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Films on Palestine
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Name of Film YearDirectorGenre Description
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Ajami 2009Scandar Copti and Yaron ShaniCrime/DramaNominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Oscars.Misunderstanding and violence spiral out of control in Palestine and Israel. Omar has to pay for his uncle’s mistake; Malek is a Palestinian `illegal’ from Nablus who is working for Abu-Elias to pay off his mother’s medical bills; Dando is an Israeli policeman distraught at the disappearance of his conscripted brother; and Binj is an apolitical, hedonistic Arab despised by his friends for having a Jewish girlfriend.
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Al Nakba 2013 Al Jazeera World DocumentaryDocumentary series A four-part series produced by Al Jazeera on the history of the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands that led to the first Arab–Israeli war in 1948, and the establishment of the state of Israel. The series spans the 19th and 20th centuries, including the British Mandate in Palestine, and up to the present day, documenting the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Arab, Israeli, and Western intellectuals, historians, and eye-witnesses provide the central narrative which is accompanied by archival material and documents, many only recently released for the first time.
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Apples of the Golan 2012Jill Beardsworth and Keith WalshDocumentaryNestled high on a mountainside in the Middle East, a Syrian Druze village has survived under Israeli occupation, while 136 others like it were wiped out. The surviving communities find ways of forging lives enriched with music, dance, and intrigue, despite the ever-present IDF forces.
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Palestine 1920: The Other Side of the Palestinian Story2022Al Jazeera World DocumentaryNews DocumentaryLooks at Palestine from a different angle. It hears from historians and witness accounts, and features archive documents that show Palestine as a thriving province of Greater Syria and the Ottoman Empire at the dawn of the 20th century. The evidence suggests that its cities had a developing trade and commercial sector, growing infrastructure, and embryonic culture that would enable it to meet the challenges of the decades ahead. However, the political ramifications of the Balfour Declaration, San Remo Conference and British Mandate set in motion a series of events that profoundly affected this vibrant, fledgeling society and led to the events of 1948 and beyond.
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Dégrade 2015Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser Fiction DramaIn Gaza, two hairdressers and ten customers of various ages and backgrounds spend the day trapped in a beauty salon while Hamas police fight a gang in the street.
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Waltz with Bashir2008Ari Folman Animation docudramaAn Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
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Samouni Road2018Stefano Savona Documentary In the rural outskirts of Gaza City a small community of farmers, the Samouni extended family, is about to celebrate a wedding. It's going to be the first celebration since the latest war. Amal, Fuad, their brothers and cousins have lost their parents, their houses and their olive trees. The neighborhood where they live is being rebuilt. As they replant trees and plow fields, they face their most difficult task: piecing together their own memory.
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5 Broken Cameras2011Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi Documentary Broken Cameras is a first-hand account of protests in Bil'in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli West Bank barrier. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son. In 2009 Israeli co-director Guy Davidi joined the project. Structured around the destruction of Burnat's cameras, the filmmakers' collaboration follows one family's evolution over five years of turmoil.
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Paradise Now 2005Hany Abu-Assad Psychological Drama Paradise Now follows Palestinian childhood friends Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) who live in Nablus and have been recruited for suicide attacks in Tel Aviv. It focuses on what would be their last days together.
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Lemon Tree2008Eran Riklis and Ira Riklis Drama The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Navon (Doron Tavory) moves to a house on the border between Israel and the West Bank, with the building sitting on the Israeli side just next to the dividing line. The Israeli Secret Service views the neighboring lemon grove of Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass), a Palestinian widow whose family has cared for the area for generations, as a threat to the minister and his wife. The security forces soon set up a guard post and a fence around the grove. They then obtain an order to uproot the lemon trees.
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Gaza Mon Amour2020Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser Drama Gaza, today. Sixty-year-old fisherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a woman who works at the market with her daughter Leila. When he discovers an ancient phallic statue of Apollo in his fishing nets, Issa hides it, not knowing what to do with this mysterious and potent treasure. Yet deep inside, he feels that this discovery will change his life forever. Strangely, his confidence starts to grow and eventually he decides to approach Siham.
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Arnas Children2003Juliano Mer Khamis and Danniel Danniel Documentary Arnas Children tells the story of a theater group that was established by Arna Mer- Khamis. On the West Bank, she opened an alternative education system for children whose regular life was disrupted by the Israeli occupation. The theater group that she started engaged children from Jenin, helping them to express their everyday frustrations, anger, bitterness and fear. Arnas son Juliano was also one of the directors of Jenins theatre. With his camera, he filmed the children during rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996. Now, he goes back to see what happened to them. Youssef committed a suicide attack in Hadera in 2001, Ashraf was killed in the battle of Jenin, Ala leads a resistance group.
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The Time that Remains2009Elia Suleiman Semi-biographical drama An examination of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day.
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200 Meters2020Ameen Nayfeh Adventure DramaA Palestinian father trapped on the other side of the separation wall is trying to reach the hospital for his son.
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Bonboné
2017Rakan Mayasi Short Comedy Drama A Palestinian couple resorts to an unusual way to conceive as the husband is detained in an Israeli jail where visits are restricted.
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3000 Nights2015Mai Masri Drama Film A young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope.
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Omar 2013Hany Abu-Assad Crime/DramaA young Palestinian freedom fighter agrees to work as an informant after he's tricked into an admission of guilt by association in the wake of an Israeli soldier's killing.
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The Wanted 182014Paul Cowan and Amer Shomali Fiction A small Palestinian village bought 18 cows and stopped buying Israeli milk.
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2014Animated Documentary
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Naila and the Uprising
2017Julia Bacha Documentary When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in 1987, a woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that forces the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time.
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Tantura 2022Alon Schwarz DocumentaryIn the war of 1948 hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated. Israelis call it 'The War of Independence. Palestinians call it 'Nakba"'. The film examines one village- Tantura and why "Nakba" is taboo in Israeli society.
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3000 Nights 2015Mai Masri FictionA young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope.
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Have you heard from Johannesburg2010Connie Field Documenatry SeriesThe cinematic history of the worldwide effort to destroy South African apartheid, a story that has never been told before in any medium. An epic 7-film history on how a violent, racist, intractable government was destroyed by the concerted efforts of men and women working on multiple fronts inside and outside South Africa for more than four decades.
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Roadmap to Apartheid 2012Eron Davidson and Ana Noguiera Documentary History In this award-winning documentary, the first time directors take a detailed looks at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Born in Gaza2014Hernan Zin Documentary This documentary film focuses on the violence of the Israel-Palestine conflict and it's effects on the children of Gaza. The documentary follows the story of about ten children who tell what their daily life is like after the horror of the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014.
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The Present 2020Farah NabulsiDocumentary On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping? The Present is a film written by Farah Nabulsi and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
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Jenin, Jenin 2003Mohammad BakriDocumentary and Drama Director, Mohammad Bakri’s Jenin Jenin is an up-close walk with several of the inhabitants of Jenin, Palestine who on April 2, 2002 experienced the power of the Israeli Defense Forces as the IDF plowed into the city.
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The Tale Of The Three Lost Jewels 1995Michel KhleifiDramaMichel Khleifi’s story is of Yussef ,a twelve-year old Palestinian child of the First Intifada. With his father is in prison and his brother a fugitive from the Israeli army, he lives alone with his mother and sister. Though his life is marked by violence, he lives in his imagination, often escaping from the refugee-camp into the Gaza countryside. While hunting for birds one day, Yussef meets Aida, a young gypsy girl who poses a daunting challenge, leading him into a perilous adventure.
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Al-Nakba2013Al Jazeera Documentary Series For Palestinians, 1948 marks the “Nakba” or “catastrophe”, when hundreds of thousands were forced out of their homes. For Israelis, the same year marks the creation of their own state. This four-part series attempts to present an understanding of the events of the past that are still shaping the present.
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The War in June 1967Al Jazeera Documentary Historical The June 1967 war lasted only six days but its consequences are still felt across the region to this day. It redrew the landscape of the conflict, expanded Israel’s territorial claims and confirmed its military dominance in the region.
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Rebel Architecture: The architecture of violence2014Ana Naomi De Sousa Documentary Israeli architect Eyal Weizman explains how architecture plays a key role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine and modern warfare.
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Salt of this Sea 2008Annemarie JacirFictionA Palestinian American woman travels to her homeland to retrieve her grandfather's savings, which had been frozen since his exile during the Nakba.
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Farha 2021Darrin J. SallamFictionAn historical account of the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). About a teenage Palestinian girl wanting to further her education.
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Children of Shatila1998Mai Masri Documentary History Farah and Issa, two streetwise children living in Beirut's Palestinian Shatila refugee camp, use their imaginations and creativity to come to terms with the realities of growing up in a refugee camp that has survived massacre, siege, and starvation.
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A Gaza Weekend 2021Basil KhalilFictionA British journalist tries to escape Israel after the UN imposes an embargo from land air and sea due to the spreading of a virus. Gaza becomes the safest place in the region.
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It Must Be Heaven 2019Elia SuleimanFiction Elia Suleiman escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home.
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The Idol2015Hany Abu-AssadFictionA film about the popular Palestinian singer Mohammad Assaf, from childhood to adulthood, and his life in Gaza until he won the Arab idol.
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Home Movies Gaza2013Basma AlsharifShort Home Movies Gaza introduces us to the Gaza Strip as a mircrocosm for the failure of civilization. In an attempt to describe the everyday of a place that struggles for the most basic of human rights, this video claims a perspective from within the domestic spaces of a territory that is complicated.
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In Search of Palestine (BBC)1998Edward Said Documentary A BBC documentary film about Palestine, past and present. In the company of his son, Wadie, Said revisited the places of his boyhood, and confronted injustices meted out to ordinary Palestinians in the contemporary West Bank. Despite the social and cultural prestige afforded to BBC cinema products in the U.S., the documentary was never broadcast by any American television company.
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Divine Intervention2002Elia SuleimanFictionE.S. cares for his ailing father in Jerusalem whilst conducting an affair with a Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. Barred from moving between the two cities, the lovers are forced to share their intimate moments in the shadow of an Israeli army checkpoint.
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The Land Speaks Arabic 2007Maryse GargourDocumentaryThis excellent documentary on one of the most pressing issues of our time brings together rarely seen footage of Palestine before 1948 juxtaposed with historical research, eyewitness accounts, stunning choreography, moving testimonials, and historical documents.
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To Shoot an Elephant2009Alberto Arce and Mohammad RujailahDocumentaryMedics risk their lives to rescue and treat the wounded in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
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Frontiers of Dreams and Fears2001Mai Masri DramaOffering a rare glimpse into one side of the Middle East conflict, Frontiers of Dreams and Fears explores the lives of a group of Palestinian children growing up in refugee camps. The film focuses on two teenage girls, Mona and Manar
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My Neighbourhood 2012Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-JabiShort DocumentaryMy Neighbourhood (directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi) tells the story of Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian teenager growing up in the heart of East Jerusalem. When Mohammed's family is forced to give up a part of their home to Israeli settlers, local residents begin peaceful protests, and in a surprising turn, are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters. Mohammed comes of age in the face of unrelenting tension with his neighbours and unexpected co-operation with Israeli allies in his backyard.
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Jenin, Jenin2002Mohammed BakriDocumentary Documentary about the 2002 deadly confrontations between armed Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
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Where should the birds fly2013Fida QishtaDocumentary In December of 2008 Israel launched a devastating attack on Gaza. A month of bullets, bombs, rockets, white phosphorus, tanks and bulldozers left 1400, mostly civilians, dead and this section of Occupied Palestine in rubble. Where Should the Birds Fly? is a compelling and moving Palestinian film based on the story of two remarkable young women, the future of Palestine, who personify the struggle to maintain humanity, humor and hope, to find some degree of normality in the brutal abnormality that has been imposed on them and Palestinians.
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Gaza Ghetto1984
Per-Åke Holmquist		Documentary Series In the first documentary feature film made in Gaza, Gaza Ghetto highlights the historical precedents of war, dispossession and military control that influence a family's daily life in Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp. Intimate scenes --a child is born, a grandmother dies -- are inter-cut with visits to the architects of the Israeli military occupation. Ariel Sharon, Benyamin Beneliezar and soldiers on patrol candidly discuss their responsibilities.
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How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown2022Dena TakruriShort DocumentaryIn this deeply personal documentary, Dena spends a day in Hebron retracing the footsteps of her father, who was born and raised in Hebron. She talks to Palestinians who are subjected to daily harassment from the Israeli military and settlers. And she is guided through the city by former Israeli soldiers, who tell her why their conscience is now forcing them to speak out against the occupation.
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The Wanted 182014Amer Shomali & Paul CowanAnimated Documentary
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Chronicle of a Disappearence 1997Elia Suleiman Feature Film This film is a courageous work of autobiographical fiction, a false chronology in two parts that begins in Nazareth, the filmmaker's birthplace and the largest Arab city within the State of Israel. Suleiman presents us with funny, incisive vignettes that emphasize the dislocation felt by the Arab population. He calls the first part of his film, in dreamy Nazareth, a "personal diary." The film's second part is a "political diary;" a playful allegory set in chaotic, modern Jerusalem. In Suleiman's film, the "personal" and "political" intersect at odd angles. The surprise visit a pajama-clad Suleiman receives from Israeli militia can be considered "personal" as well as "political."
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The Tower2018Mats GrorudAnimationA young girl living in a Palestinian refugee camp learns about her family's history through stories told by three previous generations of refugees.
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Wajib1974Anne Marie JacirDrama Shadi, an architect who lives in Italy, reunites with his family to attend his sister's wedding in Palestine and goes on a long journey to converse with his estranged father.
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Maradonna's Legs2019Firas KhouryShort Film During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian football fans set out to find the last missing piece of their sticker album and win an Atari.
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Unprovoked Narratives 2023Palestine Film Institute A Selection of Short Films from Gaza A series of films celebrating the beauty of Gaza, its people, its struggle and its survival. The program aims to resist the demonisation of this beautiful place. https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/unprovoked-narratives
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