EXCLUSIVE: The Palestine Film Institute (PFI) has announced the first recipients of its new Palestine Film Fund (PFF) following its launch at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
The inaugural funding round has supported six-feature-length films and three short films in various stages of development and production, with financial support totalling 45,000 Euro ($53k).
They span diverse stories and genres with themes of displacement, memory, resistance and resilience running throughout the selection focused on projects told from authentic Palestinian perspectives. (see full selection below with synopses)
They range from documentaries +477 Night, about life in Gaza, and The Story of the Mountain, following children in the West Bank city of Hebron who dream of a life in a world without checkpoints, to Three Days and a Third (aka Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep), a family drama exploring tribal traditions in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, by Rakan Mayasi, who previously made waves with short film Bonboné.
The PFI said it had received 167 projects from Palestinian filmmakers worldwide, comprising 74 feature-length projects and 93 short films.
Documentary projects represented the majority of feature submissions (77%), while fiction dominated short film applications (55%). Directors identifying as male submitted 60% of applications, with female directors representing 40%.
“The overwhelming response to our first call demonstrates both the urgent need for this fund and the incredible creative breadth of Palestinian storytelling happening globally,” said Reem Shadid, PFI Executive Board Member.
“These nine projects play a pivotal role in the realisation of our mission to create open spaces for Palestinian filmmakers to share their own stories and images, free from the threat of silencing, censorship and erasure.”
The first round of funding follows in the wake of a high-profile year for Palestinian cinema led by Oscar-short-listed films Palestine 36 by Annemarie Jacir and All That’s Left You by Cherien Dabis, as well as Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser’s Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Director winner Once Upon A Time In Gaza and Kamal Aljafari’s European Film Award-nominated doc With Hasan In Gaza.
The inaugural PFF jury – consisting of Palestinian writer and director Michel Khleifi, Egyptian producer, distributor, exhibitor and El Gouna Film Festival Artistic Director Marianne Khoury (Egypt), and Lebanese filmmaker and video artist Rania Stephan – highlighted the fund’s role in nurturing a new wave of Palestinian cinema talent.
“As a jury, we were impressed by the quality of the projects we read, which displayed cinematic maturity, expressed the richness of the Palestinian experiences and marked the advent of a new generation of Palestinian filmmakers,’ they said in a joint statement.
“In these times of political erasure, it was difficult to prioritize the projects, and we felt that many more were worth supporting. That’s why we ultimately chose to make an exception in this first cycle to expand the support to nine projects. The jury was drawn to these final projects for the clarity and integrity of their artistic visions, and for the varied cinematic languages through which they engage Palestinian lived realities,” they continued.
“They carry a strong sense of urgency and resonance, grounded in experience yet open to poetic, hybrid, and imaginative forms. Each project shows the potential to travel while remaining intrinsically anchored in Palestinian narratives. We wish all the filmmakers best of luck in finalizing their films.”
The Palestine Film Fund provides financial and sectoral support to Palestinian filmmakers working on short, medium, and feature-length films at various stages of development and production. Priority is given to filmmakers based in Palestine, in lower income countries, or in regions where discrimination against Palestinian voices restricts access to funding opportunities.
The fund’s founding partners include IDFA Bertha Fund, International Media Support (IMS), Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Intuitive Pictures and Sawsan Asfari, with additional support from IRIS.
The second call for applications will open in early April 2026
The first round of PFI recipients.
Feature Films
Concrete Land (Palestine, Jordan)
Dir. Asmahan Bkerat
Post-production, documentary | 90 min
An intimate story of a three-generational Palestinian Bedouin family and their animals on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan, as relentless development reshapes their world. Facing eviction, displacement and an uncertain future, they struggle to survive in an environment that is becoming increasingly uninhabitable and unrecognizable.
+477 Night (Palestine)
Dir. Aisha Alqraan
Post-production, documentary, 90 min
What does it mean to be sitting among your children and grandchildren, your wife and daughters around you, while the children play inside and outside a tent—and suddenly, a single missile weighing a ton or more falls upon you, erasing every detail of life and turning it into ash and blackened land? From here, our documentary film begins—to tell the story of life before the life of that family.
To Make Things Grow (UK)
Dir. Yasmin Fedda
Development, documentary, 75 min
Uncovering the story of the visionary agricultural orphanage the Farm School of Deir Amro in Palestine in the 1940s through a collage of archive film, first person testimony, official documents and personal photographs. Pointing towards hope and inspiration to the future, the film explores how the intertwining of land, community and family leave an indelible mark through history.
Three Days and a Third (Belgium, Palestine, Lebanon)
Dir. Rakan Mayasi
Post-production, hybrid, 100 min
In a valley veiled by fog and tribal codes, two sisters walk into the night not as daughters, but as offerings— where blood, memory, and silence attempt to keep the fire from spreading.
The Story of the Mountain (Palestine)
Dir. Shayma’ Awawdeh
Development, hybrid, 60 min
In Hebron, occupied Palestine, I film children in an animation workshop imagining a magical mountain that turns into a giant grandmother who can fulfil their dream of destroying the checkpoint at their neighborhood’s entrance.
Aziza in a Cherished Land (Palestine)
Dir. Tareq Khalaf
Post-production, documentary, 90 min
Worried about the deteriorating political situation in the West Bank, Aziza asks Tareq to leave Palestine and join the rest of his family in the US, leaving her and his grandmother alone in a state of war. Tareq takes sanctuary in Aziza’s garden, observing her seasonal way of living while confronting the difficult decision to leave.
Short Films
Where The Light Rests
Palestine Film Institute
Trash (Palestine)
Dir. Leen Ms. Kanan
Production, fiction, 15 min
At a tense military checkpoint, a Palestinian truck driver’s life is threatened when he reaches for his fallen prayer beads, but his small act of courage turns fear into a silent uprising, reclaiming dignity from the routine of oppression.
Issa and the Forest (Palestine)
Dir. Rama Heib
Development, animation, 15 min
Issa is a young boy who lives alone on top of a foggy mountain. He spends his days tending to his horse and special tree that he needs to water every day. One extremely foggy morning, he wakes up to a strange sound outside of his hut and finds a mysterious creature crouched in fear. Before Issa could approach it, the creature runs away and disappears within a nearby forest. Issa decides to follow the creature into the forest, not knowing the dire consequences this decision will have on his future.
Where the Light Rests (Palestine)
Dir. Islam Tuaima
Production, documentary, 15 min
After Asmaa lost her husband and children in the war, she lives alone in her sister’s home, surrounded by their memories and her daily rituals. The film documents her inner journey through pain, loss, and faith, as she tries to understand the meaning of her children’s existence after their departure. The light in her life becomes a symbol of clarity and hope—revealing that her loved ones have not left the world but are “sleeping in the light.”
