A group of prominent Palestinian, Arab and international filmmakers and industry professionals on Monday launched the Gaza Cinema Academy at the Venice Film Festival. The new entity aims to establish a sustainable space for film education, training and production in Gaza, “while connecting emerging Palestinian filmmakers with the wider international film community,” as a statement put it.
The Gaza Cinema Academy is being supported by 2025 Venice Silver Lion winner — and Venice jury member — Kaouther Ben Hania (“The Voice of Hind Rajab”) and fellow directors Annemarie Jacir (“Palestine 36″), Mai Masri (“3000 Nights”) — who is the academy’s co-founder — and Ezzaldeen Shalah, as well as actors Hiam Abbas, Ramy Youssef and Saleh Bakri. Italian producer Graziella Bildesheim and Cairo-based distributor and Arab film industry promoter Alaa Karkouti are also on board.
The academy will focus “on film education and training, supporting young talent and women, developing and producing new Palestinian films, strengthening the presence of filmmakers in Gaza and their connections with the Palestinian, Arab and international film communities, and building a sustainable film institution in the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.
They are seeking to build a rapport with film festivals and other cultural institutions, as well as film funds, and production companies. “The academy aspires to build an international network of partners that supports emerging film talent in Gaza, strengthens opportunities for learning and production, and helps their films reach festivals, platforms and audiences around the world,” it noted.
“In Gaza, cinema is not merely an art form; it is a means of preserving memory, reclaiming our right to shape our own image, and giving a new generation the tools to tell its own story,” said Shalah, who is founder of the Gaza International Women’s Film Festival and co-founder of the Gaza Cinema Academy, in the statement. “We want the academy to open a window for young people and women in Gaza to learn, create and make their own films, and for their voices and images to reach the world. We invite our partners in institutions, universities and the international film community to be part of building this space.“
The first edition of the Gaza International Women’s Film Festival was held Oct. 26-31, 2025, amid rubble in the heart of the Gaza strip. The Gaza fest opened with “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
There are two Palestinian films in Venice’s official selection this year: Ahmed Hassouna’s “Citizen Osama,” which portrays a photographer (film still above) as he attempts to juggle his roles as father and a journalist while capturing the realities of war in Gaza; and Muayad Alayan’s “Conversation With the Sea,” about a 60-year-old Palestinian man named Kamal who becomes entangled in a tendentious web of Israeli bureaucracy.
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