Yalla Gaza: A Cinematic Event in Solidarity with Palestine

Under the title “Yalla Gaza,” coinciding with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29), the Palestine Cultural Platform (the Platform) and the Kasbah Theater and Cinematheque, in partnership with the Palestine Film Institute, are organizing a solidarity cinematic event for screenings of films made by foreign directors, which will continue until December 20, 2023.
The event bears the title of the opening film, “Yalla Gaza” (2023), by French director Roland Nourier, in its first showing in the Arab region, and it is the most recent production among foreign documentaries about the Gaza Strip.
The “Yalla Gaza” event includes seven films, with two showings per week, and continues for about a month at Al-Qasaba Cinema in Ramallah. It displays films made by directors from the United States of America and several European countries, and most of these films were produced after 2010.

Among these films, in addition to the opening screening: “The Samouni Road” (2018) by Italian director Stefano Savona, “Another Leap” (2019) by Italian director Emanuele Gerosa, and “Gaza” (2019) by Irish directors Gary Kane and Andrew McConnell, And “Surf Club” (2016) by German directors Philipp Gnadt and German-Egyptian Micky Yammine.
The event will also screen the film “Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family” (1984) by Swedish directors Per-Ake Holmquist and Pierre Bjorklund and American director Joan Mandel, which is a documentary that primarily revolves around the life of a Palestinian family that was living in the Jabalia refugee camp at the time.

“Yalla Gaza” will conclude on the twentieth of next month, with the film “Erasmus in Gaza” (2022), in its first showing in Palestine, and one of its first showings in the Arab region. It is directed by Italian Chiara Avisani and Italian Matteo Delpo, the latter of whom was among the makers. “One More Leap Is Enough” movie.
Erasmus in Gaza documents the path taken by an ambitious Italian surgeon, Riccardo Corradini, the first ever Erasmus exchange student. It was shown at a number of international film festivals last and current year, and won a number of awards. The work not only depicts Corradini’s experience, but also conveys his feeling, which reflects what may be simmering within an entire generation of Europeans: the feeling of living like a prisoner in your home under the constant threat of bombing.
For film directors, producers and distributors, “Yalla Gaza” is an event through which they express their solidarity with Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip. It is also a narrative that confronts the narratives of the occupation with neutral cinematic eyes, documenting what it saw in the besieged Strip over the course of decades.
These films refute misleading Zionist narratives that seek to establish that the aggression against the Palestinian people dates back to what happened on October 7, 2023. These works show what the Gaza Strip is suffering due to the siege that began 16 years ago, in addition to the continuing attacks on it.

In turn, the Executive Director of the Kasbah Theater and Cinematheque, Samer Makhlouf, indicated in an interview with Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed that “organizing this event at the Kasbah Theater and Cinematheque, in partnership with the platform and in cooperation with the Palestine Film Institute, comes in light of unprecedented Palestinian conditions, represented by… The barbaric aggression against the Gaza Strip. These screenings were held out of our conviction that our role, as cultural institutions, lies in shedding light on the way in which international directors convey images of Gaza from many different aspects to the world, to confirm, through the screenings of their films in international film festivals and global platforms, that the people The Palestinian has been suffering for 75 years, due to the occupation’s policies of killing and destruction, and how Gaza has turned into a large prison, for a long time, and not starting on October 7.”
Makhlouf points out that among the goals of the “Yalla Gaza” event is to display to the Palestinian public and to non-Palestinians residing in Ramallah and other West Bank cities this image that has toured and is scheduled to tour the world with foreign eyes around Gaza. He says: “This is a solidarity event for filmmakers, because the description of solidarity does not apply to us Palestinians. Not one of us is in solidarity with himself. Therefore, through this event, we seek to be part of the Palestinian, Arab and international movement that aims to spread the Palestinian narrative that is suffering from a war of extermination.” It is also, not only from the occupation, but from various parties around the world, which is consistent with the large and influential role of social media heroes, including Palestinians and those in solidarity with Palestine, and Palestinian, Arab, and foreign media professionals who sided with the truth despite all the difficulties, so they contributed to changing the stereotyped image of the Palestinian people. This is what Palestinian, Arab, and foreign directors and producers have done with their electronic shows available to the world.”
He adds: “Through the “Yalla Gaza” event, we are mobilizing to be part of this battle, hoping for its success in contributing to motivating and sharpening the enthusiasm of those who can to engage in this battle between the truth that we Palestinians represent and the falsification and lies that the occupation and its supporters represent.”