London Palestine Film Festival
London’s Palestine Film Festival uses cinema to shine a light on the oppression of its people. Through new releases and restorations of older works, the event celebrates Palestinian culture, people and its history.
Chosen for: Preserving Culture.
Established in 2000 by the SOAS Palestinian society, the London Palestine Film Festival has gained momentum across some of the capital city’s most influential art institutions. For a whole week, the society put on a range of exhibitions across the Barbican, ICA, University of SOAS and Curzon, amplifying Palestinian voices and sharing stories from within their community. With a focus on Palestinian people, the festival has spent over the last 20 years honing in on lived experiences and exposing silenced voices through rare shorts, book discussions, retrospectives and films.
Highlights from the 2022 programme included a dark, comedic exploration of masculinity and mental health through Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever, and a meditative documentary by Jumana Manna on Israel’s nature protection laws. This year also paid tribute to Palestinian author, Ghassan Kanafi, to mark 50 years since his untimely assassination.
The annual event is a non-profit voluntary organisation that aims to create more conversations around the oppression of Palestine, and to empower its community. The platform brings together an array of filmmakers, scholars and emerging talent to share their art with the public year on year.
London Palestine Film Festival will take place across various venues in November 2023.
