Film Series 2026

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Palestine Film Festival!

We are pleased to present compelling, high-quality films about Palestinian culture, history, current issues, and resistance. Audiences are invited to stay for moderated conversations after the films.

April 12 - Palestine '36

Oscar-shortlisted feature

(2025) - 118 min.

Filmmaker: Annemarie Jacir

In 1936, as the British Empire tightens its grip on Palestine, Yusuf is caught between his home village and his work in Jerusalem. Set during an anti-colonial revolt as Jewish refugees flee persecution in Europe, all the forces converge in a decisive moment. 

April 19 - Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

Best Documentary Feature at Arab Film Festival 2025

(2025) - 110 min.

Director: Sepideh Farsi

A film based on video calls between Farsi and Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona from April 2024 until April 2025 when a targeted missile strike killed Hassona and her family in North Gaza. The strike occurred a day after Farsi learned that the film was selected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

April 26 - The Voice of Hind Rajab

(2025) - 89 min

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

On Jan. 29, 2024, Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers in Ramallah responded to a call from a 5-year-old girl who, trapped in a car in Gaza, pleaded to be rescued. The Israeli military had just killed family members in the car. While trying to keep her on the line, they do what they can to get an ambulance to her in time.

May 3 - A double feature

Aisha's Story  (2025) 62 min

Director: Elizabeth Vibert

After being forced to flee their homeland, Aisha Azzam and her family go to the U.N.-run Baqa’a camp in Jordan with their grain mill. As they harvest, prepare, and enjoy feasts of traditional foods, Aisha's shares stories with her children and grandchildren. This documentary film intimately captures the culture, displacement and resistance that have defined Palestinians' lives for generations.

Exception  (2023) - 32 min

Director: Rodrigue Hammal

When a leaked video of his lecture on Psychology of Oppression goes viral, tenured Palestinian-American professor Karim Hadawi faces a difficult choice: issue a public apology to save his career, or risk losing both his job and custody of his daughter.

"We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians." 

-- Nelson Mandela (1997)

At the confluence of two films in the series: "Rutgers University abruptly withdrew its invitation to a prominent biotech entrepreneur to speak at its engineering school convocation. Rami Elghandour, executive producer of The Voice of Hind Rajab, had been scheduled to deliver a graduation address on May 15, but his invitation was canceled over what the university said were complaints about his social media posts on Israel and Palestine." As reported on Democracy Now! (May 7 headline and May 11 interview) and depicted in Exception, university administrators bowed under Zionist pressure and suppressed freedom of speech.  🇵🇸