REEL PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL 2026

Reel Palestine returns to Cinema Akil for its 12th edition, running from 23 January to 1 February, presented by Bayt and in partnership with Alserkal Avenue and the festival's official partners Advanced Media, Bristol, Bark & Berg, Hikmat Culture, The Giving Movement, and Alserkal Avenue. The festival opens with the UAE premiere of Once Upon A Time in Gaza by Arab & Tarzan Nasser with the presence of actor Majd Eid. Reel Palestine

The programme features 11 feature films, 4 short films, and 29 screenings, including two Academy Award–nominated titles, reflecting the breadth of contemporary Palestinian cinema across fiction, documentary, and short form. Alongside the film programme, the festival also includes two weekends of the RP Souk and a series of workshops, extending the experience beyond the screen and into the community.

The festival also welcomes Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir is attending for a special masterclass, as well as two screenings, Palestine 36 and Wajib. Palestine 36, Jacir's new feature and the oscar shortlisted nominee, returns to 1936 Palestine, under the British Mandate, following a young man caught between village life and Jerusalem as uprisings and social upheaval intensify. Wajib will be presented as a homage to Mohammad Bakri (1953–2025), honouring the late Palestinian actor and filmmaker through one of his most celebrated performances. Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi will also attend for an in-person Q&A following Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Across the feature selection, the programme highlights films that trace Palestinian history as lived inheritance and present-day reality. All That's Left of You by Cherien Dabis moves across three generations, linking a present-day West Bank protest to the intergenerational impact of displacement since 1948. In documentary, With Hasan in Gaza by Kamal Aljafari offers a portrait of a child navigating the ruins of 2003 Gaza through a blend of lived moments and cinematic memory, while Who Is Still Alive by Nicolas Wadimoff brings together nine voices from Gaza who reconstruct the outlines of their neighbourhoods and speak about life before and during the war.