Along with the various Arab film fests that sprang across Europe, the United States, Latin America and Australia over the past decade, Arab films have become a major fixture in dozens of film festivals all over the world. They carry a particular exoticism of a cinema fraught with political, social and economic instability. The recent success of Hany Abu-Assad’s “Omar” and Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square” at the last Academy Awards boosted the reputation of Arab films, while the huge revenues Haifaa al-Mansour’s “Wadjda” — one of the highest grossing foreign films of 2012 — proved their largely overlooked commercial potential … or that’s what Arab observers presumed.

At the end of every year, critics tend to get overexcited about the small crop of Arab films that made noise internationally; 2012 was a breakthrough year, mainly for those three aforementioned movies. But a look at the Arab representation at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival reveals a starker reality Arab filmmakers and producers must confront.

This year, only two films made it as an official Cannes selection: Omar El Zohairy's “The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometer 375” from Egypt — the first time an entry from Egypt made it to the Cinefondation section for student films — and Ossama Mohammad’s “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait” from Syria, screening outside the competition. Another movie, Kaouther Ben Hania's brilliant mockumentary “Challat of Tunis” from Tunisia will be screened at the ACID, a program outside the official selection set up to assist filmmakers find theatrical distribution.

Not a single Arab film made it to the four main Cannes sections — Official Competition, Un Certain Regard, Director’s Fortnight and Critics’ Week. There was no shortage of Arab applicants this year. Major, high-profile movies from Egypt, Palestine, Algeria and Morocco have all been rejected by the world’s pre-eminent film festival, forcing filmmakers to try their luck with Locarno, San Sebastian and Venice.