From the Rubble to the Screen: Cinema for Survival

In contexts of war, displacement, and mass violence, storytelling and cinema are not cultural luxuries—they are essential human needs. For communities living through conflict, and especially for peoples facing systematic destruction and genocide, narrative becomes a form of survival: a way to preserve memory and protect identity.

Renowned Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, born and raised in Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp, will explore two vital dimensions of film and filmmaking in Gaza:

First, the urgent need to bring the works of Palestinian filmmakers to international audiences. The world needs to watch films from Gaza because they offer perspectives that cannot be captured by headlines or statistics. These films restore human presence to places often reduced to numbers, and these films reveal the daily realities, fears, humour, and hopes of Gazans, bringing Palestinian films and voices abroad as a way to resist and to preserve the identity of the Palestinian people. They allow Gaza to speak for itself, transmit truth, and assert existence in the face of erasure. For Palestinian filmmakers, the development of Gaza’s film industry also offers tools, skills, and professional dignity; amplifying voices, nurturing new generations, and turning cinema into a space of agency rather than simply testimony.

In parallel, cinema from different countries and cultures opens a window to the world for children who have grown up surrounded by blockade, loss, and repeated wars, offering moments of escape, imagination, and emotional relief. Through these films, children are given the chance to encounter other realities, stories, and ways of life—realities shaped by peace, creativity, and possibility. These screenings help restore a sense of normal childhood, nurture empathy and curiosity, and plant seeds of hope in young minds that have never experienced a single sustained period of peace. In this context, film becomes more than entertainment; it becomes a tool for healing, learning, and imagining a life beyond war.

Please be ready to enter the theatre no later than 9:10. No drinks allowed inside!