“There’s never been a more important time to learn the stories of Palestine," says Naser Shakhtour, Director of Australia's Palestinian Film Festival. And now the Palestinian Film Festival Australia is back, with a program of films from Palestinian filmmakers and storytellers showing across the country, including at Cinema Nova.
Now in its 12th year, the Palestinian Film Festival Australia will be on in Melbourne from March 14-17. The festival will also have stints in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart and Perth during March.
The Melbourne event will play host to 12 films, including award-winning features and ground-breaking documentaries.
“The last few months in Gaza and in the West Bank have been, and continue to be, beyond devastating. People everywhere are asking brave questions and actively seeking independent and alternative perspectives,” says Shakhtour. “Our twelfth festival program pays tribute to the continued resistance and resilience of the Palestinian people.”
This year’s festival will open with a coming-of-age, socio-political drama Alam, which tells the story of a Palestinian teen who undergoes a political awakening, sparked by an outspoken new girl at his school.
The sci-fi documentary Lyd will make its Australian premiere in Sydney before also showing in Melbourne, and other acclaimed films on the program include A Gaza Weekend (winner of the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival) and Bye Bye Tiberias (Palestine’s Oscars entry for the Best International Feature Film).
The Melbourne leg of the Palestinian Film Festival will be held at Cinema Nova, and you can view the full program and plan your cinema trips over here.
