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The Palestine Film Institute (PFI) support, promote and preserve films from and about Palestine.

19/06/2026

Meet Our First Week Mentors
We are excited to introduce the three mentors who will support the Palarctic filmmakers’ journey during the first week of the program, where participants will create a short film from idea to big screen in just one week.

First up is Marte B. Aasen:
Marte is a film editor from North Norway with a strong foundation in documentary filmmaking. A graduate of Stockholm University of the Arts, Marte has edited the award-winning TV series 113 and the South African documentary !AITSA. She is passionate about discovering and sharing unique stories.

Our second mentor is Elisabeth Rasmussen:
Elisabeth is a Sámi-Norwegian filmmaker and founder of Wonderline Productions. Her debut feature, The Heart of Bruno Wizard, was acquired by Netflix and SVT after its success at over 30 film festivals. Her short film Phoenix was nominated for Best Documentary at the Norwegian Short Film Festival. Elisabeth’s second feature documentary, We Are Stardust, premiered at Thessaloniki and CPH:DOX in spring 2026.

Our third mentor is May Odeh who will be working with the Gaza group:
May is an award-winning Palestinian producer, filmmaker, founder of Odeh Films in Palestine, and co-founder of Mayana Films in Berlin. May’s work has been showcased and awarded at major international festivals, including Cannes, such as : Yetsrday The Eye Didnt Sleep (Un Certain Regard), Aisha Can’t Fly Away (Un Certain Regard). A Useful Ghost, a film she co-produced, won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize, and Safe Exit in Panorama in Berlinale 2026. May produced Habibi Hussein, which premiered at Busan 2025 and won awards at prestigious festivals. She also curates the Palestinian Film Platform, promoting Palestinian cinema globally.

We are grateful to have them as part of the Palarctic community and look forward to learning from their expertise.

18/06/2026

We are proud to launch the second edition of the PalArctic Film Program in Tromsø, Gaza´s twin city, bringing together Palestinian and Norwegian filmmakers for a film development program that builds on the creativity and resilience of Palestinian cinema. Working in collaboration with the Palestine Film Institute (PFI), the program emphasises on the importance of supporting Palestinian films and stories in international forums, and the power of narrative, which is at the heart of the Palestinian struggle.

As this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Friendship agreement between Tromsø and Gaza, we are happy to welcome nine talented filmmakers to Tromsø to work together on their film projects. This year’s group will consist of four Norwegian/Nordic filmmakers, along with five Palestinian filmmakers.

The first week will coincide at the Nordic Youth Film Festival, during which participants will take part in the NUFF film workshop to create a short film together within one week. The second week will focus on developing the filmmakers’ submitted film projects.

This year’s PalArctic participants are: May Herbawe, Regina Steen Bergman, Sheryn Yidi, Danielle da Silva, Loai Awwad, Shahd Issa, Naoki Kawai, Salam Husari, Mohammed Abujayyab.

In addition to the nine filmmakers present in Tromsø, a group of four filmmakers will join us online from Gaza and take part in both parts of the program.
The Palarctic Film program is supported by Arctic Film Norway, Frittord, Tromsø Kommune & Tvibit - in cooperation with the Palestine Film Institute.

Through art, we resist. Through film, we remember. Through solidarity, we build.

12/06/2026

A warm welcome from Sheffield to our Palestinian Delegation during the Rally for Palestine today!

Join us tomorrow for the Palestine Showcase at Sheffield DocFest DocFest 2026

Saturday, June 13, 10:00 - 11:00
The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield City Centre

You can check and learn more about our delegation projects through our website (bio) also other Palestinians film at the festival program!

We extend our gratitude to those who choose to engage with and support our filmmakers, and welcome partners who are committed not only to the films themselves, but to the narratives and structures that allow them to endure.

11/06/2026

Our June program curated by Selma Shaban continues today with its second part, “Present Elsewheres,” exploring the present across contradictory spaces, following characters attempting to negotiate meaning and possibility across these realities. Tongpan (1977) by Isan Film Group and Homage by Assassination (1992) by Elia Suleiman are free to stream at palestinefilminstitute.org through June 20th.

Tongpan (1977)
Docu-drama | 1h 2m
A landmark film shot after the October 14, 1973 student uprising and finished after the October 6, 1976 massacre at Thammasat University, Tongpan is a social-realist docu-drama that looks at the hardship of Northeastern villagers and the uncertainties that arise after a plan to build Pha Mong Dam in the area. The narrative intercuts between documentary-like portrayal of rural existence as Tongpan and his family struggle to make ends meet and a scene in a seminar room in which academics and government representatives argue about the benefits of the proposed dam.

Homage by Assassination (1992)
Experimental | 27m
This short by Elia Suleiman forms the fifth part of the collective film titled Gulf War, What Next? It follows a Palestinian man reflecting on the war in the Persian Gulf and on the media coverage surrounding it. The man is the filmmaker himself, cloistered in his claustrophobic studio in New York as Nazareth, his native city, and is threatened by the Iraqi Scud missiles launched against Israeli cities, during the Iraqi-Persian War. The diaristic film traces the routines of Suleiman's day: he ties his bootlaces, boils milk on the stove, observes from the window a couple's quarrel in the street, weighs himself repeatedly on the scale, goes to the bathroom, makes phone calls and works on editing his film.

01/06/2026

For the month of June, the Palestine Film Platform welcomes Selma Shaban as guest curator of the PFP. Her three-part program, "Reframing Time Through Images," departs from the questions: How do we temporally situate Israel’s genocide on Palestinians in Gaza? Is it in the past, present, or future? The first part is a series of experimental shorts of Gaza from 1973 onward that historicize images from Gaza and emphasize the experimentation involved both in creating images under systematic destruction and in perceiving and engaging with them. These five shorts are free to stream at palestinefilminstitute.org through June 10th.

Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza (1973)
Dir. Mustafa Abu Ali

Gaza Diary (2001)
Dir. Taysir Batniji

We Began by Measuring Distance (2009)
Dir. Basma Alsharif

Mahdi Amel in Gaza: On the Colonial Mode of Production (2024)
Dirs. Mary Jirmanus Saba, Tareq Rantisi

GAZA.MP4 (2024)
Diaa Lagan, Mohannad El-Masria & Fuad Halwani

25/05/2026

And it’s a wrap on the 2026 Palestine Pavilion in Cannes! Over the past days, it became a space for dialogue, collaboration, solidarity and connection, bringing together filmmakers, artists, partners, and supporters from across the world.

Our programme carried a strong spirit throughout the week: moving from survival mode toward building lasting structures, collaborations, and long-term visions for the future of Palestinian cinema.

We closed with a special performance by their music carries stories of resilience, hope, and Palestine from Gaza to the world.

It was a great journey at Cannes this year, made possible only through the care, dedication, and support of our marvelous team and supporters.

Thank you again to every Palestinian filmmaker, producer, and consultant who believed in the power of coming together. You are our mountains. Together, we turn our narratives into change, not only for Palestine, but for all oppressed people fighting injustice everywhere.

A huge thanks to our supporters who made this edition possible:

And a big thanks to all our collaborators who helped shape a rich, coherent public program that truly served our filmmakers’ needs:
.jerusalem and la palestine sauvera le cinema.

A special thanks to the and .docs teams, who helped make the Palestine Pavilion not just a platform for cinematic dialogue, but a hub of solidarity that brought together all conscious and concerned people during

And special thanks to for the amazing food and hospitality.

The Palestine Pavilion visual identify was designed by the one and only .7mz / Thank you for all the hard work.

23/05/2026

Submissions for the PFF closes tomorrow!
Get your application ready and submit it by

Sunday, May 24th, 2026
23:59 (Palestine time)

Link on our website or bio!
يغلق باب التقديم لصندوق الفيلم الفلسطيني غدًا!
جهّز طلبك وقدّمه قبل:
الأحد 24 مايو 2026
( الساعة 23:59 (بتوقيت فلسطين)
الرابط متوفر على موقعنا الإلكتروني أو في البايو
fund

21/05/2026

The world premiere of (Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep) a Palestinian film supported by the PFI Film Fund and directed by .mayasi, resonated powerfully with audiences at . It stands as a testament to the bright future of Palestinian cinema, driven by emerging voices whose stories are leaving a lasting mark on the international film stage.
Congratulations for the team.

العرض العالمي الأول لفيلم (البارح العين ما نامت) للمخرج الفلسطيني ركان مياسي، الفيلم الفلسطيني الحائز على منحة الدورة الأولى من صندوق الفيلم الفلسطيني، لاقى استجابة قوية من الجمهور، ضمن مهرجان كان السينمائي، ويُعد شهادة على مستقبل مشرق للسينما الفلسطينية، بفضل أصواتها الناشئة التي تترك قصصها بصمة واضحة على السينما العالمية.
مبروك للفريق.

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