May Calamawy

The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace—eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.

Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

When young loner Anna is hired as the surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.

Paul Cole finds himself stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can't be trusted, and it's unclear which of his identities is real.

Even though Sami is safe in the United States with his 9-year-old daughter, Aya, the injures sustained during the war in Syria are making his life difficult. When news breaks that the rest of his family will arrive from a refugee camp, he should be as elated as Aya. But as Aya grows more eager to see her brother Saeed, Sami grows more anxious.

Desperate to put the traumatic loss of their infant child behind them, newlywed couple Khalid and Salama return to their home in the United Arab Emirates. Unknown to the couple, their new luxury apartment block, Al Hamra, was built on the site of an old abandoned fishing village of the same name. Legend has it the village was abandoned after malevolent beings haunted its inhabitants. Unsettled by her new surroundings and the eerie hallways of Al Hamra, Khalid worries his wife is failing to battle her personal demons – but could it be something far more sinister?

Three characters from various regions in the Middle East seek to find peace of mind by challenging their contrasting political and personal identities before an act of senseless violence brings them together.

In impoverished Baghdad under Saddam's dictatorship, 16-year-old Amal hopes to regain her social status at school by volunteering to find a book as a class gift for the departing literature teacher. Meanwhile, her emotionally fragile little brother becomes obsessed with the notion that a visiting uncle from America--whom he confuses with Santa Claus--will bring him toys. Ashamed never to have been able to give his son a toy, the child's father sells some more prized family possessions and buys a model car for him.