BAKMA: A 2026 Thriller from the Director of Dachra
Director: Abdelhamid Bouchnak
Runtime: 117 minutes
Release: 2026 (exact date TBA)
Rating: 0/10 (not yet released)
Abdelhamid Bouchnak is making another film. That's the news, and honestly, it's enough. The Tunisian director broke through with Dachra in 2018 — the first Tunisian film ever submitted to the Academy Awards for international feature consideration — and now he's back with BAKMA, a 117-minute feature arriving sometime in 2026. Plot details remain locked down. Cast hasn't been announced. But if you spent any time with Dachra, you're already waiting for this one.
Why Bouchnak's name carries weight
Dachra wasn't a small success. It traveled — from Tunisia to international film festivals to streaming platforms across the Middle East and Europe. That's rare. Most North African filmmakers build regional followings. Bouchnak built something that crossed borders without a major studio machine pushing it. He made psychological horror that felt rooted in something real (the film's title references an actual abandoned Tunisian village), and audiences felt that specificity.
The 117-minute runtime is worth noting too. Dachra ran 100 minutes. Those extra 17 minutes suggest Bouchnak isn't rushing the story — he's got something he wants to build into, something that needs space to breathe and unsettle.
What's striking is how little we actually know right now, and how that's not stopping people from paying attention.
What we know — and don't
Here's the full inventory: BAKMA is directed by Abdelhamid Bouchnak, it's 117 minutes long, and it's coming in 2026. That's it. No official plot description. No cast list. No trailer. No streaming platform or theatrical distributor confirmed yet — though Movie OTT's tracking page will update the moment distribution rights are announced, so bookmark it if you want the Where-to-Watch details the second they land.
Hard to say whether BAKMA follows the folklore-horror territory of Dachra or marks a departure entirely. The title doesn't map onto an obvious Arabic phrase the way "Dachra" (an actual place) did, so there's genuine mystery about the thematic ground Bouchnak's working. With him, there's usually real-world grounding underneath — a village, a legend, something tangible — but we're not there yet.
When and where to watch
BAKMA releases in 2026. A specific month or date hasn't been announced. It hasn't premiered at a festival (yet — Bouchnak might submit it to Berlin, Toronto, or Venice; that's pure speculation on my part, but it wouldn't be surprising). No theatrical distributor or streaming home has been officially named.
For regional productions from Tunisia, rights announcements often come late in the cycle — sometimes just weeks before or even after the film premieres at festivals. So don't read the silence as a bad sign. Movie OTT will be tracking all the platform announcements and updating their database as soon as anything breaks, so if you're hunting for where to actually watch it when the time comes, that's the place to check back.
What to expect (and what we're wondering)
If BAKMA is anything like Dachra, you're looking at slow-burn horror that trusts the audience to stay uncomfortable for a while. Bouchnak doesn't cut away. He holds on moments. There's a psychological weight to his filmmaking — less jump scares, more the creeping sense that something in the world is fundamentally wrong.
The thing I keep coming back to is how rare it is for a director working outside the major film industries to build that kind of international momentum without becoming a festival-circuit curiosity. Bouchnak made something that worked on multiple levels — scary to horror fans, culturally specific to regional audiences, formally interesting to critics. That's hard to pull off once. Doing it twice would be something.
FAQ
Is BAKMA out yet?
No. It hasn't been released. Expected in 2026.
Who directed BAKMA?
Abdelhamid Bouchnak, the Tunisian filmmaker behind Dachra (2018).
How long is it?
117 minutes.
Where can I watch BAKMA?
Distribution hasn't been confirmed yet. Movie OTT is tracking all announcements — check back as we get closer to 2026 for streaming and theatrical details.
What's it about?
The plot hasn't been officially described. Bouchnak's previous work leaned into psychological horror tied to real Tunisian locations and folklore, so there's reason to think BAKMA follows similar territory — but that's inference, not confirmation.
Check back in 2026
For now, mark the year on your calendar. When the first trailer drops or festival news breaks, Movie OTT will have the details. If you haven't seen Dachra yet and you like slow-burn horror with cultural specificity — the kind that stays with you long after the credits — that's the place to start. Then we wait for what Bouchnak does next.