About
Stichting Palestinian Film Festival Amsterdam
The Palestinian Film Festival Amsterdam (PFFA) envisions an inclusive podium to showcase a diversity of genres, including drama features, shorts, animations and documentaries, presented by both established and emerging Palestinian directors.
Founded in 2015 by curator and film programmer Nihal Rabbani, the PFFA emerged from a grassroots community action, fueled by a commitment to create a platform that would address the exclusion of indigenous directors from Palestinian film programmes in the Netherlands.
PFFA’s purpose is to counter the dominance of films and film programmes on Palestine by foreign and amateur directors. Often shot with handheld cameras, these are usually activist documentaries, which, though recording important political content, can tend to overshadow Palestinian voices in film. The ultimate goal of the PFFA platform is to bring visibility to Palestinian directors who are working across genres, including drama features, shorts, animations and documentaries; and to provide screening opportunities for them to share their artistic narratives and cinematographic experiments with audiences.
The PFFA is the only running festival focused on Palestinian filmmakers in the Benelux region. The festival continues to expand and deepen its representation of Palestinian voices, both in film and from across fields of cultural production (ranging from photography, poetry and literature, to artisanal handcraft and culinary activism).
PFFA 2024, LAB111, photo by Susanne Blanchard
Historical Context of Palestinian Cinema
The historical context of Palestinian cinema is a vital backdrop to the PFFA's mission. The devastating impact of the 1948 Nakba on the nascent film industry's infrastructure led to a two-decade hiatus. The 1970s saw the emergence of political documentaries by directors like Mustafa Abu Ali and Hani El Jawhariyeh playing a pivotal role. Unfortunately, many recordings from this period were looted by the Israeli army during invasions, while others mysteriously disappeared from the Palestinian Film Unit's archives.
The First Intifada (1987–1993) marked a significant turning point when Palestinian storytelling found a potent vehicle in cinema. Veteran directors such as Mai Masri, Elia Suleiman, Michel Khleifi, Hany Abu Assad and Rashid Masharawi began advancing their careers, some from the diaspora. However, Palestinian filmmakers based in ‘48 (within the 1949 Armistice borders) and the occupied territories faced challenges with exploitative Israeli contracts, influencing the film's country of origin and representation at festivals. The late 1990s brought a positive shift with European cultural funds contributing to the exposure of Palestinian productions at international festivals at a time when directors Azza El-Hassan and Najwa Najjar started gaining visibility. The dynamic wave of fascination was abruptly interrupted by the events of 9/11, causing financial cuts and delays in many projects, some taking as long as a decade to complete.
The emergence of independent filmmaking in the 2010s, coupled with digital facilities, empowered Palestinian directors to become more self-sufficient. While online streaming platforms and an increase in Palestinian film festivals expanded their global reach, funding from Arab states and artist-in-residence programs played a crucial role in fostering Palestinian cinema's growth. This era witnessed a resurgence of directors gaining autonomy and eventually receiving worldwide recognition at major international film festivals. Amongst them are Annemarie Jacir, Cherien Dabis, Firas Khoury, Suha Arraf, Kamal Al Jafari and Carol Mansour, eventually followed by Mahdi Fleifel, Khaled Jarrar, Mohamed Jabaly, Mohanad Yaqubi, Maha Haj, Jumana Manna and Muayad Alayan. More recently, Farah Nabulsi, Razan AlSalah, Darin Sallam and Lina Soualem have contributed to a growing industry of Palestinian filmmakers, alongside many emerging directors producing a range of both commercial and experimental films. Palestinian-run production houses such as Ramallah-based Idioms Film, and the recently founded collective Gaza Film Unit, have actively facilitated collaborations between Palestinian filmmakers, many of whom are still divided from each other through physical and political borders.
The last decade has been pivotal in paving a new wave of avant-garde Palestinian cinema, with many multidisciplinary artists incorporating film into their work, such as Basma al-Sharif, Dina Mimi, Larissa Sansour and Sarah Zeryab. Finally, while the Gaza Strip has experienced limited exposure to the outside world for two decades, and the population’s hermetically imprisoned existence has undergone a livestreamed genocide, the release of anthology films was supported by prominent film producers, as well as elevating reporting from the ground.
