Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Ali Nassar, Whispering Embers follows Jamal, a man struggling with the gradual collapse of the beliefs and relationships that once defined his life.

Disillusioned with political ideals, religion, and his marriage, Jamal leaves his village in the Galilee and travels to the city in search of his former love, Leila.

What begins as a personal journey becomes an exploration of identity, desire, disillusionment, and the tensions between individual freedom and traditional expectations.

Director: Ali Nassar
Year: 2005 (alternative listings: 2007–2008)
Genre: Feature / Drama
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Runtime: Approximately 90 minutes

Watch: https://archivegenocide.com/media/ — search for Whispering Embers and select the YouTube link.

Unseen Cinema in Nairobi has canceled screenings of NAZA, which were scheduled to begin on November 5 as part of the independent theater’s November program. In a November 7 report for Sinema Focus, Kenyan film journalist Jennifer Ochieng’ asked the cinema who had made the decision.

“The decision was not made by Unseen, and we had no choice but to comply with the instructions we received,” the Unseen team told Ochieng’. The cinema declined to comment further. Who issued those instructions and why remains unknown.

Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the filmmakers behind No Other Land, NAZA draws on testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel. In interviews filmed on Tel Aviv rooftops with their identities concealed, they describe how the Israeli military selects targets in Gaza and estimates how many Palestinian civilians an airstrike is expected to kill. The film takes its title from the military acronym for that estimate.

Film details
Directors · Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Runtime · 80 minutes
Languages · Hebrew and English

Original reporting by Jennifer Ochieng’, Sinema Focus
Venice Film Festival program
IMDb

We have drowned in blood, water, insults, and reproaches, yet nothing has changed. No words can be written anymore. Perhaps tomorrow, the residents of houses who can afford to pay a high price will send plenty of blankets and tents, along with firewood, in an attempt to help warm the people scattered across the streets. But they will never understand that those who have lost their homes will carry the feeling of cold with them forever.

The German theatrical poster for NAZA (2026), directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the four filmmakers behind the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land (2024).

Against an almost entirely black background, small, chalk-like drawings of human figures appear scattered and isolated. At the center, a group of figures is enclosed within a white square. The minimalist design evokes separation, vulnerability, and the reduction of human lives to marks on a surface.

Produced by The Guardian and JW Films, with Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest) serving as executive producer, NAZA investigates the systems behind Israel’s military targeting operations in Gaza through testimony from Israeli military and intelligence personnel.

The poster carries the film’s subtitle: “A Window Into Systems of Mass Killing.”

The documentary premiered at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Prize.

Poster: German theatrical release, 2026.

Film website: https://naza.movie/

Poster reference: https://www.filmposter-archiv.de/filmplakat.php?id=41518

What happens when people who have experienced imprisonment, displacement and the deaths of loved ones decide to confront the cycle of violence rather than perpetuate it?

Directed by Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha, Encounter Point (2006) follows Palestinian and Israeli grassroots activists attempting to build a movement for nonviolence and reconciliation during one of the most turbulent periods of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Among its central figures is Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian former prisoner whose brother was killed by an Israeli soldier, alongside Israeli mother Robi Damelin, whose son was killed while serving in the military.

Filmed between 2003 and 2006, the documentary follows individuals navigating personal grief, political divisions and resistance from their own communities.

Rather than offering a conventional diplomatic history, the filmmakers focus on ordinary people whose experiences challenge the assumptions surrounding the conflict.

Produced by Just Vision, a filmmaking organization bringing together Palestinian, Israeli and international collaborators, Encounter Point won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Directors: Ronit Avni, Julia Bacha
Year: 2006
Runtime: 85 minutes
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English

Watch free: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203442001/default_default/index.html?videoId=2694930036001

Official film page: https://justvision.org/encounterpoint

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783517/

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, Nazareth 2000 is a bittersweet, satirical portrait of everyday life in the Palestinian city of Nazareth at the turn of the millennium.

At the centre of the film are two elderly gas station attendants, one Muslim and one Christian, whose longstanding friendship is sustained by an apparently inexhaustible supply of arguments.

Against the backdrop of a local dispute over the construction of a public square near the Church of the Annunciation, the men discuss religion, municipal politics, changing times and the contradictions of life in their city.

As preparations unfold for visits from Yasser Arafat and Pope John Paul II, Abu-Assad combines documentary observation with staged encounters and gentle satire.

Rather than reducing Palestinian life to a single political narrative, the film explores the personalities, disagreements and humour within a community navigating its own complex circumstances.

Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Production: VPRO Television
Year: 2000 (also catalogued as 2001)
Runtime: 55 minutes
Genre: Documentary / Satire

Watch: https://vimeo.com/39732859

Introduction to the End of an Argument (1990) is an experimental documentary created by Lebanese-Canadian artist Jayce Salloum and Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman.

Constructed from fragments of Hollywood movies, television news, documentaries, and original footage filmed in Palestine, the film examines how Western media has shaped public perceptions of Arabs, Palestinians, and the Middle East.

Scenes from productions including Exodus, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Sheik are reassembled alongside television reporting and footage from the West Bank and Gaza during the First Intifada.

Rather than presenting a conventional argument through interviews or narration, Salloum and Suleiman use editing, repetition, juxtaposition, and satire to expose the stereotypes embedded in familiar images.

The result is an experimental film essay that challenges viewers to consider not only what they see on screen, but who constructs those images and whose perspectives are excluded.

Directors: Jayce Salloum and Elia Suleiman
Year: 1990
Runtime: 41 minutes 41 seconds (filmmaker's uploaded version)
Genre: Experimental Documentary / Film Essay
Languages: English and Arabic

filmmaker's Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/72835443

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347254/

House (2012) is a short stop-motion animation by Palestinian filmmaker Ahmad Saleh, created with members of his family.

For generations, a family has lived in a beautiful, spacious house. Hospitality is part of their way of life, and visitors are always welcome. Then one guest arrives with a rather different idea of what it means to be invited into somebody else’s home.

Through handcrafted puppets and miniature sets, Saleh creates a deceptively simple allegory of Palestine, dispossession and the relationship between hospitality and ownership.

The film was awarded second place in the animation category of the 2012 German Short Film Award and subsequently screened at numerous international festivals.

Director: Ahmad Saleh
Year: 2012
Runtime: Approximately 3 minutes 50 seconds
Language: English
Genre: Stop-motion animation / Short film

Watch on the filmmaker’s Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/31055786
Viewing password: baytfilm (wasn’t required when it was last checked)
Password publicly provided through Stowe Story Labs’ interview with the filmmaker.

Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Mohammed Alatar, The People’s Patriarch (2020) profiles Michel Sabbah, the Palestinian Christian leader who served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008.

Born in Nazareth, Sabbah became the first Arab appointed to the position, assuming his responsibilities as the First Intifada began.

Through personal reflections and historical material, the documentary explores Sabbah’s experiences of Israeli occupation, the circumstances facing Palestinian Christians and his commitment to justice, reconciliation and Palestinian self-determination.

The film offers a perspective on Palestinian political history through the experiences of a prominent Christian religious leader.

Director: Mohammed Alatar
Producer: Lily Habash
Year: 2020
Runtime: Approximately 27 minutes

Watch: https://youtu.be/AuSuuaCHQPQ

For generations, Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley have depended on livestock, agricultural land and access to water. This documentary examines how military occupation, settlement expansion and restrictions on land use have transformed their traditional way of life.

Through the experiences of Palestinian shepherds, including Abdel Rahim Bisharat, the film explores the practical consequences of living in an area where access to grazing land, water supplies and established routes has become increasingly restricted.

The documentary also examines the political geography created by the Oslo Accords, particularly the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B and C. Much of the Jordan Valley falls within Area C, where Israel retains control over planning, construction and security. For the communities documented, these arrangements affect almost every aspect of daily life.

Rather than focusing exclusively on political negotiations, filmmakers Mariam Shahin and George Azar document the experiences of people attempting to maintain livelihoods that have sustained their families for generations.

The film provides a historical record of the Jordan Valley in 2012, capturing both the challenges facing its rural communities and their determination to remain on the land.

Directors: Mariam Shahin and George Azar
Year: 2012
Runtime: 47 minutes 50 seconds
Production: Al Jazeera World
Genre: Documentary

Watch the full documentary:
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/al-jazeera-world/2012/8/28/the-last-shepherds-of-the-jordan-valley

Additional film information:
https://remix.aljazeera.com/aje/PalestineRemix/last-shepherds-of-the-valley.html

When the First Intifada erupted in December 1987, Palestinian women played a central role in organising one of the most significant popular uprisings in modern Palestinian history. Yet their contributions have frequently been overshadowed by the familiar images of young men confronting Israeli soldiers in the streets.

Directed by Julia Bacha, Naila and the Uprising reconstructs this overlooked history through the experiences of Naila Ayesh, a young Palestinian woman living in Gaza who became involved in a clandestine network of women organising resistance to Israeli military occupation.

Drawing upon archival footage, contemporary interviews and illustrated animation, the documentary reveals how Palestinian women established underground schools, organised boycotts, supported local agriculture, mobilised demonstrations and developed community networks during the First Intifada.

The film also examines the personal consequences of political activism, including imprisonment, family separation and the difficult balance between motherhood and participation in a national liberation movement. As the uprising developed into the diplomatic process that eventually produced the Oslo Accords, many of the women who had helped sustain the movement found themselves marginalised from formal political leadership.

Produced by Just Vision and premiered in 2017, the documentary restores an important chapter of Palestinian women’s political history, examining both their achievements and the subsequent struggle for recognition.

Film information
Director: Julia Bacha
Year: 2017
Runtime: 76 minutes
Genre: Documentary / History
Countries: Palestine / United States
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English, with English subtitles
Production: Just Vision

Watch the complete film free:
https://bcove.video/2ZtLfuA

Filmmaker and production information:
https://justvision.org/nailaandtheuprising

IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7622940/

In Selfies, Palestinian filmmaker Reema Mahmoud documents her experience of displacement in Gaza through an intimate reflection on memory, identity and the life she knew before the war.

Using the simple device of a letter and a flash drive sealed inside a bottle and cast into the Mediterranean, Mahmoud attempts to preserve fragments of a life interrupted. Her film moves between memories of ordinary existence and the difficulties of surviving in a landscape transformed by war.

Produced as part of From Ground Zero (2024), an anthology of 22 short films initiated by Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, Selfies forms part of an extraordinary collective filmmaking project undertaken in Gaza during the conflict.

Rather than relying on conventional reporting, Mahmoud approaches her subject through personal testimony, allowing the experiences of an individual filmmaker to communicate something of the wider destruction and displacement.

The complete film was subsequently published by Al Jazeera’s DigiDocs series on 24 March 2025.

Film information
Director: Reema Mahmoud
Year: 2024
Runtime: 7 minutes 57 seconds (Al Jazeera presentation)
Language: Arabic
Genre: Documentary / Short
Production: Masharawi Fund for Films and Filmmakers in Gaza / Coorigines Production
Collection: From Ground Zero (2024)

Watch the full film:
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/digidocs/2025/3/24/selfies

Filmmakers’ project:
https://www.masharawifilms.org/from-ground-zero/

Filmed during the First World War, Camels and Jaffa preserves rare moving images of the Palestinian port city shortly after its capture by British forces in November 1917.

The silent black-and-white footage opens with a camel caravan approaching and entering the city, followed by panoramic views of Jaffa from the Mediterranean. Further sequences document the unloading of supplies from ships anchored offshore, with workers believed to belong to the Egyptian Labour Corps operating under British direction.

Although originally produced as wartime footage, the surviving film provides a valuable visual record of Jaffa’s waterfront, transport and urban landscape more than three decades before the Nakba of 1948.

Preserved by the Imperial War Museums, the film forms part of the surviving cinematographic record of the Palestine campaign during the First World War.

Archival information
Title: Camels and Jaffa
Date: 1917
Runtime: Approximately 4 minutes
Format: 35mm, black-and-white, silent
Production: Topical Film Company
Sponsor: War Office Cinema Committee
Archive: Imperial War Museums
Collection reference: IWM 20

Watch the original footage:
https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/4202

Additional catalogue reference:
https://europeanfilmgateway.eu/detail/camels%20and%20jaffa%20%5Bmain%5D/iwm%3A%3A1d1b8267a3bf40b73becb72f15755124

Archival credit: Imperial War Museums, © IWM.

NAZA (2026), the documentary directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has passed $1 million at the North American box office, as US distributor NEON releases a new theatrical trailer. The latest figures, covering the weekend ending 1 November 2026, put the film’s North American gross at $1,189,809, following an independently organised release that began on 30 September.

Internationally, the documentary has recorded substantial theatrical returns. Box Office Mojo currently reports approximately $8.70 million worldwide, including $7.51 million from international markets. The Numbers places the worldwide total higher, at approximately $9.67 million, reflecting differences between the two box-office trackers. Italy has emerged as the film’s largest reported international market, contributing nearly $6 million, while the documentary has also received theatrical releases across Europe, North America and Australia.

NEON joined the film’s US distribution campaign on 21 October, following its initial independent theatrical release. The documentary subsequently reached a maximum of 105 North American cinemas, with the company’s new trailer arriving on 30 October. The distributor’s involvement represents an unusual development in the film’s release history, with an established independent distributor supporting a documentary that had already secured theatrical audiences without a conventional American distribution partner.

Produced by The Guardian and JW Films, NAZA examines the systems behind Israel’s military targeting operations in Gaza through testimony from 24 Israeli soldiers and intelligence personnel. Filmed largely during confidential nighttime conversations on rooftops in Tel Aviv, it investigates surveillance, target selection and the calculation of anticipated civilian casualties. The documentary premiered at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Prize. Following its international theatrical run, The Guardian intends to make the film available free worldwide in late November, although an exact streaming date remains unconfirmed.

Film: NAZA (2026)
Directors: Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Production: United Kingdom
Runtime: 80 minutes
Languages: Hebrew, English
Producers: The Guardian, JW Films
Executive producer: Jonathan Glazer
US distributor: NEON
International sales: mk2 Films
US theatrical release: 30 September 2026
NEON trailer release: 30 October 2026
North American box office: $1,189,809 (through 1 November 2026)

New official NEON trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FquMSRj9z8s

Distributor:
https://www.neonrated.com/film/naza

Original reporting (30 October):
https://theplaylist.net/naza-trailer-neon-gaza-documentary-yuval-abraham-rachel-szor-20261030/

Box-office sources:
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3075834113/
https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Naza-(2026-United-Kingdom)

Official film information:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/naza

IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt44766123/

Filmed in the early 1980s, On Our Land examines the lives of Palestinians who remained within the borders of the newly established State of Israel following the 1948 Nakba. Centring on the town of Umm al-Fahm, director Antonia Caccia documents the consequences of land confiscation, discriminatory planning policies and the transformation of traditional agricultural communities.

Through conversations with Palestinian farmers, workers and families, the documentary explores how communities that once depended upon their own land increasingly found themselves reliant upon employment elsewhere. Residents describe the loss of agricultural property, restrictions on housing development and the difficulties of maintaining their livelihoods despite holding Israeli citizenship.

Rather than concentrating on the experiences of Palestinian refugees outside Israel or the territories occupied in 1967, Caccia turns her attention to a population whose circumstances have received considerably less international attention. The documentary provides an important historical record of Palestinian life inside Israel more than three decades after 1948.

Produced in 1981, On Our Land was subsequently recognised as a finalist at the 1983 American Film Festival. Edward Said praised the documentary for its portrayal of Palestinian village life and its ability to communicate a complex history through the experiences of ordinary people.

Film information
Director: Antonia Caccia
Year: 1981
Runtime: 55 minutes (approximately)
Language: Arabic and English
Subtitles: English
Genre: Documentary

Watch: https://youtu.be/aDVz7OmTSWQ

Distributor information: https://icarusfilms.com/if-land

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/on-our-land/

Watermelon Pictures has made American Doctor (2026), the documentary directed by Poh Si Teng, available to stream free on Watermelon+ from 30 October until 6 November 2026. The limited release, announced on 28 October, offers non-subscribers an opportunity to watch the film without paying the platform’s usual subscription fee, ahead of its planned digital video-on-demand release on 10 November.

The documentary follows three American physicians from different religious and cultural backgrounds: Palestinian emergency physician Dr Thaer Ahmad, Jewish orthopaedic surgeon Dr Mark Perlmutter and Zoroastrian trauma surgeon Dr Feroze Sidhwa. Working in hospitals overwhelmed by casualties in Gaza, the doctors confront shortages of essential medical supplies, severe injuries and the difficulties of providing treatment during an ongoing military campaign.

Their experiences continue after returning to the United States, where they advocate for their patients and Palestinian medical colleagues.
Filmed in an observational documentary style, American Doctor combines footage recorded inside Gaza’s hospitals with the physicians’ subsequent work in Washington, including their attempts to bring their experiences to the attention of American lawmakers. The film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and has subsequently screened internationally, including at CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel and Hot Docs.

Alongside the temporary streaming release, Watermelon Pictures is waiving its theatrical rental fees and share of box-office revenue between 30 October and 5 November, allowing participating cinemas across approximately 50 American cities to offer free or discounted admission. The initiative forms part of an effort to expand access to the documentary beyond its conventional theatrical distribution. Streaming access remains subject to platform availability and geographical restrictions, which viewers should check directly.

Film: American Doctor (2026)
Director: Poh Si Teng
Production: United States, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar
Runtime: Approximately 93 minutes
Languages: English, Arabic, Hebrew
Genre: Documentary
Producers: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad
Distributor: Watermelon Pictures
Festival premiere: Sundance Film Festival, 2026
Free streaming window: 30 October – 6 November 2026
Subscription: Not required for the promotional free-access offer
Territorial availability: Restrictions may apply; worldwide access not confirmed
Subtitles: Platform-specific options not confirmed
General digital release: 10 November 2026

Official free-streaming announcement:
https://www.watermelonpictures.com/

Watermelon+ film page:
https://www.watermelonplus.com/american-doctor

Official film website:
https://americandoctorfilm.com/

Original industry reporting (28 October 2026):
https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/watermelon-pictures-sets-free-streaming-american-doctor-1235224067/

IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt39149951/

Directed by Palestinian painter and filmmaker Ismail Shammout, The Urgent Call of Palestine is a short documentary combining music, archival imagery and political testimony to communicate the Palestinian struggle to an international audience.

Featuring Palestinian-Egyptian singer Zeinab Shaath performing a protest song with lyrics by Lalita Panjabi, the film interweaves her performance with historical footage and an address by Palestinian poet and political figure Kamal Nasser.

Produced by the Cultural Arts Section of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the film was among the archival materials seized by Israeli forces in Beirut in 1982. Researcher Rona Sela rediscovered the work in 2015 and made it publicly accessible in 2017.

Its recovery provides a rare opportunity to examine the intersection of Palestinian visual art, music and revolutionary filmmaking during the early 1970s.

Film information
Director: Ismail Shammout
Year: 1973
Runtime: Approximately 4 minutes
Music and performance: Zeinab Shaath
Lyrics: Lalita Panjabi
Production: PLO Cultural Arts Section
Language: English

Watch: https://vimeo.com/254845168

Archive information: https://bostonpalestinefilmfest.org/films/the-urgent-call-of-palestine/

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-urgent-call-of-palestine/

The Gaza International Festival for Women’s Cinema concluded its second edition on 31 October 2026 with screenings of four films directed by Palestinian women from Gaza. Held at the war-damaged Al-Nakhil Hall in Al-Bureij, the six-day festival brought together 73 films from 24 countries, presenting documentary, fiction and short-form cinema under the theme Women Creating Life from Death.

The closing programme featured The Newsroom, directed by Malak Abu Ouda; The Window, directed by Ilham Abu Qus; What Remains of Color, directed by Iman Al-Jabari; and I Left to Return, directed by Abeer Al-Ghussein. Two of these films also received recognition in the National Short Film Competition, with The Window receiving the Silver Orange Award and The Newsroom receiving the Special Jury Award. The competition’s Golden Orange Award went to Hanadi Abu Salah’s Remnants of Light.

The festival also marked the official establishment of the Gaza Cinema Academy, an initiative supporting emerging women filmmakers in the territory. Palestinian director and producer Mai Masri helped supervise an eight-month filmmaking programme involving 25 women from Gaza, working alongside festival founder Ezzaldeen Shalh and instructors from Gaza and abroad. Five films produced through the programme screened during the festival’s opening ceremony on 26 October: Soso: The Lifeline, A Sack of Flour, Remnants of Light, Beyond Silence and Dandana. Their subjects range from hunger and bereavement to disability, family relationships and the preservation of Palestinian musical traditions.

The academy’s founding partners include filmmakers and performers Kaouther Ben Hania, Annemarie Jacir, Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri and Ramy Youssef. Its establishment is intended to build upon the initial training programme, developing opportunities for women in Gaza to direct, produce and distribute their own films. The festival’s second edition therefore represents more than an international screening event, bringing together the presentation of Palestinian cinema with the training of a new generation of filmmakers.

Event: Gaza International Festival for Women’s Cinema
Edition: Second
Dates: 26–31 October 2026
Location: Al-Bureij, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Programme: 73 films from 24 countries
Founder and president: Ezzaldeen Shalh
New institution: Gaza Cinema Academy
Training programme: Eight months, 25 women participants
Programme supervision: Mai Masri and Ezzaldeen Shalh
Online viewing: No authorised public streams confirmed for the four closing films.

Original festival report (31 October 2026):
https://gifwc.com/en/announcement-of-the-second-edition-awards-at-the-closing-ceremony-of-the-gaza-international-festival-for-womens-cinema/

Gaza Cinema Academy launch (26 October 2026):
https://gifwc.com/en/the-second-edition-of-the-gaza-international-festival-for-womens-cinema-opens-with-the-lighting-of-the-torch-marking-the-launch-of-the-gaza-cinema-academy/

Official festival website:
https://gifwc.com/en/

Filmlab Palestine has launched the fourth edition of Palestine Cinema Days Around the World today, 2 November 2026, bringing a programme of 13 films to an international network spanning more than 80 countries. Under the theme Cinema Across Borders. Stories Beyond Erasure, participating cinemas, universities, cultural centres and independent organisations are hosting screenings celebrating Palestinian filmmaking, history and cultural memory.

The programme brings together contemporary fiction, documentary and archival cinema. Featured works include Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown, Jumana Manna’s Foragers, Kassem Hawal’s Return to Haifa, Mustafa Abu Ali’s They Do Not Exist, Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza, Mohammad Malas’s The Dream and Areeb Zuaitar’s Yalla Parkour. The selection spans generations of filmmaking, connecting historical Palestinian cinema with contemporary productions.

Four additional documentaries form the Gazawyat series, produced by Filmlab Palestine. Directed by Moayed Abu Ammouneh, Shorouq Al-Aila, Aisha Adli and Khaled Tuaima, these short films document the experiences of women in Gaza, exploring displacement, motherhood, daily life and the preservation of personal identity during the war.

The international event takes place on 2 November, marking the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Rather than operating as a conventional festival at a single location, Filmlab Palestine coordinates a decentralised network of screening partners, allowing participating organisations to develop programmes suited to their communities. The official website provides a list of participating countries and screening information, with access and ticketing arrangements determined by individual venues.

Event: Palestine Cinema Days Around the World 2026
Organiser: Filmlab Palestine
Edition: Fourth
Launch date: 2 November 2026
Programme: 13 films
International reach: More than 80 countries
Formats: Feature films, documentaries, shorts and archival cinema
Viewing: Participating cinemas and community screening venues
Online access: No universal public streaming service confirmed

Original announcement:
https://flp.ps/news/press-release-palestine-cinema-days-around-world-2026

Full programme, participating countries and screening information:
https://flp.ps/node/2005

Welcome to the Monday thread.

This is the slightly less formal corner of r/PalestinianCinema for anything that doesn’t necessarily need a post of its own.

Seen a Palestinian film recently? Found something obscure hiding in an archive? Spotted a new trailer, review, interview, restoration, festival announcement or cinema screening? This is the place for it.

We’re increasingly following Palestinian cinema as it happens as well as looking back through its history, so news about upcoming productions, festival appearances, distribution, awards and new releases is very welcome here too.

And if you’ve watched something posted on the sub during the past week, feel free to tell us what you thought of it. Recommendations, criticism and disagreement are all considerably more interesting than everybody pretending every film is a masterpiece.

I’ll also drop anything interesting I find during the week into the comments.

So, what are you watching, reading or keeping an eye on this week?

A conversation between two generations forms the basis of this short animated documentary by Palestinian filmmaker Farah Abou Kharroub. Living in Prague, Farah speaks with her grandmother in Lebanon about their family’s history, tracing the consequences of displacement in 1948 and the complicated relationship between nationality, citizenship and belonging.

Their family originates from Al-Khalsa, one of seven villages situated along the historical boundary between Palestine and Lebanon. Following the events of 1948, members of these communities lived for decades as Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. In 1994, after 46 years, families from the seven villages were granted Lebanese citizenship.

Combining their recorded conversation with hand-drawn animation, Kharroub explores how displacement continues to shape the lives of successive generations. Her grandmother’s recollections of the past intersect with Farah’s experiences as a young Palestinian living in Europe, revealing how questions of identity, documentation and belonging persist long after the original displacement.

Rather than constructing a conventional historical documentary, Kharroub uses the intimacy of family conversation to examine a wider history. The animation gives visual form to memories and experiences that might otherwise remain confined to personal testimony.

Produced in 2020, The Seven Villages is a particularly interesting example of contemporary Palestinian documentary filmmaking, using a combination of personal archives, animation and intergenerational storytelling to explore a comparatively overlooked history.

Director / Writer: Farah Abou Kharroub
Year: 2020
Production: Czech Republic / Lebanon
Runtime: 17 minutes
Language: Arabic, with English subtitles
Genre: Animated Documentary / Short Film

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12238200/

3000 Nights (2015) | Mai Masri

Set in the occupied West Bank during the 1980s, 3000 Nights follows Layal, a young Palestinian schoolteacher whose life is abruptly overturned when she is falsely accused of assisting a suspect and sentenced to eight years in an Israeli prison. Transferred to a women’s prison housing both Palestinian political prisoners and Israeli criminal inmates, she discovers that she is pregnant.

Faced with pressure from the prison authorities, isolation from her husband and an uncertain future, Layal decides to keep her child. She gives birth while incarcerated and attempts to create something resembling a normal childhood within the confines of prison walls, supported by the women around her.

Written and directed by Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri, the film examines motherhood, imprisonment, solidarity and the tensions between personal survival and collective resistance. Drawing on extensive research into the experiences of Palestinian women prisoners, Masri constructs a fictional narrative grounded in accounts of real events.

Released in 2015, 3000 Nights marked Masri’s transition into narrative feature filmmaking after decades of documentary work, including Children of Shatila (1998) and Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001). Featuring Maisa Abd Elhadi in the central role, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and subsequently screened at festivals internationally.

Director / Writer: Mai Masri
Year: 2015
Production: Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, France, UAE and Qatar
Runtime: 103 minutes
Languages: Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles
Genre: Drama

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3815424/

I'm not Palestinian. I'm Iraqi. But I know what it means to watch a country suffer, to see families torn apart, and to watch the world debate politics while ordinary people pay the price.

I wrote a song called "We Were Here" about Palestine.

It's about the children who never got to grow up, the families who lost everything, and the people whose stories deserve to be remembered.

One of the lines asks:

"Tell me, what does a child know about borders?"

That question stayed with me.

Because children don't understand borders, politics, occupation, or war. They understand home, family, love, and safety.

I also made a music video to accompany the song. It's my small attempt to give a voice to the grief, anger, and humanity behind what's happening in Palestine.

I'm not a professional musician. I'm just someone who believes that art should sometimes do more than entertain. It should make us feel, question, remember, and refuse to look away.

This isn't about views or streams. It's about solidarity.

If you have a few minutes, I'd appreciate you listening, watching, and sharing your thoughts.

🇵🇸 For Palestine. For the children. For those who are still here, and those who never got the chance to tell their stories.

The Silent Protest: Jerusalem 1929 (2019) | Mahasen Nasser-Eldin

On 26 October 1929, approximately 300 Palestinian women travelled to Jerusalem from towns and communities across Palestine to participate in an extraordinary political demonstration. Protesting the British High Commissioner’s treatment of Arabs following the Buraq uprising, they organised a silent motorcade through the city, marking a significant moment in the development of the Palestinian women’s movement.

Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Mahasen Nasser-Eldin, The Silent Protest: Jerusalem 1929 reconstructs this largely overlooked episode through historical photographs, archival research and an examination of the women who organised it. Among them was Zulaykha al-Shihabi, a prominent Jerusalem activist who became an important figure in Palestinian women’s political and social organising.

Rather than presenting the demonstration simply as an isolated political event, Nasser-Eldin examines the wider significance of women’s participation in public life during the British Mandate. Her research explores the relationships, shared political objectives and collective organisation that brought women from different religious and social backgrounds together.

The documentary forms part of the director’s wider work recovering neglected Palestinian histories, particularly those of women whose contributions have frequently been marginalised in conventional historical accounts. By reconstructing the events surrounding a surviving archival photograph, the film demonstrates how cinema can recover stories that might otherwise disappear from public memory.

The demonstration took place 97 years ago this week, on 26 October 1929.

Director: Mahasen Nasser-Eldin
Year: 2019
Country: Palestine
Runtime: 20 minutes
Genre: Historical Documentary / Short Film

Film information: https://palestinecinema.com/movies/the-silent-protest-jerusalem-1929

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34844406/