Identity—and the way it manifests in documentary—is not monolithic. Palestinians are divided not only by occupation, displacement, and siege, but dispersed across the world in contexts of migration, exile, and cultural hybridity. Yet international documentary culture has often flattened this multiplicity into a single story of crisis and loss, leaving little room for the full range of what Palestinian filmmakers are actually making, or for honest conversation about how that work gets funded and shown.

The Palestine Film Institute (PFI), dedicated to preserving and promoting Palestinian cinema beyond its most visible narratives, brings a delegation of four filmmakers with documentary projects currently in development to Getting Real '26. Each will present a short clip from their work-in-progress before the conversation opens to the harder questions: what ethical funding for Palestinian documentary actually looks like, what responsibilities festivals bear in bringing these stories to screen, and what freedom of expression and protection from censorship mean for filmmakers working today.

Moderator: Casey Asprooth-Jackson (Palestine Film Institute)

Panelists: Khalil Mozian (Memory of the scene), Sarah Moweswes, Hana Elias (If These Stones Could Talk), Jameelah Shelo (Fractured)

What We Can Learn from Palestinian Documentary Today

Wednesday, July 22, 12:00pm PT
Japanese American National Museum, Forum Theatre, Los Angeles