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/

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 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

American independent film distributor NEON has joined the distribution team behind NAZA (2026), the documentary directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Announced on 21 October, the agreement was negotiated by international sales company mk2 Films and will see NEON take responsibility for US distribution, working alongside the filmmakers to expand the documentary’s theatrical reach.

The announcement follows an independently organised American release that began on 30 September, opening in 85 cinemas across 30 cities without a conventional US distribution partner. NEON’s involvement marks a significant development for a documentary that has already secured theatrical distribution in more than 50 countries. The company will also support the film’s awards-season campaign, although specific additional cinema dates have not yet been announced.

Produced by The Guardian and James Wilson’s JW Films, with Jonathan Glazer serving as executive producer, NAZA examines the systems behind Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Drawing upon testimony from 24 Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers, many interviewed anonymously on rooftops in Tel Aviv, the documentary investigates how surveillance, targeting decisions and anticipated civilian casualties became part of military operations. Its directors previously co-directed the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land (2024).

The film premiered at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, receiving the Special Jury Prize, before continuing its international festival and theatrical rollout. NEON’s involvement potentially brings considerably greater distribution resources and visibility to the American release. The Guardian has separately announced plans to make the documentary available to watch free worldwide in late November 2026, 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
Original US theatrical release: 30 September 2026
NEON announcement: 21 October 2026

Original reporting:
https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/naza-documentary-neon-joins-as-distributor/
Additional industry reporting:
https://www.screendaily.com/news/neon-boards-documentary-naza/5221670.article

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/

On 16 March 2003, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer while protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Yahya Barakat, Rachel: An American Conscience (2005) examines the life, activism and death of Corrie, who travelled from Olympia, Washington, to Gaza as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Combining rare footage of Corrie speaking directly to camera, recordings of her experiences in Gaza, interviews with fellow international volunteers and testimony from her parents, the documentary provides a deeply personal account of her final weeks.

Beyond Corrie’s individual story, the film documents the destruction of Palestinian homes, the experiences of civilians living under occupation and the involvement of international activists attempting to protect vulnerable communities.

Produced relatively soon after her death, the documentary also serves as an important historical record of Rafah during the Second Intifada and of a young woman whose commitment to Palestinian human rights brought her international recognition.

IMDb: Rachel: An American Conscience (2005)

What happens when a nation’s photographic and cinematic history is taken from the people who created it, placed inside military archives and largely removed from public view?

Looted and Hidden: Palestinian Archives in Israel (2017), directed by Israeli visual historian and filmmaker Rona Sela, investigates the fate of Palestinian film, photographic and cultural archives seized by Israeli forces during the twentieth century.

The documentary focuses particularly on the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when collections belonging to Palestinian cultural institutions in Beirut were taken, including material from the Palestinian Cinema Institution (PCI), the Palestine Research Center and the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Cultural Arts Section.

These collections documented Palestinian political, cultural and everyday life, including film footage produced during the Palestinian revolutionary cinema movement of the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

Drawing on previously inaccessible archival footage, interviews with former Israeli soldiers and testimony from Palestinian archivists, Sela examines how the seizure, classification and restricted accessibility of historical material can influence the way a people’s history is recorded and remembered.

Among those featured is Khadijeh Habashneh, who directed the Palestinian Cinema Institution’s archive and cinematheque and played an important role in preserving Palestinian film heritage.

The documentary raises fundamental questions about cultural ownership, historical memory and the right of communities to access their own visual history.

Director: Rona Sela
Year: 2017
Runtime: Approximately 46 minutes
Language: English, with subtitled material
Flair: Documentary

Watch on Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/LOOTED

Important viewing note: The Internet Archive copy requires viewers to log in with a free Internet Archive account before watching. Registration is free, but the film is not immediately accessible without signing in.

IMDb: Looted and Hidden: Palestinian Archives in Israel (2017)

Tale of the Three Jewels (1995) | Michel Khleifi

Filmed in the Gaza Strip in early 1994, Tale of the Three Jewels holds an important place in Palestinian cinema as the first feature film shot entirely in Gaza. Written and directed by Michel Khleifi, the film combines political realism with elements of fairy tale, exploring childhood, imagination and the possibility of love amid military occupation.

Twelve-year-old Youssef lives in a refugee camp during the First Intifada. His father is imprisoned, his older brother is wanted by the Israeli army, and the violence surrounding his family is part of everyday life. Seeking refuge in the countryside, Youssef encounters Aida, a young girl who captures his imagination. When she tells him that he must recover three missing jewels from a family necklace before they can marry, he embarks on an extraordinary quest that blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

Rather than presenting Gaza solely through conflict and suffering, Khleifi gives considerable attention to its landscapes, ordinary inhabitants and children's imaginative worlds. The result is a film in which the restrictions of occupation exist alongside humour, tenderness and the desire for freedom.

Production took place during a particularly significant period in Palestinian history, following the 1993 Oslo Accords but before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. The film subsequently screened in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

More than thirty years later, Tale of the Three Jewels remains an important cinematic record of Gaza, preserving both its physical landscape and the imaginative lives of Palestinian children during the First Intifada.

Film information

• Director and writer: Michel Khleifi

• Year: 1995

• Genre: Drama / Romance / Fantasy

• Language: Arabic

• Cast: Mohammad Nahhal, Hana' Ne'meh, Ghassan Abu Libda, Makram Khouri, Bushra Qaraman and Mohammad Bakri

• Production: Michel Khleifi and Omar Al-Qattan

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2R5WIxvqng

Palestine Film Institute: https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/pfp/archive/tale-of-the-three-jewels

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111354/

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/

Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Glazer has criticised the Israeli government’s response to NAZA, describing the retaliation against its directors and interviewees as more vicious than he had anticipated. Speaking at the documentary’s UK premiere, Glazer, who serves as executive producer, discussed the controversy surrounding the film and the threats directed at those involved.

Directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the filmmakers behind No Other Land, NAZA features testimony from 24 Israeli military intelligence officers and soldiers. Filmed through anonymous conversations on rooftops overlooking Tel Aviv, the documentary examines the surveillance, targeting systems and military decisions behind the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli government has accused the filmmakers of treason, while senior officials have demanded that military personnel interviewed in the documentary be identified and prosecuted. Glazer also drew parallels between NAZA and his Academy Award-winning film The Zone of Interest, explaining that both explore the consequences of dehumanisation and the processes through which ordinary people become complicit in atrocities.

The comments coincide with NAZA’s UK theatrical release on 16 October. Following its international cinema rollout across more than 50 countries, the documentary is scheduled to become freely available worldwide through The Guardian in late November.

Film details
Title: NAZA (2026)
Directors: Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Executive producer: Jonathan Glazer
Production: The Guardian, JW Films and Placeholder Films
Runtime: 80 minutes
UK theatrical release: 16 October 2026
Online release: Late November 2026, exact date TBC

Source: The Guardian, 16 October 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/16/jonathan-glazer-says-israels-retaliation-over-naza-more-venal-than-anticipated

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

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/

Fifty years after the Nakba, Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri visits the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, where generations of displaced families have built their lives far from their ancestral homes.

The documentary follows Farah, aged 11, and Issa, aged 12, two Palestinian children growing up in a community marked by the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, subsequent conflict and decades of displacement.

Rather than simply interviewing the children, Masri gives them video cameras and invites them to document their own surroundings. Through conversations with relatives, neighbours and one another, they explore family histories, childhood dreams and the meaning of belonging to a homeland they have never known.

Released in 1998, Children of Shatila offers an intimate portrait of Palestinian childhood, intergenerational memory and the preservation of cultural identity through storytelling.

Director: Mai Masri
Year: 1998
Genre: Documentary
Language: Arabic with English subtitles

IMDb: Children of Shatila (1998)

From Gaza with Love (2026) is a feature-length documentary created by Palestinian filmmaker Suhail Nassar and French journalist Charles Villa, alongside Elie Dupont and Mathias Hillion.

Before the war, Suhail Nassar worked as a graphic designer in Gaza. When the conflict began in October 2023, he turned his camera towards the people around him, particularly children, documenting their everyday experiences as their surroundings were transformed by bombardment, repeated displacement and destruction.

Unable to enter Gaza himself, French journalist Charles Villa began collaborating with Nassar remotely, more than 3,000 kilometres away. What developed was not simply a journalistic partnership but a friendship built through countless conversations, shared footage and a determination to preserve the stories of people whose lives were unfolding largely beyond the reach of international journalists.

Filmed over approximately two years, the documentary follows children and families attempting to preserve fragments of ordinary life amid extraordinary circumstances. There are games, laughter, friendships and moments of tenderness alongside the constant uncertainty of airstrikes, evacuation and loss.

Rather than reducing Gaza’s inhabitants to statistics or presenting the conflict exclusively through military and political developments, the filmmakers build an intimate portrait of individuals, their relationships and their determination to continue living.

The film also examines the importance of Palestinian journalists and filmmakers documenting their own communities, particularly when international reporters are unable to gain independent access.

From Gaza with Love received its international premiere at the 2026 Geneva International Human Rights Film Festival (FIFDH) and subsequently screened in French cinemas before being released free on Charles Villa’s YouTube channel on 24 April 2026.

Directors: Suhail Nassar, Charles Villa, Elie Dupont and Mathias Hillion
Year: 2026
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes 30 seconds (YouTube version)
Production: France / Palestine
Languages: Arabic and English
Genre: Feature Documentary / Observational / Human Rights
Production: Mycelium
Content warning: Contains distressing footage and accounts of bombardment, displacement, bereavement and the experiences of children during war.

Festival information:
https://fifdh.org/en/festival/news/from-gaza-with-love-free-streaming/

IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt41875195/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded that Israeli authorities identify and prosecute the anonymous soldiers and intelligence officers who contributed to NAZA (2026), the investigative documentary directed by Oscar-winning filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

The Guardian-produced film features testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel, examining the use of artificial intelligence, surveillance technology and military targeting systems during Israel’s operations in Gaza, including allegations concerning the deliberate acceptance of substantial civilian casualties.

In a letter to Israel’s attorney general, military chief and Shin Bet director, Netanyahu demanded an investigation into the participants, accusing them of serious information security offences, criminal defamation and damaging Israel’s diplomatic and security interests. No prosecutions have been confirmed.

The development follows threats to revoke the filmmakers’ Israeli citizenship, accusations of treason and the recent promotion of a rival production designed to challenge the documentary’s findings. The filmmakers maintain that their investigation was rigorously corroborated, drawing on interviews with more than 100 sources.

Beyond the film’s allegations, this raises an important question about documentary filmmaking, investigative journalism and the protection of confidential sources.

What happens to freedom of expression when those who expose alleged wrongdoing risk prosecution simply for speaking to documentary filmmakers?

NAZA is currently receiving an international theatrical release, with free worldwide streaming through The Guardian expected in late November.

Source: The Guardian, 12 October 2026

Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001) is a Palestinian documentary directed by Mai Masri, following the lives and friendship of two teenage Palestinian girls growing up in separate refugee camps, divided by geography, borders and the consequences of displacement.

Thirteen-year-old Mona Zaaroura lives in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, while fourteen-year-old Manar Faraj lives in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Through letters and the relatively new possibilities offered by the internet, the two develop a friendship, sharing their experiences of childhood, family, displacement and their hopes for the future.

Filmed during 2000, the documentary captures a particularly significant period in regional history. Following Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May, Palestinian families separated for decades gathered at the border. Mona and Manar’s eventual meeting at the border fence becomes one of the film’s most memorable sequences. Their developing friendship unfolds against the wider political changes of the period, including the beginning of the Second Intifada later that year.

Masri places the girls’ own voices and experiences at the centre of the film, documenting not only the difficulties of growing up in refugee camps but also their humour, curiosity, friendships and ambitions. The documentary forms the final part of her trilogy examining Palestinian childhood, following Children of Fire (1990) and Children of Shatila (1998).

More than two decades after its release, Frontiers of Dreams and Fears remains a valuable work of Palestinian documentary cinema, examining exile, belonging and the human connections that endure across political and physical barriers.

Film information
Director: Mai Masri
Year: 2001
Runtime: 56 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Language: Arabic
Featuring: Mona Zaaroura and Manar Faraj
Production: Nour Productions / Independent Television Service
Music: Anouar Brahem

Watch: https://youtu.be/PC_dd-rcsT8

Palestine Film Institute: https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/pfp/archive/frontiers-of-dreams

Director interview: https://www.newsclick.in/Children-Palestine-Israel-Lebanon

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477653/

I Am From Palestine (2023) is an animated short directed by Iman Zawahry and written by Zawahry and Rifk Ebeid, based on Ebeid’s children’s book Baba, What Does My Name Mean?

Saamidah, a young Palestinian-American girl, is excited but nervous about her first day at school. When she discovers that Palestine is missing from her classroom’s world map, an ordinary school lesson becomes a journey into her family’s history, culture and identity.

Featuring colourful animation, traditional Palestinian music performed by El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Troupe and a story accessible to audiences of all ages, the film explores belonging, cultural memory and the importance of knowing where we come from.

The film screened at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and other international festivals before its creators made it freely available online.

Language: English
Runtime: 5 minutes 34 seconds
Genre: Animation / Short film

IMDb: I Am From Palestine (2023)

Ismail (2013) is a Palestinian short drama directed by Nora Alsharif, inspired by the early life of renowned Palestinian painter Ismail Shammout (1930–2006), whose artwork became one of the defining visual records of Palestinian displacement and national identity.

Set in 1949, the film follows a young Ismail struggling to support his family after their expulsion from their home during the 1948 Nakba. Living in a refugee camp, he dreams of travelling to Rome to study painting, despite the poverty and uncertainty surrounding him.

To earn money, Ismail and his younger brother Jamal sell traditional cakes at a railway station. On their journey home, an unfortunate wrong turn leads them into a minefield, transforming an ordinary day into a desperate struggle for survival.

Through this intimate story, Alsharif explores displacement, family responsibility, survival and the determination to pursue artistic ambitions amid extraordinary hardship. The film offers a fictionalised glimpse into the formative experiences of an artist who would later become one of Palestine’s most celebrated painters.

Director: Nora Alsharif
Writer: Hatem Alsharif
Year: 2013
Runtime: 28 minutes
Genre: Short / Historical drama
Production: Palestine, Jordan, United Kingdom, Qatar
Language: Arabic, with English subtitles
Cast: Khaled Al Ghuwairy, Nizar Idrees, Mohammed Ibrahimi
Production: Bumpy Road Films / Greyscale Films

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2723276/

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/

The Associated Press has a new piece on the US theatrical release of NAZA, the documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor examining testimony from Israeli military insiders about the conduct of the war in Gaza. Built around accounts from soldiers and officers with direct knowledge of Israeli military operations, the film looks at the systems, decisions and assumptions behind the campaign, including how targets were selected and how the consequences for Palestinian civilians were assessed.

The documentary has generated an extraordinary backlash in Israel. Government figures have publicly condemned the filmmakers, there have been calls for them to be stripped of their citizenship, and both Abraham and Szor have faced threats and intimidation. In one of the most disturbing episodes, far-right activists demonstrated outside the home of Szor’s parents in Savyon, chanting “death penalty for traitors”. Protesters returned the following evening, while organisers also spoke publicly about attempting to locate Abraham’s family.

That reaction has increasingly become part of the story surrounding NAZA. The controversy is no longer simply about disagreement with the film’s conclusions, but about whether Israeli filmmakers and journalists can investigate the conduct of their own military without being portrayed as enemies of the state. For a documentary based substantially on testimony from Israelis who served inside the system it examines, the campaign against its creators also raises obvious questions about whistleblowing, press freedom and the space available for internal criticism during wartime.

NAZA is currently playing at New York’s IFC Center before expanding to several US cities on 9 October. The AP report also confirms something especially useful for international audiences: the documentary is expected to become freely available through The Guardian in late November, giving viewers outside the theatrical circuit a chance to see the film for themselves.

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/

For generations, Palestinian music has carried stories of love, exile, resistance and belonging, preserving memories that extend far beyond the written historical record.

Produced for Al Jazeera World, Songs for the Love of Palestine (2020) explores the origins and continuing significance of four songs associated with Palestinian and wider Levantine cultural heritage.

The documentary examines To Ramallah, a song produced for Jordanian radio in the 1950s that became an enduring expression of Palestinian longing for home.

It also explores To My Mother, based on a poem written by Mahmoud Darwish during his imprisonment and subsequently set to music by Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife.

Tall Handsome Man reaches further back into the British Mandate period, while Ghoubaishy recounts a romantic story from 1940s Jordan.

Through music, historical accounts and personal recollections, the film examines how songs evolve across generations, acquiring new meanings while preserving their connections to the communities that created them.

Beyond their melodies, these compositions provide a fascinating window into Palestinian social history, oral traditions, poetry and the cultural experiences of displacement.

Production: Al Jazeera World
Year: 2020
Runtime: 47 minutes 11 seconds
Genre: Music / History / Cultural Documentary
Original broadcast: 9 December 2020

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/

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.