The Arab films representing the region at this year's Cannes Film Festival

The 72nd Cannes Film Festival launched on Tuesday with a glamorous red carpet that saw the presence of international artists like Selena Gomez, Bill Murray, and Priyanka Chopra to name just a fraction.

What was eye-catching to people in the Arab region, though, was the heavy presence of Arab films who have made it to Cannes. 

Young talents are always blooming in the region, with their works leading them to worldwide fame and recognition. When it comes to Arab filmmakers, their presence at international film festivals has been making headlines more than their absence.

Here are the Arab films that are showing at Cannes Film Festival this year:

Adam is a Moroccan drama that depicts the story of two women; Abla, a widow who runs a local bakery and lives alone with her 8-year-old daughter, and Samia, a pregnant woman who comes knocking at Abla's door, changing all of their lives forever. 

The movie is written and directed by Maryam Touzani, and is nominated for the Un Certain Regard category - which is headed by Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, the first Arab to preside this jury. 

This is the only Arab movie competing for the Palme d’Or. The movie is directed by Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, who previously won the Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes back in 2002 for his film Divine Intervention.

It Must Be Heaven is the story of Suleiman, the main character, who goes on a search for a new home, only to realize Palestine will always be his primary homeland. 

This Algerian drama is the second Arab movie to compete in the Un Certain Regard category along with Adam. 

Directed by Mounia Meddour, Papicha takes place in Algiers in 1997 and revolves around Nedjma, a young student with an interest in fashion. She's determined to organize a fashion show amidst the city's civil war.

The Syrian documentary, directed by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts, follows real events that occurred in Al-Kateab's life. 

She used her camera to document and capture stories about love, war, loss, and motherhood over the course of five years in war-torn Aleppo. The fact-based film is featured in the Special Screening category.

This is the only short film by an Arab filmmaker to be included in this year's Cinéfondation section. 

The Palestinian short is directed by Wisam Al Jafari and follows two ambitious young men trying to record a demo in their refugee camp for a competition. Facing obstacles and difficulties in their crowded, noisy camp, they end up taking advantage of their situation and drawing inspiration from it.

Algerian filmmaker Amin Sidi-Boumedine worked on his first feature-length film, Abou Leila, which follows two friends in Algeria on their search for a terrorist. 

The film is nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize and the Caméra d'Or.

Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem directed and wrote the "much anticipated minimalistic comedy" The Unknown Saint; also nominated for the Critics' Week Grand Prize and the Caméra d'Or.

The movie is about a thief who buried stolen money in a deserted village before his arrest. After his release, he goes to retrieve his loot and discovers a shrine, that's become a tourist attraction, was built on top of it. 

The Trap, directed by Egyptian writer and director Nada Riyadh, is a short 20-minute film about a young couple looking for intimacy on an isolated island in Egypt. The plot twist is revealed when the woman surprises her boyfriend with a breakup.  

Tlamess marks Tunisian director Ala Eddine Slim's second feature film. 

It follows a young Tunisian soldier who lost his mother and thus returned home. Throughout his journey, he meets a pregnant woman in the wilderness.