Location Scouting in Palestine (1965)

Documentary, 54m

In 1963, accompanied by a newsreel photographer and a Catholic priest, Piero Paolo Pasolini traveled to Palestine to investigate the possibility of filming his biblical epic The Gospel According to Matthew in its approximate historical locations. Edited by The Gospel‘s producer for potential funders and distributors, Location Scouting in Palestine features semi-improvised commentary from Pasolini as its only soundtrack. As we travel from village to village, we listen to Pasolini’s idiosyncratic musings on the teachings of Christ and witness his increasing disappointment with the people and landscapes he sees before him.

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Producers: Alfredo Bini

Cinematography: Otello Martelli, Aldo Pinelli

The Journey of the Others (2019)

Documentary, 74m

In the hot summer of northern Palestine, in the main hall of the Jenin Freedom Theater, a group of brave actors rehearse a play, risking their lives to fulfill their dream of premiering it in New York.

Six years have passed since the theater's founder, Juliano Mer Khamis, was brutally murdered, but his death only fanned the flame that ignited the Freedom Theater: art as the heart of peaceful cultural resistance.

Summer is coming to an end, but the heat seems to increase with the nervousness that runs through every corner of the theater. The cast is just a few days away from trying to travel to New York. Will they make it?

Director: Jaime Villareal

Producers: Benjamín Vicuña, Paola Facuse, Maurice Khamis, Javiera Khamis, Khalid Massou, Mohammed Youseff

Featuring: Zoe Lafferty, Mohammed Yousef, Ahmed Tobasi, Motaz Malhees

Foragers (2022)

Documentary, 65m

Foragers depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humor and a meditative pace. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it moves between fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. The restrictions prohibit the collection of the artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), and have resulted in fines and trials for hundreds caught collecting these native plants.

For Palestinians, these laws constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land while Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect. Following the plants from the wild to the kitchen, from the chases between the foragers and the nature patrol, to courtroom defenses, Foragers captures the inherited love, joy and knowledge in these traditions alongside their resilience to the prohibitive law. By reframing the terms and constraints of preservation, the film raises questions around the politics of extinction, namely who determines what is made extinct and what gets to live on.

Directed and Produced by: Jumana Manna

Camera: Marte Vold, Ashraf Dowani, Yaniv Linton

Editors: Jumana Manna, Katrin Ebersohn

Featuring: Aziza Manna, Adel Manna, Zeidan Hajib, Majmoud Shawahde, Ihab Salameh, Najma Hamdan, Samir Na’amneh

Rachel (2009)

Documentary, 1h 40m

An insightful and provocative exploration into the complexities of political solidarity, Rachel is the story of Rachel Corrie, a 22-year-old American member of the International Solidarity Movement, who was killed while trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from destroying Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip in 2003. Director Simone Bitton aligns her filmmaking methodology with the ISM's guidelines to state only objective and concrete details without placing judgment. Balancing interviews with the Israeli Defense Force's current and former personnel and the participants and leaders in the ISM, Bitton examines the circumstances surrounding the unresolved case of Corrie's death.

Director: Simone Bitton

Cinematography: Jacques Bouquin

Editors: Jean-Michel Perez & Catherine Poitevin

Goal Dreams (2006)

Documentary, 86m

The Palestinian national soccer team consists of players of all different nationalities. There are a few from Chile, one from the United States, from Lebanon, and some from Gaza. Their coach is the Austrian Alfred Riedl. It is his demanding task to prepare the team in a training camp in the Egyptian city of Ismaïlia for the international match against Uzbekistan, which should pave the way to the World Cup. The film follows the team in the weeks leading up to this key game.

There are many problems along the way. In particular, it is almost impossible for the players from Gaza to travel. Despite an official document that permits them to travel to Egypt, they have to wait for days before being allowed to cross the border. Meanwhile, tensions mount in the training camp. There is a confusion of tongues, as everyone is speaking a different language and the interpreters are not all that competent. It also proves difficult to adapt the different playing styles to one another. The training seems doomed to fail, but the players keep up the morale. After all, this team is more than just a soccer team: it is one of the few ways for the Palestinian people to promote their national identity and pride.

Directors: Maya Sanbar & Jeffrey Saunders

Cinematography: Carlos Gomez

Editors: Richard Lowe & Matyas Veress

Resistance — Why (1971)

Documentary, 58m

In 1970, at the initiative of Soraya Antonius (Fifth of June Society), Christian Ghazi and Noureddine Chatti met with a number of Arab political figures, in particular Palestinians residing in Lebanon.

In the documentary produced, Ghassan Kanafani, Sadiq Jalal El-Azm, Nabil Shaath and others share their vision of the Palestinian revolution, tracing its history back to the early 20th century. These testimonies describe the strikes and popular protests that took place in Palestine under the Ottoman occupation, followed by British colonization and the settlement of the Jewish state in 1948. They enumerate the objectives of the struggle, emphasizing the necessity for a free and democratic Palestine, defended through armed or non-armed struggle by all its citizens, men and women of various affiliations.

Director: Christian Ghazi

Scenario: Soraya Antonius

Music: Matar Mohammad

Camera: Christian Ghazi & Noureddit Chatti

Sound: Noureddin Chatti

Editor: Christian Ghazi

Printing and Processing: Baalbeck Studios S.A.L.

Produced by: Fifth of June Society

Restored by: Nadi Lekol Nas & Arsenal-Berlin

Gaza (2019)

Documentary, 1h 32m

Facing the serene Mediterranean Sea, 17-year-old Karma Khaial stands at the water's edge and senses freedom. But in Gaza, the sea is yet another wall restricting the lives and dreams of its inhabitants.

Premiering at Sundance in 2019, Gaza was selected as the Irish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Directors: Garry Keane & Andrew McConnell

Editor: Mick Mahon

Location Management: Fady Hannona

The Apollo of Gaza (2018)

Documentary, 78m

Co-produced by Akka Films and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), The Apollo of Gaza, directed by Swiss filmmaker Nicolas Wadimoff, tries to uncover the secrets behind this stunning archaeological discovery. Filmed in Gaza and Jerusalem, the film plays out like a mystery – one full of unexpected plot twists, as Wadimoff tracks down those who saw the priceless statue or who have heard stories about it. Is it the work of forgers, or a gift from the gods to Palestinians desperately in need of hope? There are a lot of unknowns, but one thing is sure: the Apollo of Gaza soon becomes an object of speculation and greed, its very existence feeding the wildest rumours, and blurring the line between truth and lie, myth and reality.

Beyond the local political rivalries and international concerns, The Apollo of Gaza is an engaging reflection on the passage of time and the cycles of history. It’s a history that has seen the birth, growth, and death of great civilizations, in a part of the world marked by the endless Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the besieged Gaza strip continues to pay a heavy price.

Director: Nicolas Wadimoff

Flying Paper (2013)

Documentary, 52m

Flying Paper is the uplifting story of Palestinian children in Gaza on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown. It showcases the creative resilience of these children making and flying kites despite the odds. The film has been co-produced with young Palestinians in Gaza trained by the filmmakers through a youth media program called Voices Beyond Walls.

While the record-breaking event is what drives the film’s narrative arc, it is the everyday stories of the young kite makers that will touch audiences through their humor and playful spirit. The film seeks to humanize the conflict through a touching cinematic rendering of the fascinating kite culture among children as a form of creative resistance in Gaza. Film website: FlyingPaper.org

Directors: Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill

Rainbow (2004)

Documentary 40m

A video essay meditating on the aftermath of "Operation Rainbow", an Israeli military operation in the Palestinian town of Rafah, Gaza Strip, in 2004.

“These are people who have crossed my path...Some of these rose from among the debris. Carrying their tears, some were looking for answers to worries that haunted them...Others were exhausted by contemplating the reality ...They appeared like me...I used to love the camera and believe in what it could do to transfer the pain...forget sorrows, or may be promise of a better life.”

Director: Abdel Salam Shehada

Gaza Strip (2002)

Documentary 74m

A "slice-of-life" documentary set in Gaza City, following the inner and outer lives of a 13-year-old boy, a self-styled revolutionary, as he struggles to find meaning in his life while his friends are killed around him, one by one.

“In early 2001 I spent three months in Gaza filming material for this documentary, GAZA STRIP, working with local fixer and translator, Mohammed Mohanna. The second Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation had begun in September, 2000, four months before I started filming.

Though the period this documentary covers includes the election of Ariel Sharon as Israeli Prime Minister and large incursions by the Israeli Defense Forces into Gaza, in retrospect the time depicted here is one of relative quiet. More recent Israeli attacks against Gaza have been far more destructive and deadly than what falls into the scope of this film.

The time since the release of this film in 2002 has seen many changes, including the evacuation of illegal Israeli settlements inside the Gaza Strip and the election of Hamas. However, the occupation and attacks against Gaza continue, and the blockade of Gaza has intensified. It is my hope that this film will provide a partial introduction to Gaza for those who have come to the subject recently, and also serve as a document of its time.”

Directors: James Longley

Not Just Your Picture (2021)

Documentary 55m

Not Just Your Picture tells the story of siblings Layla (24) and Ramsis (26), born and raised in the city of Siegen in Germany. Their Palestinian father, Ibrahim, came to study architecture in Germany in the 80’s, but moved back to the Gaza Strip following his divorce from their German mother. He then remarried and had five children. In the summer of 2014, during an attack on Gaza, Ibrahim, his wife and their five children were killed after the building they were sheltering in was hit by an Israeli airstrike and collapsed.

Layla and Ramsis’ grief set them on a journey of political awakening: Layla travels to Palestine, hoping to learn about her roots and see the reality on the ground for herself. Ramsis tours in Europe, retelling his family’s story while pursuing a legal case against the State of Israel through the German courts. In the meantime, their family in Gaza is trying to come to terms with the aftermath of the tragedy as their uncle Saleh wishes to meet his brother’s children who he never saw as adults. Moving between Gaza and Germany, the past and the present, the film follows the family’s wish to reunite, mourning their loved ones and search for unattainable justice.

Directors: Anne Paq, Dror Dayan

Editor: Dror Dayan

Additional Cinematography: Ezz Zaanoun, Michal Grosz, Ahmad Al-Bazz, Eloise Bollack

Produced in Association with: Al Jazeera Media Network

Erasmus in Gaza (2022)

Documentary 1h 28m

Riccardo, an Italian final-year medical student, is going on Erasmus. The destination: Gaza. Entering is not easy, requiring permission from three different authorities: the Israeli army, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

In crossing the border between Israel and the Strip, Riccardo also crosses the boundary between adolescence and adulthood, a journey of personal struggle that will test whether or not he truly has the strength to pursue his dreams.

Directors: Chiara Avesani, Matteo Delbò

Editor: Antonio Labbro Francia

Producer: Eva Fontanals

Bank of Targets (2021)

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In Memory of Roshdi Sarraj

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Documentary 25m

Winner of the Jury’s Special Mention at the 18th Al Ard Film Festival in Sardinia, Bank of Targets documents Israel’s targeting of civilian infrastructure in Gaza in 2021. Through a first-hand account of the bombing of a residential building, Sarraj highlights the efforts of journalists to create a record of war crimes as they unfold.

Director: Roshdi Sarraj

Production: Ain Media

Alpes (2021)

Documentary 65m

In the heart of the Alps, in the secrecy of the dark and cold night, women and men come to the aid of migrants who emerge from the French-Italian border. In solidarity, they organise themselves illegally to escape police controls and repression on these mountain paths and help those who try to enter France at the risk of their lives. Alps is a journey that departs from solidarity and leads to an encounter with humanity.

Director: Nael Khleifi

Producer: Alice Lemaire

Image: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos
            Thomas de Hemptine
            Sébastien Alouf
            Nael Khleifi

Sound: Barbara Perez Bugallo
             Céline Bodson

Editing: Pauline Fonsny

This Is My Picture When I Was Dead (2010)

Documentary, 1h 14m

Athens, 1983. The world press reports that 4-year old Bashir is killed in the assassination of his father, Mamoun Mraish, a top PLO lieutenant. Father and son are declared dead but when they arrive at the hospital Bashir turns out to be still alive. But if Bashir is fully alive today, what happened to the dream he and his father were believed to have died for?

Writer & Director: Mahmoud al Massad

Cinematographer: Bassam Sammy Chekhes

Original Music by: Gingger Shankar

Starring:

Bashir Mammon Mraish

Nahil Mammon Mraish

Ayoub Belkasmi

Naji Anu Nowar

Nordin Orahhou

To My Father (2008)

Documentary, 53m

“Those were days when people prettier, when eyes were filled with colour, even in black and white. What has changed - the camera, or the eye?" asks Abdel Salam Shehadah's poetic homage to the studio photographers of the 1950's - 70's. Set partly in a refugee camp in Rafah, the film looks back at fifty years of Palestinian and Arab history, told through the photographs, reportage and the voices of these photographers today.

Director: Abdel Salam Shehada

Producer: Qassim Ali

Cinematographer: Abdel Salam Shehada

Editor: Abdelrahman Hussien

Trip Along Exodus (2015)

Documentary, 2h

Trip Along Exodus is a film/poem that recreates the last 70 years of Palestinian and Arab politics seen through the prism of the life of the filmmaker’s father, Dr. Elias Shoufani, a leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, an academic and leftist intellectual who was one of the leaders of the opposition to Arafat within Fatah for 20 years. The film language uses archive, poetry, family photos/8mm films, glitter, cartoons, animation, macro-photography, interviews, and other multimedia formats in a video-art amalgam—a personal and political memoir.

Director: Hind Shoufani

Editor: Ayman Nahle

Cinematography: Adam Shapiro, Lafi, Nick Zajicek, Hind Shoufani, Jato Smith, Raja2i Khatib, Hussam Hariri, Atilio Menendez Ferrer.

Music: Jean Madani, Bassel Abbas, Munma.

Color: Belal Hibri

Graphics: Rayan Ghammachi

Kings and Extras (2004)

Documentary, 1h 2m

The films of the PLO Media Unit were supposed to show a self-determined image of Palestinian reality – and they went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. In a “road-movie” from Palestine to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, the director Azza El-Hassan follows the contradicting and confusing clues as to the whereabouts of the lost archive. The increasingly absurd search finally leads her to a martyr’s graveyard, where the films are said to be buried and where, for obvious reasons, no one is willing to dig. While Azza’s search for lost images leads her down various dead ends, she is confronted with new clues and starts to construct her own story. The film reflects the situation in the Middle East – a failed revolution, the problematic relationship with the Arab neighbours, the question of a Palestinian identity today. Azza El-Hassan shows myths, life stories and life lies, the personal effects of defeat and loss. She even brings some humour to the tragedy of the situation – to which she simultaneously feels a sense of belonging and opposition.

Writer & Director: Azza El-Hassan

Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory (2016)

Documentary, 1h 5m

Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory is a meditation on the Palestinian people's struggle to produce an image and self-representation on their own terms in the 1960s and 1970s, with the establishment of the Palestine Film Unit as part of the PLO. Unearthing films stored in archives across the world after an unprecedented research and access, the film begins with popular representations of modern Palestine and traces the works of militant filmmakers in reclaiming image and narrative through revolutionary and militant cinema. In resurrecting a forgotten memory of struggle, Off Frame reanimates what is within the frame, but also weaves a critical reflection by looking for what is outside it, or what is off frame.

Director: Mohanad Yaqubi

Writers: Reem Shilleh & Mohanad Yaqubi

Editors: Ramzi Hazboun & David Osit

“Off Frame is a work that is unavoidably steeped in questions of the past but doubly functions as a reflection on our position as spectators “looking back” at history. ”

— Ivan Čerečina, 4:3