Reel Palestine Film Festival 2021 - 7th Edition

Reel Palestine returned on January 22nd-30th 2021  for its seventh edition, excited to share films with its community of supporters. Reel Palestine is a community-driven film festival run by volunteers and a passion for cinema. Reel Palestine’s 7th edition took place in collaboration with our long term partner Cinema Akil, the GCC’s only arthouse cinema. Reel Palestine's focus has been to build a community in the United Arab Emirates and around the world by bringing the best of cinema from Palestine and its diaspora.

​The 2021 festival was a celebration of life itself: presenting stories of love, of family, of tears, of joy and heartbreak, of breaking bread and dancing, of romance and the creative spirit of humanity. The festival showcased films by celebrated international award winning directors as well as up and coming first-time filmmakers presenting narrative and documentary features and shorts across genres ranging from sci-fi to romantic comedies. The Palestine in our films was real and breathing with an artistic expression that has the ability to touch, transform and inspire.    

Reel Palestine Film Festival 2021 Trailer

Reel Palestine 2021 Films & Shorts

Reel Palestine Film Festival 2021 screened over 28  features, documentaries and shorts which
​premiered in the UAE for the first time. 

See 2021 Films & Shorts

Reel Palestine 2021 Collaborations

Reel Palestine Souk
in collaboration with

Every year, Reel Palestine brings together the best and most creative artisans, makers and sellers of Palestinian products in the UAE. This year, in partnership with Kave, Reel Palestine hosted its souk to support local SMEs, including:

Alwan.dxb  /  Ayadi by Widad  /  Exhale  /  Falafel Falastin  /  Hadeel El-Alami Arts  /  Jenin  /  Khyoot  /  Layyef Kayyef  / Mooneh by Dima Al Sharif
Nablus Kanafeh  /  Nai  /  Nasij  / Nour Milhem  /  Qamha  /  Rimal  /  Rulala Creations  /  Shatila Studio  /  ​Story of a Stitch  /  Thob

Visual Storytelling Workshop
in collaboration with

Visualizing Palestine, in collaboration with Reel Palestine, hosted a workshop to screen 'So Close Yet So Far', a series of short animations, an was followed by a detailed virtual tour into the behind the scenes of how those stories came to life.

Artist Yosra El-Gazzar showed participants her design process, from conceptualization, story flow and experimentations. The workshop was hosted by Gulf Photo Plus, in Alserkal Avenue. 

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Radio Al Hara
​played at Cinema Akil 
Radio Al Hara , ‘the neighborhood radio’, live streamed every day during the festival at Cinema Akil and Project Chaiwala.  Radio Al Hara is a communal radio station project, which began in Bethlehem and Ramallah during the start of the lockdown. It is an open platform for listening, discussion and community building by artists, musicians and DJs performing globally.

Still Pasts
Yazan Kopty in collaboration with Dima Srouji, Milena Desse, and Vivien Sansour
​ Presented by Gulf Photo Plus & Reel Palestine 

Gulf Photo Plus exhibited works curated by Yazan Kopty (Imagining the Holy) who collaborated with filmmakers Dima Srouji, Milena Desse, and Vivien Sansour in a series of conversations connecting archival images of Palestine with contemporary film. Using still fragments from the archive as prompts, they interrogated how images, both past and present, still and moving, have documented and driven the complex histories that are the subjects of their works.

Discover More

Re-live the Magic of Reel Palestine 2021

Reel Palestine x Kave Workshops
in collaboration with and hosted by Kave

Silver Jewelry
Making Workshop 
with Poras

Workshop guests were taken through the process of making silver jewelry in the shape of a map. Metals were sustainable silver and attendees walked away with their own keepsake. 

Palestinian
​Embroidery Workshop 
 with Joanna Barakat

Workshop attendees learnt about the history of Palestinian embroidery, named Tatreez, and learnt how to weave their own items to take home. 

Authentic
​Palestinian Brunch
with Haya's Kitchen

Guests were taken through a culinary journey of Palestinian dishes from several towns and learnt about the cooking processes that have been lost. 

Reel Palestine 2021 Festival Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for supporting Reel Palestine's 2021 film festival!

Thank you to our Reel Palestine Hall of Fame supporters: Ayadi by Widad, Israa Shaheen, Nada Shaheen, Ramzi Jaber and Shaima Tahboub

Programmatic Partners: Cinema Akil ​

Since 2016, Reel Palestine has partnered with Cinema Akil, the GCC's only arthouse cinema, as programmatic partners. In 2019, with the official opening of the Cinema Akil space​ in Alserkal Avenue, it has since become Reel Palestine's home. 
​
Cinema Akil is an independent cinema platform that brings quality films from across the world to the audiences in the UAE. Showcasing directors and filmmakers across the decades, Cinema Akil aims to create awareness and interest in film and the cinematic arts. Launched in 2014 as a nomadic cinema, Cinema Akil has held more than 80 pop-up cinemas attracting over 50,000 attendees in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

Thank you to our community partners