Eight Tunisian Films Featured in the Official Selection of the 1st Edition of the Gaza International Women's Film Festival
The festival will take place from October 26 to 31, 2025, in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, coinciding with the Palestinian Women's National Day, which commemorates the first conference of Palestinian women held in Al Qods in 1929.
Organized in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and several Arab and foreign institutions, the festival will showcase nearly 80 films from 28 countries, including Italy, France, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, Sweden, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Canada, Sudan, Kenya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Finland, Denmark, Argentina, Iran, and Palestine.
The festival was founded by Ezzaldeen Shalh, a filmmaker and doctor of cinema, former president of the Jerusalem Film Festival and the International Union of Arab Cinema. Shalh, who lost his home and part of his family, now lives in a tent.
The honorary president of the festival is Monica Maurer, a filmmaker and researcher who has worked for decades to preserve Palestinian visual memory.
The program includes documentaries, short films, and feature films that tell the stories of women's lives, voices, and struggles.
Seven Tunisian films are featured in the four competitive sections, including two feature films: the fiction film "Pour Ilef" by Saber Baccouch, an adaptation of his novel, and the documentary "Nadine" by Abdallah Yahia.
In the short film section, the fictions "Mima" by Dorra Sfar and "Les Clés de l'absence" by Amine Mejri are featured, as well as three documentaries: "Des femmes sur scène" by Zeinab Bent Salah, "Épouvantails de la zone rouge" by Jaleleddine Faouzi, and "Ma mère" by Najoua Kaslim (a Tunisia-Sweden co-production).
The opening film (out of competition) will be "The Voice of Hind Rajab" by Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia's candidate for the 2026 Oscars. This powerful drama, combining fiction and documentary, is a 89-minute closed-door film inspired by disturbing real events. It tells the story of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car under bombardment in Gaza after losing her family.
Written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, "The Voice of Hind Rajab" is a docufiction that won the Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) and six parallel awards at the 82nd Venice Mostra, where it had its world premiere.
This Tunisian-French co-production has been hailed by international critics as "the most powerful and urgent film of this year's festival." Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rooney Mara are executive producers of the film, which features a Palestinian cast including Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees, and Saja Kilani.
"The Voice of Hind Rajab" will be screened for the first time in the Arab world.
The 80 selected works constitute as many windows open to the world for a resilient population. The screenings will take place in an open-air space transformed into a cinema, accessible to spectators of all ages.
The jury for the fiction films is chaired by French director and screenwriter Céline Sciamma, and includes Moroccan director Mohamed El Younsi, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca, Palestinian writer-director Fajr Yacoub, and Algerian actress-director Moni Boualam.
Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir, director of the film "Palestine 36," a candidate for the 2026 Oscars, chairs the documentary jury, alongside Bahraini producer Bassim Al Thawadi, Italian producer Graziella Bildesheim (president of the European Women's Audiovisual Network), Kuwaiti director Abdulaziz Al-Sayegh, and Cuban editor Maricet Sancristobal.
"The Palestine is going through the most difficult period in its history, in the midst of a genocidal war in the Gaza Strip... Entire families have been erased from civil records, women and children have been targeted, and each victim has their own story," the festival's website states.
The Gaza International Women's Film Festival was created to highlight the cinematic narratives of female experiences.
First announced in Venice, the festival will take place thanks to the support of a wide network of international solidarity associations.
