Laila's Birthday

Before leaving to settle abroad, Ahmad accepts one last job. He must audition actors for the new National Palestinian Theatre. On the road with interviewer Bissan and her cameraman Loumir, Ahmad goes in search of talent in the numerous refugee camps of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Hopefully for the last time, Ahmad experiences the insurmountable difficulties of life in Palestine: harassing searches at check points and borders, barricades, constant tension. He realizes the destiny of all waiting refugees is much the same as his own. He ends up guiding the auditioning actors into dramatizing what best embodies their destiny. But with the chance to catch his plane at risk, Ahmad could see the opportunity for his long-awaited exile slip away.

After an Israeli raid causes the two brothers, Milad and Samy, to lose everything, they decide to rent out audio equipment for various occasions, in an attempt to gather enough money to emigrate to Canada.

"From Ground Zero" is a compelling project that brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by Rashid Masharawi, a notable Palestinian filmmaker, the initiative emerged amid the backdrop of conflict, aiming to provide a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft. Each film, ranging from 3 to 7 minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. With a mix of genres such as fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, "From Ground Zero" showcases a rich tapestry of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.

Sami, 12, pursues an elusive carrier pigeon across Palestine, which he assumes has returned to its homeland. What quest is really behind the invisible pigeon?

In November 2004, Yasser Arafat died. He had been leader of the PLO since 1969 and president of the Palestinian Authority since 1993. His younger brother, Dr Fathi Arafat, died soon after of cancer. Driven by despondency about the endless violence and the continuing uncertainty about the future of his people, the well-known Palestinian film maker Rashid Masharawi started working on a documentary 18 months earlier, in which he follows Dr Fathi Arafat and travels from Cairo to Paris, via Ramallah and Lebanon, tackling endless closed borders and roadblocks.

Haifa, nicknamed after the city of his love and hope, goes around and comes around in a Palestinian refugee camp. Although he is everybody's fool, there are many things that only he knows. He is closely related to the family of Abu Said, a former policeman who gains new hopes from the political developments. Oum Said, his wife, hangs her hope on the imminent release of their eldest son, Said, from jail. She tries to find him a bride to secure things for the future. Their youngest son, Siad, is cynical and rebellious. He refuses to believe things. Sabah, the 12 year old daughter is romancing the future and wants to find out what's in it for her. The different stories are interwoven into a very timely insight into the current Palestinian mind.

This inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction follows Jabir, who runs a mobile cinema from his old truck throughout the West Bank while his wife works to bring emergency medical care to Palestinians. When Jabir is invited by a spirited schoolteacher to make a screening in the old city of Jerusalem, he becomes obsessed with the idea of this pilgrimage and begins to investigate the possibilities.

Robi is a young Israeli who lives his grandparents and works at their store. He dreams of finding true love and becoming a movie director, both of which seem increasingly difficult. His film career stalls, until he can get financial backing and his love life seems to be in similar shape. While the urban city has places to cruise for sex, Robi struggles to find an organized gay community and a committed relationship.

Giora (Assi Dayan) runs a bar and dreams of opening a restaurant. He has made a mess of his life — his marriage is in trouble, since he is pathologically cheating on his wife; his parents (Yosef Millo and Orna Porat) have separated; and his father arrives for an extended visit from Nahariya. Giora spends time with his army buddies, recalling their experiences during the War in Lebanon. His father is undergoing a major life crisis and finds both the loneliness of the city and his son's lifestyle unappealing. As a non-Jew in a Jewish society, he feels estranged, an outsider who has never been able to adapt, and contemplates suicide. Eventually, Giora's parents decide to attempt a reconciliation, until tragedy strikes.

This drama portrays a day in the life of a Palestinian family during a curfew announced by the Israeli army in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza Strip in 1993. From that point on, they must live behind closed shutters, barred from their daily lives and needs.

A 17-year-old Palestinian is trapped by need amid Gaza’s starvation war. His dangerous attempt to fetch a sack of flour ends with a lone fifteen-month journey from north to south Gaza.

A portrait of the greatly beloved performer Alaa Meqdad. The bombings of Gaza City—where he once lived with his parents, sisters, wife, and children—have forced him and his family into a tent camp. With extraordinary optimism, he embraces life in the here and now, and tries to make it more enjoyable for others. Together with his partner, he performs as Aloosh the clown for children in hospitals and on the streets. Their jokes, songs, and boundless energy make the horrific reality momentarily disappear.

Rashid Marshawi takes us on a special journey across the historical city of Jaffa, where his father was forced to leave in the 1948 exodus. With his own voice, Marshawi narrates his memories of the city, bringing to life the waves on Jaffa’s shore, the sounds of its streets, and the sweetness of its inhabitants and its spirit. Recovery is a splendid cinematic experience that attempts to cloud the border between time and space as Marshawi takes us on a tour of magnificent photos from 1930 to 1948, allowing his nostalgia to breathe a new life into the static bodies portrayed.

In a land shelled, starved, and denied all essentials, Gazan women fight for health, dignity, and the barest human needs.

When the French authorities closed their borders, landed their planes, confined their citizens to their homes, spreading the police on the streets. I was in Paris. Without any planning, the memory coming from Palestine began to flow and merge with the diaries I live here, and the virus began to awaken other viruses, which made me spontaneously, as a Palestinian citizen, besieged in the most beautiful Parisian neighbourhood (Montmartre), busy documenting aspects of diaries and memories in a period of time that changed the face of the scientist.