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Saudi Arabia picks 'A Matter of Life and Death' as Oscar international feature entry

The Saudi Film Commission has chosen Anas Ba Tahaf's romantic black comedy 'A Matter of Life and Death' as Saudi Arabia's submission for the 99th Academy Awards' international feature category.

3 outlets · 2L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Variety
Image: Deadline
Image: The Hollywood Reporter

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The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2The Saudi Film Commission has selected Anas Ba Tahaf's 'A Matter of Life and Death' as Saudi Arabia's official submission for the international feature film category at the 99th Academy Awards. Left · 2The film is a Jeddah-set romance blending fantasy and black comedy, written by and starring Sarah Taibah opposite Yaqoub Alfarhan, and marks Ba Tahaf's directorial debut. Mixed · 2Taibah plays Hayat, a young woman convinced a generational curse will kill her on her 30th birthday, who meets Yousef, a heart surgeon with bradycardia whose slow heartbeat quickens when he comes close to death or to killing; the synopsis says she wants to die, he wants to kill, and they fall in love.

Mixed · 2It premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival in December 2025 and opened across Saudi Arabia on 25 June 2026; Variety reports roughly $600,000 in grosses, according to Rentrack. Mixed · 2It later received a Jury Special Mention at the Saudi Film Festival, where Taibah won the Golden Palm for best acting. Mixed · 2Ba Tahaf previously worked as co-producer, editor and first assistant director on Mahmoud Sabbagh's 'Barakah Meets Barakah', Saudi Arabia's entry at the 89th Academy Awards.

Mixed · 2It is produced by Mohamed Hefzy for Film Clinic, Gianluca Chakra for Front Row Filmed Entertainment, and Abdulelah Alahmary and Ahmad Taema for Arabia Pictures, with Red Sea Fund support; Front Row handles international sales. Mixed · 2Saudi Arabia began submitting films to the Oscars in 2013 with Haifaa Al-Mansour's 'Wadjda', and last year sent Shahad Ameen's 'Hijra'; it has never been nominated. Left · 2The Academy will announce the 15-film shortlist on 15 December, the five nominees on 21 January 2027, and hold the ceremony on 14 March 2027 in Los Angeles.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Trade-press announcement stressing the film's offbeat tone and Ba Tahaf's debut and link to an earlier Saudi Oscar entry.
Emphasis
Variety adds box-office figures; The Hollywood Reporter quotes Front Row's description of Hayat and the gothic animated sequence.
Leaves out or plays down
Variety does not say Saudi Arabia has never been nominated; neither outlet lists earlier Saudi entries beyond Barakah Meets Barakah.
Charged language
“quirky”“groundbreaking”
For example
“Saudi Arabia Picks Quirky Comedy ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ for International Feature Race” — Variety
“a contemporary Saudi woman written without explanation or apology” — The Hollywood Reporter

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Fuller announcement report, placing the film in Saudi cinema since the 2017 lifting of the cinema ban and in the country's Oscar history.
Emphasis
Cast list, Front Row's statement, history of Saudi submissions (Wadjda, Hijra).
Leaves out or plays down
Does not give box-office figures.
Charged language
“quirkiest”
For example
“one of the quirkiest local romantic-come-black comedies to come out of Saudi Arabia since the lifting of its 35-year cinema ban in 2017” — Deadline

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.