Reel Palestine Film Festival 2026

Reel Palestine returns to Cinema Akil for its 12th edition, running from 23 January to 1 February, presented by Bayt and in partnership with Alserkal Avenue and the festival’s official partners Advanced Media, Bristol, Bark & Berg, Hikmat Culture, The Giving Movement, and Alserkal Avenue. The festival opens with the UAE premiere of Once Upon A Time in Gaza by Arab & Tarzan Nasser with the presence of actor Majd Eid. Reel Palestine

The programme features 11 feature films, 4 short films, and 29 screenings, including two Academy Award–nominated titles, reflecting the breadth of contemporary Palestinian cinema across fiction, documentary, and short form. Alongside the film programme, the festival also includes two weekends of the RP Souk and a series of workshops, extending the experience beyond the screen and into the community.

The festival also welcomes Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir is attending for a special masterclass, as well as two screenings, Palestine 36 and Wajib. Palestine 36, Jacir’s new feature and the oscar shortlisted nominee, returns to 1936 Palestine, under the British Mandate, following a young man caught between village life and Jerusalem as uprisings and social upheaval intensify. Wajib will be presented as a homage to Mohammad Bakri (1953–2025), honouring the late Palestinian actor and filmmaker through one of his most celebrated performances. Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi will also attend for an in-person Q&A following Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Across the feature selection, the programme highlights films that trace Palestinian history as lived inheritance and present-day reality. All That’s Left of You by Cherien Dabis moves across three generations, linking a present-day West Bank protest to the intergenerational impact of displacement since 1948. In documentary, With Hasan in Gaza by Kamal Aljafari offers a portrait of a child navigating the ruins of 2003 Gaza through a blend of lived moments and cinematic memory, while Who Is Still Alive by Nicolas Wadimoff brings together nine voices from Gaza who reconstruct the outlines of their neighbourhoods and speak about life before and during the war.

The festival also features films that focus on what art do people create to endure, including The Clown of Gaza by Abdulrahman Sabbah, One More Show by Mai Saad and Ahmed Al-Danaf, and Palestine Comedy Club by Alaa Aliabdallah, each foregrounding performance, humour, and public presence as ways of holding space for life. Cinema itself also becomes a subject in Habibi Hussein by Alex Bakri, which follows the last projectionist of Cinema Jenin as he attempts to revive an old projector through a journey across the West Bank. 

The shorts programme introduces emerging voices working across fiction and documentary. Titles include Born A Celebrity (Luay Awad), winner of the Palme d’Or for short films at Cannes 2025  I’m Glad You’re Dead Now (Tawfeek Barhom), BAISANOS (Andrés and Francisca Khamis Giacoman), Gaza Bride 17 (Waseem Khair), expanding the festival’s thematic range across privacy and visibility, memory and rupture, diaspora and belonging, and the psychological aftershocks of loss.

The festival is made possible through the continued support of its official festival partners Advanced Media, Bristol, Bark & Berg, Hikmat Palestine,, The Giving Movement, and Alserkal Avenue, with Soul Communications serving as communications partner and Dazed Middle East as media partner. Together, these collaborations play a vital role in sustaining the festival’s platform for Palestinian cinema, culture, and dialogue.

 

NOTE: Quoz Arts Fest takes place on January 24 & 25, entry to @alserkalavenue will be ticketed for full access to weekend events and activations. Please purchase your tickets by visiting: