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Witness Palestine Film Festival

Proudly presenting the 15th annual Witness Palestine Film Festival in Rochester, NY.

Palestine 36 (2025)Documentary, 1h 55mDir. Annemarie JacirThe Little Theatre In 1936, as the British Empire tightens its grip on Palestine, Yusuf is caught between his village home and his work in Jerusalem. Amidst an anti-colonial revolt, and Jewish refugees fleeing persecution from Europe, all sides converge in a decisive moment for the entire region. Palestine&#39;s Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards.

Palestine 36 (2025)

With Hasan in Gaza (2025)Documentary, 1h 46mDir. Kamal AljafariThe Little Theatre Three MiniDV tapes of life in Gaza from 2001 were recently rediscovered. What started as a search for a former prison mate from 1989, led to an unexpected road trip from the north to the south of Gaza with Hasan, a local guide whose fate remains unknown. A cinematic reflection on memory, loss and the passage of time, capturing a Gaza of the past and lives that may never be found again.

With Hasan in Gaza (2025)

A celebratory dinner for WPFF 2025, featuring delicious, homemade Palestinian cuisine (meat and vegetarian options available). Join us at Third Presbyterian Church following our screening of Thank You for Banking with Us!&nbsp;for an evening celebrating Palestinian food, cinema, and community.&nbsp;For over 30 years before arriving in Rochester, NY, Ahlam has embodied the essence of Palestinian resilience, identity, and strength. A fierce advocate for her people and a source of unwavering inspiration for her five daughters, Ahlam has spent her life preserving her heritage and fighting for justice. Through the art of traditional Palestinian cuisine, she not only keeps her culture alive but also shares her deep love for her homeland. We are honored to have her share her meals for dinner on the closing weekend of this year&#39;s Witness Palestine Film Festival, and lead us in this celebration of heritage, community, and enduring spirit.

Mama's Palestinian Dinner

Thank You For Banking With Us! (2024)Drama, Comedy 1h 30mDir. Laila AbbasThe Little Theatre 1 In Ramallah, Mariam and Noura reunite after their father&#39;s death, only to discover he left behind a sizable inheritance. Bound by frustration with a system that favors their absent brother, they devise a daring plan to secure the money before he learns of their loss. As tensions rise and old wounds resurface, the sisters must navigate bureaucracy, family dynamics, and societal expectations in a story that blends humor with a critique of patriarchal norms.

Thank You For Banking With Us! (2024)

All That&#39;s Left of You (2025)Documentary, 2h 25mDir. Cherien DabisThe Little Theatre A deeply moving, multigenerational drama, All That&#39;s Left of You follows a Palestinian teenager who gets swept into a protest in the Occupied West Bank and experiences a moment of violence that rocks his family. The film unfolds as his mother recounts the political and emotional threads that led to that fateful moment. Spanning seven decades, the film traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, bearing witness to the scars of dispossession and the enduring legacy of survival. &nbsp;Jordan&#39;s Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards.&nbsp;

All That's Left of You (2025)

Morgenkreis | Morning Circle (2025)21mDir. Basma Alsharif A short visceral narrative film unfolds in three parts to describe loss. From our earliest experience of separation to the imperceptible violence associated with integrating to a new country when yours is no longer livable, Morgenkreis follows a father and son in their intimate rituals as they prepare to start the day and head to kindergarten. ---- A Night We Held Between (2024)30mDir. Noor Abed Myth, ritual and longing at Palestinian sites intertwine with archival songs and photos. Landscape holds cavernous memory, grief, and strength. The film centers around &ldquo;Song for The Fighters,&rdquo; which was found at the sonic archive of the Popular Art Center, Palestine. Through the layers of the song, in a labyrinth of sounds and sites, the film conjures history as a permanent present tense, a collective and imaginative act.&nbsp;---- The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing (2024)17mDir. Theo Panagopoulos When a Palestinian filmmaker based in Scotland unearths a rarely-seen Scottish film archive of Palestinian wild flowers, he decides to reclaim the footage. This tender film essay questions the role of image-making as a tool of both testimony and violence when connected to entanglements between people and the land.

Shorts at Visual Studies Workshop

The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)Drama, 1h 30mDirs. Kaouther Ben HaniaThe Dryden Theatre January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers in the West Bank receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab. Hind&rsquo;s tragic story inspired outcry across the globe, famously providing the namesake for &ldquo;Hind&rsquo;s Hall,&rdquo; the student occupation at Columbia University in the Spring of 2024. This dramatization draws on the actual recording of her phone call to the Red Crescent volunteers, highlighting the anguish of Palestinians in the West Bank struggling to provide aid to their compatriots in Gaza amidst the genocide.&nbsp; Premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival 2025, Kaouther Ben Hania&#39;s film received a 23-minute standing ovation.&nbsp;

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Gaza to Oscar (2025)24mDir. Alaa&#39; Damo Amid war, siege, and destruction, Palestinian filmmaker Alaa Damo lives the very experience he documents through his lens: bombardment, displacement, and a daily struggle for survival. Alaa is one of the filmmakers trapped in Gaza whose films have managed to reach the world, even as they continue inside the Strip their daily search for shelter, a piece of bread, a sip of water, and a cinematic shot that carries their voice beyond the blockade. ---- Who Killed Shireen? (2025)41mDir. Conor Powell An investigative documentary into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the first Palestinian-American journalist to ever be shot dead by Israeli forces in Occupied West Bank. Stretching from Jenin and Jerusalem to Washington DC, the film offers shocking new revelations about Shireen&rsquo;s 2022 killing and also exposes the cover-up around her death from both the Israeli and American governments. ---- Vibrations from Gaza (2023)17mDir. Rehab Nazzal A short documentary that offers a glimpse into the resilience of Palestinian Deaf children in Gaza, who are enduring Israel&rsquo;s siege and frequent military onslaught.

Shorts at The Dryden

Once Upon a Time in Gaza (2025)Documentary, 1h 27mDirs. Tarzan &amp; Arab NasserThe Dryden Theatre Gaza, 2007. Yahya, a young student, forges a friendship with Osama, a charismatic restaurant owner with a big heart. Together, they start peddling drugs while delivering falafel sandwiches, but they are soon forced to grapple with a corrupt cop and his oversized ego.&nbsp; Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2025, their third feature film earned the Nasser brothers the Best Director prize.&nbsp;

Once Upon a Time in Gaza (2025)

In between WPFF screenings at the Dryden Theatre on November 15th, lunch catered by The Saucey Chef will be available for purchase just down the street at Third Presbyterian Church.

Lunch by Saucey Chef on November 15th

From Ground Zero (2024)Documentary, 1h 52mVarious DirectorsThe Dryden Theatre From Executive Producer Michael Moore and Palestine&#39;s Official Submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero, is a collection of revealing stories from 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war, who capture their lives in Gaza amidst war. Using a blend of animation, documentary, and fiction, they create a powerful testament to the steadfastness of the human spirit. This film serves as a remarkable reflection of how art can thrive even in the darkest times, showcasing the enduring spirit and creativity that emerge amid ongoing devastation.

From Ground Zero (2024)

SOLD OUTA celebratory closing dinner for WPFF 2024, featuring delicious, homemade Palestinian cuisine (meat and vegan options available). Join us at Third Presbyterian Church following our closing screening of To a Land Unknown for an evening celebrating Palestinian food, cinema, and community. For over 30 years before arriving in Rochester, NY, Ahlam has embodied the essence of Palestinian resilience, identity, and strength. A fierce advocate for her people and a source of unwavering inspiration for her five daughters, Ahlam has spent her life preserving her heritage and fighting for justice. Through the art of traditional Palestinian cuisine, she not only keeps her culture alive but also shares her deep love for her homeland. We are honored to have her share her meals for dinner at the final day of this year's Witness Palestine Film Festioval, and lead us in this celebration of heritage, community, and enduring spirit.

Closing Dinner

**CLOSING FILM OF WPFF 2024**To a Land Unknown (2024)1h 45mDir. Mahdi Fleifel Two Palestinian refugees, Chatila and Reda, are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late. This bold feature fiction debut from acclaimed Palestinian-Danish director Mahdi Fleifel premiered in Cannes' Directors Fortnight earlier this year, earning comparisons to Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969).  Preceded by Blood Like Water by Dima Hamdan Blood Like Water (2023)16mDir. Dima Hamdan Based on true stories. When Shadi embarks on a secret adventure, he accidentally drags his proud Palestinian family into a trap where they only have two choices; either collaborate with the Israeli occupation, or be shamed and humiliated by their community. Blood Like Water was awarded the Iris Prize at the LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2024 in Cardiff, Wales.

To a Land Unknown (2024) & Blood Like Water (2023)

Tomorrow's Freedom (2022)Documentary, 1h 37mDirs. Georgia & Sophia Scott Made over the course of 5 years, Tomorrow's Freedom gains intimate access to the family of imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouthi. Working closely with Marwan's family in the occupied West Bank, the Scott sisters spent over 3 years following the family as they struggled through Marwan's hunger strike in Israeli prison.Through a collage of in depth interviews with the people who know Marwan best, Tomorrow’s Freedom takes you on a brutally honest and transformative journey into the heart of the Palestinian experience. Followed by a Q&A with guest speaker Jalil Muntaqim.

Tomorrow's Freedom (2022)

<p style="box-sizing:inherit;width:396.164px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:0.5px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">*LIMITED SEATING*<p style="box-sizing:inherit;width:396.164px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:0.5px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">The Teacher (2023)<p style="box-sizing:inherit;width:396.164px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:0.5px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">1h 55m<p style="box-sizing:inherit;width:396.164px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:0.5px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">Dir. Farah Nabulsi<p style="box-sizing:inherit;width:396.164px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:0.5px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)"> A Palestinian school teacher struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students and the chance of a new relationship with a volunteer worker. Directed by Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning Palestinian British filmmaker, Farah Nabulsi, and staring the icon of Arab-independent cinema, Saleh Bakri.  Preceded by Saif Hammash’s short film, The Deer’s Tooth. The Deer's Tooth (2024)16mDir. Saif HammashA young man from a refugee camp embarks on a perilous journey in order to fulfill his little brother's wish: to throw his milk tooth into the sea.

The Teacher (2023) & The Deer's Tooth (2024)

Western NY PremierLife is Beautiful (2023)Documentary, 1h 30mDir. Mohamed Jabaly  The young Palestinian director Mohamed Jabaly is visiting a film festival in Tromsø, Norway in 2014, when the borders to Gaza close. He finds himself stuck in the arctic winter. Little does he know that it will be seven years before he can see his family again. If he goes back to Gaza, he may never be able to leave again and continue his work as an acclaimed film director, sharing his stories with the world. Life is Beautiful premiered at IDFA 2023, where Jabaly was awarded the prize for Best Director.

Life is Beautiful (2023)

In between WPFF screenings at the Dryden Theatre on November 17th, lunch catered by The Saucey Chef will be available for purchase at Asbury First United Methodist Church.

Lunch by the Saucey Chef on November 17th

Ambulance (2016)1h 20mDir. Mohamed Jabaly <span fr-original-style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Roboto, sans-serif;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:500;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;display:inline !important;box-sizing:inherit">A raw, first-person account of the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014. Mohamed Jabaly, a young man from Gaza City, joins an ambulance crew as war approaches, looking for his place in a country under siege, where at times there seems to be no foreseeable future. While thousands of things are published on the recurring violence in Gaza, the stories behind them remain hidden. Not this one. Followed by a Q&A with the director.

Ambulance (2016)

**OPENING FILM OF WPFF 2024**No Other Land (2024)1h 32mDirs. Basel Adra, Hamdan Balla, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor This eye-opening, vérité-style documentary, made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four directors over the course of five years, provides a harrowing account of the systematic onslaught of destruction experienced by Masafer Yatta, a group of Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank, at the hands of the Israeli military. Headed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham (also two of the film’s directors), the collective commits itself to filming and protesting the demolitions of homes and schools and the resulting displacement of their inhabitants, which were carried out to make way for Israeli military training ground. No Other Land premiered at Berlinale 2024, and was awarded the prize for Best Documentary.

No Other Land (2024)

Did you miss out on getting a ticket to the opening dinner of WPFF? View Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mosab Abu Toha&#39;s keynote address by zoom! Suggested donation: $5----Event Description:&nbsp; Join us in celebrating the opening of the 15th edition of the Witness Palestine Film Festival by watching a livestream of the keynote address, provided by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mosab Abu Toha. MOSAB ABU TOHA is a Palestinian poet, short story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His first collection of poetry,&nbsp;Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry and won a Palestine Book Award, an American Book Award, and the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. Abu Toha is also the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza, which he hopes to rebuild. He recently won an Overseas Press Club Award and a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for his essays on Gaza in The New Yorker.

Webinar: Mosab Abu Toha Keynote Address

Dir. Mohanad Yaqubi81 mins, DocumentaryWinner of the Special Jury Prize, Locarno Film Festival 2026NY Premier Seeking to decode a final, unanswered invitation, a filmmaker explores why the renowned Lebanese director Jocelyne Saab reached out for a collaboration just two months before her passing. Since his reply can never reach her, the film transforms into a lyrical expedition through the life, political commitments, and artistic vision of a singular voice from the era of revolution. &quot;Jocelyne Saab&#39;s film archive from 1973 to 1983 brought forward several questions about the striking resonance between her historical depictions and our contemporary realities five decades later, when no answers can ever be given.&quot; - Director Mohanad Yaqubi

Revolutionaries Never Die (2026)

Join us for a film event unlike any any other, in celebration of Palestine&#39;s history and culture. In the historic Dryden Theatre, witness archival images of Palestine from the Eastman Museum&#39;s moving image collections, alongside a live accompaniment performed by musicians from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Toronto Symphony. Following by a Q&amp;A with Kareem Roustom, Emmy-nominated composer of Palestinian Songs and Dances.&nbsp; WPFF is proud to present this event in collaboration with the Barenboim-Said Foundation (USA). A portion of all tickets sold for this performance will be donated to the Barenboim-Said Center for Music in Ramallah, Palestine. Learn more about their work at <a fr-original-style="" href="https://barenboimsaidformusic.com/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">https://barenboimsaidformusic.com/</a>. Syrian-American-Canadian Kareem Roustom is an Emmy-nominated composer and performer (on the oud) of emotionally rich, rhythmically intricate music for chamber, orchestral, choral ensembles, dance and chamber opera. Blending Middle Eastern traditions with contemporary colors, Roustom&rsquo;s genre crossing collaborations include music commissioned by conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, arrangements for pop icons Shakira and Tina Turner, as well as a recent collaboration with acclaimed British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Roustom has been composer-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and with the W&uuml;rttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany and the Mannheim Philharmonic. &nbsp;A musically bi-lingual composer, Roustom is rooted in the music of the Arab near-east but his music often expresses beyond the confines of tradition. The themes of a number of his works often touch issues of those affected by war and instability, as well as themes of spirituality.

Palestinian Songs, Dances, and Images

Dir. Maiken Baird107 mins, Documentary The life and mind of the brilliant Palestinian-American professor, author, and public intellectual Edward Said (1935&ndash;2003) fuels this rich, engrossing documentary. Born in Jerusalem, Said was displaced, along with his refugee family, in 1948, with the founding of Israel. Sent to boarding school in Massachusetts, he would go on to become a Professor of Literature at Columbia University, later finding his calling as a world-renowned advocate for the Palestinian cause, and in essential books like Orientalism, a crucial critic of the way Arab people are othered in Western culture. Using all archival footage, Maiken Baird&rsquo;s film follows Said from childhood to education to his social politicization, his relationship with his wife Mariam, and his battles with leukemia, always remaining committed to representing the power of his words, thoughts, and humanism. Score composed by Kareem Roustom. See&nbsp;<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/palestinian-songs-dances-and-images" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Palestinian Songs, Dances, and Images</a> to learn more.&nbsp;

Edward Said: Between Worlds (2026)

Coyotes (2025)Dir. Said Zagha20 mins, Drama A Palestinian surgeon drives home after a long night shift, but little does she know that a commute through a desolate West Bank road will change her forever. --- I&#39;m Glad You&#39;re Dead Now (2025) Dir. Tawfeek Barhom 13 mins, DramaWinner of the Palme D&#39;or - Short Film at Cannes 2025 Two brothers return to the island of their childhood, where buried secrets and heavy tensions force them to confront a dark past that connects them. --- Last Shot (2026)Dir. Parham Rahimzadeh17 mins, Drama When Musa, a Palestinian in the Netherlands, receives his late brother&rsquo;s camera, a Gaza photojournalist, he revives the final roll of film&mdash;forcing him to confront grief, censorship, and the weight of legacy.

Dir. Khaled Jarrar 70 mins, DocumentaryRIT College of Liberal Arts Lecture Hall, A205 A visceral Road Movie that chronicles the daily travails of Palestinians of all backgrounds as they seek routes through, under, around, and over a bewildering matrix of barriers. With intimate proximity, director Khaled Jarrar captures the methods and motivations of those who dare to cross the wall, in defiance of apartheid and dispossession.&nbsp;Presented in partnership with RIT Students for Justice in Palestine. <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/sjp.rit/" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">@sjp.rit</a>

Infiltrators (2012)

Dir. Poh Si Teng 93 mins, DocumentaryUniversity of Rochester Hoyt Auditorium STARRINGDR. Thaer AhmadDR. Mark PerlmutterDR. Feroze Sidhwa United by a shared oath to save lives, three American doctors&mdash;Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian&mdash;work in a besieged hospital in Gaza and return to the United States to fight for the patients and colleagues they left behind.Presented in partnership with Student Association for the Development of Arab Cultural Awareness (<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/ursadaca/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">SADACA</a>) and Society of Undergraduate Public Health Students (<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/ur_suphs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">SUPHS</a>).&nbsp;Cosponsors: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Society of Undergraduate Biology Students (SUBS), Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), CRANES, The Charles C. Drew Pre-Health Society, Unicef, Friends of MSF, and the Refugee Students Alliance

American Doctor (2026)

Dir. Alex Bakri 96 mins, Documentary Winner of the Shadi Abdel Salam Award at the Cairo International Film Festival 2025 Palestinian projectionist Hussein Darbi embarks on a journey through the West Bank, seeking parts to restore an old movie theater&rsquo;s projector, clinging to hopes of reclaiming his former position. Darbi brings more than 40 years of experience and connections into getting a carbon-arc projector going again, when a German NGO arrives with European funds to renovate Cinema Jenin. A cautionary tale about cultural colonialism that serves as an allegory for much more than merely cinema.

Habibi Hussein (2025)

Dir. Jason Osder and William Youmans83 mins, DocumentaryWinner of the Special Jury Award for Journalistic Excellence at Sundance 2026 In October 1985, Santa Ana, California was shaken by a brazen act of political violence when Palestinian American Alex Odeh, a beloved teacher and community leader, was killed by a tripwire bomb planted in his office. Despite substantial evidence and identified suspects, the case was never solved. Who Killed Alex Odeh?&nbsp;reopens the mystery, tracking a renewed investigation in real time as new leads emerge, long-buried records come to light, and the forces behind a political assassination are finally confronted.

Who Killed Alex Odeh? (2026)

In between WPFF screenings at the Little Theatre on November 21st, lunch catered by The Saucey Chef will be available for purchase just down the street at Third Presbyterian Church.

Lunch by Saucey Chef on November 21st

Dir. Hosam Abu Dan73 mins, DramaWinner of the NETPAC Award at TIFF 2026 Conceived and realized in Gaza during the genocide, Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan makes his narrative feature debut with a nuanced and deeply human portrait of a father and his teenage daughter navigating everyday life in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

Thirteen in Gaza (2026)

Dir. Abdallah Al-hatib89 mins, Documentary During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting.&nbsp;Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege)&nbsp;is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war.&nbsp;

Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege (2021)

Dir. Abdallah Al-hatib98 mins, DramaWinner of the Best First Feature Award at Berlinale 2026 During the siege of their city, a group of ordinary people struggle to survive amid hunger, snipers, and bombardments, while clinging to human connection, love, and small daily pleasures. Faced with impossible moral choices and deep psychological strain, their lives become inseparable from the siege itself.

Witness Palestine Film Festival

Witness Palestine Film Festival

Witness Palestine Film Festival

Upcoming events

Events

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Webinar: Mosab Abu Toha Keynote Address

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Revolutionaries Never Die (2026)

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Palestinian Songs, Dances, and Images

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Edward Said: Between Worlds (2026)

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Shorts at Visual Studies Workshop

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Infiltrators (2012)

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Witness Palestine Film Festival

Upcoming events

Events

Get your tickets

Webinar: Mosab Abu Toha Keynote Address

Get your tickets

Revolutionaries Never Die (2026)

Get your tickets

Palestinian Songs, Dances, and Images

Get your tickets

Edward Said: Between Worlds (2026)

Get your tickets

Shorts at Visual Studies Workshop

Get your tickets

Infiltrators (2012)

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Witness Palestine Film Festival