Schedule
Delving into the past and not shying away from the dug-up pain, a young filmmaker speaks to her Mexican mother and Palestinian father about their trying journeys into the United States.
Preceded by SEEDS & ROOTS
After being declared dead and kept in the morgue for seven hours — even placed in a tomb — six-year-old Halima suddenly moved her hand, astonishing those around her and revealing an extraordinary story of survival in Gaza.
Preceded by RESTRICTED, KHALED AND NEMA, and BETWEEN SKY AND SEA
Disillusioned by his Palestinian homecoming and the village's fading resistance, a former activist questions if his peaceful French exile is a surrender or an accomplishment.
Preceded by FRAGMENTED, THE SILENCE THEY TAUGHT US, and MORNING CIRCLE
A deeply moving, multigenerational drama that follows a Palestinian teenager who gets swept into a protest in the Occupied West Bank and experiences a moment of violence that rocks his family.
Preceded by MIRRORS
Yahya, a young student in Gaza, forges a friendship with Osama, a charismatic restaurant owner with a big heart. Together, they start peddling drugs while delivering falafel sandwiches, but soon are forced to grapple with a corrupt cop and his oversized ego.
Preceded by A SHORT FILM ABOUT A CHAIR and STUCK
Nadia fights against social taboos and her own denial to support her son, Basil, as he experiences a worsening psychological disorder. It is a striking debut feature that explores the intense, unconditional bond between a mother and a child lost in mental turmoil.
Preceded by DON’T BE LONG, LITTLE BIRD
Two sisters hatch a daring plan to claim their late father's fortune before their brother can seize it under patriarchal inheritance laws.
Preceded by WHAT A PATTERN TELLS
The Untold Intifada 1958 chronicles the first mass Palestinian uprising since Al Nakba. Taking place in May of 1958 in Nazareth, this uprising has been absent from Palestinian narratives.
Preceded by KEEP LAUGHING, IN HER ARMS, 10 MINUTES YOUNGER, LIVING DESPITE THEM, AND SEVERED
The assassination of a beloved Palestinian American activist in Southern California ignites a 40-year quest for justice, revealing the roots of a dangerous political movement that thrives today.
Preceded by TRIP ZIGGURAT
Sami, 12, pursues an elusive carrier pigeon across Palestine, which he assumes has returned to its homeland. What quest is really behind the invisible pigeon?
Preceded by THEY’RE NOT JUST SONGS, BORN A CELEBRITY and GAZA BRIDE 17
A groundbreaking comedy troupe takes the stage in Palestine, where laughter embodies survival and defiance.
Preceded by KITES OF BURIN, ADAS FALASTEEN and IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME
Witness the pulse of a movement through six powerful stories of survival, memory, and defiance. This collection captures the intimate realities of the Palestinian struggle, finding threads of hope even in the shadow of silence and stone.
Catch the award-winning historical epic that weaves together personal stories of rural villagers and urban elites to depict a pivotal turning point in Palestine’s history.
Preceded by FIRST LIEUTENANT
Found footage dating back to 2001 shows Gaza in a different time, and what started as a search for a former prison mate from 1989, led to an unexpected road trip from the north to the south.
Preceded by JKR AGAINST EVERYTHING
A Palestinian American entrepreneur returns to the occupied West Bank to discover that the olive crop is in crisis. He leads a movement of farmers to preserve the ecosystem and thousands of years of ecological knowledge.
Preceded by THE FLOWERS STAND SILENTLY, WITNESSING
In the heart of the Gaza Strip, four men navigate through divergent paths in pursuit of their definitions of existence, intertwining their fates amidst the complexities of life, love, and survival.
Preceded by WORSE THAN NUKING: A FAMILY'S TALE OF SURVIVAL and QAHER
When three American doctors enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth.
Preceded by A SHORT FILM ABOUT KIDS
Delving into the past and not shying away from the dug-up pain, a young filmmaker speaks to her Mexican mother and Palestinian father about their trying journeys into the United States.
Preceded by DON’T BE LONG, LITTLE BIRD
This multigenerational film spans from Al Nakba to modern times, tracing the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family.
In partnership with the Gene Siskel Film Center, catch the Chicago theatrical run of this critically-acclaimed and award-winning film that retells the harrowing and tragic story of a young girl trapped in a car under attack from Israeli occupation forces.
Curious about traditional Palestinian dancing? Join hands at our dabke workshop featuring the legendary El-Funoun Dance Troupe and learn more about its history while getting your steps in!
This powerful and suspenseful epic charts a group of characters caught up in the tumultuous historic moment when Palestinians united against Britain’s colonial rule.
Through a series of intimate video calls, an Iranian filmmaker grows closer to a young Palestinian photographer as the conditions in Gaza crumble around her.
This powerful and suspenseful epic charts a group of characters caught up in the tumultuous historic moment when Palestinians united against Britain’s colonial rule.
Through a series of intimate video calls, an Iranian filmmaker grows closer to a young Palestinian photographer as the conditions in Gaza crumble around her.
With a terrified Palestinian girl on the line awaiting help, emergency volunteers scramble to send an ambulance across Gaza to save her in this harrowing true story.
With a terrified Palestinian girl on the line awaiting help, emergency volunteers scramble to send an ambulance across Gaza to save her in this harrowing true story.
Have you ever wanted to dive into the history of tatreez and even learn some of its basic techniques? Now is your chance.
Join us for a special short series event revolving around the use of art as expression while under a brutal occupation.
Building on the framework of his 2002 documentary, “Jenin, Jenin”, Director Mohammad Bakri revisits the Jenin refugee camp, reflecting on the devastation caused by Israel’s 2023 military invasion.
Preceded by $17.74 and UPSHOT.
Join us for a special screening of “A State of Passion”, a gripping documentary about a British-Palestinian doctor working round the clock in Gazan hospitals while enduring constant bombardment finds himself at the vanguard of Palestinian resistance.
Preceded by THE OLIVE TREE SAID TO ME
Exclusively archival footage is edited into a detailed, historical reconstruction of the aggression faced by Palestinians.
Preceded by ABU SALMA, HIDE & SEEK, WHEN WEATHER PERMITS, AND SHATTERED MEMORY.
Conclude the 24th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival by joining us for a brunch with special guests and art.
Building on the framework of his 2002 documentary, “Jenin, Jenin”, Director Mohammad Bakri revisits the Jenin refugee camp, reflecting on the devastation caused by Israel’s 2023 military invasion.
Preceded by $17.74 and UPSHOT.
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. But when Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his dangerous drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
Preceded by BLOOD LIKE WATER.
This documentary film profiles the terrains of the Indian reservation and the Palestinian refugee camp - “spaces of exception” - that have become essential in the struggle for decolonization and indigenous autonomy.
Preceded by عَ السطح / On the Rooftop, THE SOUND OF CLOUDS, AND EXCEPTION.
In her relentless pursuit of a memory that reinforces her sense of belonging, Areeb crosses paths with Ahmed, a parkour athlete in Gaza, sparking a journey where conflicting aspirations intersect. Nostalgia meets with ambition, and the weight of a confined past meets with an unpredictable future.
Preceded by MASHED POTATOES AND MAQLUBA.
After years of right-wing assaults on higher education, attacks took a new form in 2023 and 2024 that has been described as the new McCarthyism. The documentary unfolds as a story of college campuses as sites of both rebellion and repression, places where personal and collective histories converge in unexpected ways.
Preceded by SALT, SIRI MIRI, AND THE DEER’S TOOTH.
In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. During this time it raided the Palestinian Research Center and looted its entire archive. “A Fidai Film” explores the visual memory of this looting and appropriates images now in the hands of Israeli archives.
Preceded by IN A MOMENT, I’LL GET BACK TO YOU, FORGET ME NOT, AND PINK SWING.
Exclusively archival footage is edited into a detailed, historical reconstruction of the aggression faced by Palestinians.
Preceded by ABU SALMA, HIDE & SEEK, WHEN WEATHER PERMITS, AND SHATTERED MEMORY.
Featuring an evening of short films, we explore identity and meaning, from Chicago to Palestine.
After the death of his father, a young man attempts to climb Everest in a story of self-discovery.
Preceded by FROM GAZA TO CUBA and KHSARA.
Today we feature a curated series of short films that deal with the solidarity and the promise of Palestine, from a budding garden that recalls a homeland, to forgotten lessons learned from Irish Americans, to how dance preserves our identity, to being thrust into a war and documenting new memories.
Festivities begin at 6:00 p.m. with a reception.
A British-Palestinian doctor working round the clock in Gazan hospitals while enduring constant bombardment finds himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.
Preceded by SALT, SIRI MIRI, and THE DEER’S TOOTH
FREE
LYD activates imaginations of a future liberated Palestine by portraying the 5,000 year-old titular city in two ways: what it currently is, and what it could have been.
*SOLD OUT*
A Palestinian filmmaker, stranded in Norway, fights for his rights with integrity, community, and a smile for the world.
*SOLD OUT*
22 Palestinian filmmakers living through war, capture their lives in Gaza over the past year, revealing stories beyond the headlines. Their work offers a striking view of life's fragility and the resilience of love in the face of devastation.
Join us for a world premiere screening of Bisan, a Seen Palestine documentary that tells the story of one of the world’s most courageous journalists, Bisan Owda from Gaza.
This film is SOLD OUT.
