This was our second festival, with a wider array of impressive films covering many aspects of Palestinian society and history, ranging from skateboarding in the West Bank to a hard hitting documentary following an ambulance crew during the 2014 attack on Gaza. We had a great Film and Food night and a couple of fascinating Question and Answer sessions with some of the film producers.
Saturday 19th November, 2016
The Great Book Robbery
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Blackwells Bookshop cafe
When Palestinians were expelled from their land in 1948, Israeli soldiers were accompanied by librarians as they entered Palestinian homes in many towns and villages. Their mission was to collect as many valuable books and manuscripts as possible.
→MoreMonday 21st November, 2016
The Promised Band
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Shine
The moving true story of an attempt to create dialogue and friendship between Israeli and Palestinian women, using the device of a rock band to help them cross physical, legal and cultural barriers. The women’s lives are deeply affected, in unexpected ways.
→MoreFriday 25th November, 2016
Epicly Palestine’d + Q & A and The Idol
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Heart
A film about skateboarding in Palestine and The Idol, a moving, defiantly uplifting biopic of Muhammad Assaf, the Gazan wedding singer who became a worldwide TV sensation in 2013
→MoreTuesday 29th November, 2016
Rough Stage
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Perform 1, Leeds Beckett Calverley
An artist at heart, Maher, electrical engineer and former political prisoner wants to stage a contemporary dance performance in Ramallah. His family disapprove, money’s a problem and cultural problems intercede. Will he realise his dream despite barriers, both political and cultural? Toomas Jarvet’s Rough Stage employs breathtaking desert scenes and urban locations, set as a backdrop to Maher’s art.
→MoreThursday 1st December, 2016
Balls, Barriers and Bulldozers + Q&A
This documentary film is about a women’s football tour to the West Bank. It’s about football, and so much more.
→MoreTuesday 6th December, 2016
Speed Sisters
This film follows the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East.
→MoreFriday 9th December, 2016
Flying Paper + Return to Seifa
An uplifting story of Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown.
→MoreMonday 4th November, 2019
Ambulance
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Everyman Leeds
While many young people dream of leaving Gaza, Mohamed Jabaly, 24, wants to help. He aspires to make films, despite the lack of water and electricity, and closed borders that are part of “normal” everyday life under the seven-year Israeli blockade of Gaza.
→More