichy France takes control of the country.
1941 Iran: Reza Shah abdicates under pressure from the Allied forces, and his son accedes to power. Syria: Syrian independence is initiated.
1943 Lebanon: Independence from France is granted. The Rose Seller, directed by Ali al-Ariss, becomes the first postindependence Lebanese film but contains dialogue in the Egyptian vernacular (Cairene). Turkey: The first fully dubbed or postsynchronized Turkish film, Troubled Spring (Faruk Kenç), is made.
1944 Morocco: The Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM) is established to produce Moroccan films.
1945 World War II ends as Japan surrenders to the Allied forces. Algeria: Rise of the Algerian Workers Movement.
1946 Maghreb: Studios Africa is founded by France to produce documentaries in its African colonies. Syria: Syrian independence is granted.
1947 Israel/Palestine: 29 November: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (the “Partition Plan”).
1948 Iran: Esmail Kushan founds the Mitra film company, beginning the production of the first domestic sound films. Iraq: The first Iraqi film, Alia and Issam, is released. Israel/Palestine: 14 May: The state of Israel is declared. 15 May: End of British Mandate Palestine; war breaks out in the Levant; Nakba ensues. The PFF becomes the United Israel Appeal. Turkey: A decrease in the municipal entertainment tax on ticket revenues from domestic films leads to a gradual increase in the production of domestic films. The first domestic film competition is organized.
1949 Israel: The Israeli Motion Picture Studios are opened in Herzliyah. Tunisia: The Fédération Tunisienne des Ciné-Clubs (FTCC) is created, launching a cinémathèque movement in Tunisia.
1950 Egypt: Youssef Chahine’s career as a director begins with Daddy Amin.
1952 Egypt: The Free Officers coup overthrows the monarchy; the Ministry of National Culture and Guidance is founded. Israel: The Geza Film Studios are opened in Givatayim, later to become the Berkey-Humphries Studio. Lebanon: Studio Haroun and Studio Al-Arz are the first fully equipped film studios opened in Lebanon. Turkey: The earliest recognized Yeşilçam films are shot by Lütfi Ö. Akad, Muharrem Gürses, and others.
1953 Iran: Mohammad Mosaddeq, who had nationalized the oil industry and begun to limit the shah’s powers, is overthrown by a CIA-engineered coup. Turkey: Muhsin Ertuğrul’s last film, but Turkey’s first color film, Carpet-Weaving Girl, is made.
1954 Algeria: The Algerian War against French colonial forces begins. Israel: The Bill for the Promotion of Israeli Films, a state funding vehicle, is passed. Tunisia: A film society, Al Ahd el Jadid, takes over Studios Africa’s Tunisian arm, Actualités Tunisiennes.
1956 Egypt/Israel: 29 October: Israel attacks Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Lebanon: Baalbek Studios is founded by Badih Boulos and will become one of the Middle East’s premier film studios during the 1960s. Maghreb: 2 March: Morocco is granted independence from France. 20 March: Tunisia is granted independence from France. 7 April: Spain relinquishes its territories in Morocco. Algerian student strike begins subsequently in France and Algeria. Sudan: The Sudanese Film Production Center is established by President Ismail Ali Azhari.
1957 Jordan: Struggle in Jarash, directed by Wassif Sheik Yassin, becomes the first film from Jordan. Lebanon: George Nasser’s Where To? becomes the first Lebanese film featured at the Cannes Film Festival. Tunisia: Société Anonyme Tunisienne des Production et d’Expansion Cinématographiques (SATPEC) is established to administer film production, distribution, importation, and exhibition in Tunisia.
1958 Egypt: Cairo Station (Youssef Chahine) is released, starring the director, and quickly becomes a touchstone for cinematic realism in the country. Egypt/Syria: The United Arab Republic (UAR) is established. Iran: South of the City (Farrokh Ghaffari), a precursor to the New Wave films to come, marks a deromanticizing of poor urban life and is banned in Iran. Iraq: The Republic of Iraq is established. Kuwait: Cinema