West Norwood 4 Palestine Free Film Festival Screening 5: 'Palestine & Disability: Short Films Night'

 Join us for Night 5 of our Free Palestine Film Festival in Herne Hill at Off The Cuff (over 18s only). 

For our final film night, we are so excited to screen a collection of short films centred on the lived experience of Disabled people living in Gaza, including London Film Festival and La Gala Quebec Cinema winner, Vibrations From Gaza (2024), Gaza Sunbird's Tour de Gaza (2019) and Action On Armed Violence's (AOAV) Voice Notes from Palestine (2024).

Vibrations From Gaza, directed by Rehab Nazzal, is a glimpse into the resilience of Palestinian Deaf children born and raised under Israeli siege. The children describe their perceptions of missile strikes through sensing vibrations in the air, trembling of the ground, and the resonance of collapsing buildings. The film questions whether the hearing impairment of these children is a consequence of Israel's use of sonic weaponry, such as sonic booms.

Director Amal Al-Agroobi's Voice Notes from Palestine is a powerful short film that features the testimonies of Disabled Palestinian students from the Islamic University of Gaza, detailing their experiences of suffering, loss, resilience and hope during Israel's year-long mass bombardment and siege of Gaza Strip. 
In 2023, the students participated in an online course led by Dr Iain Overton, Director of AOAV, in collaboration with Dr Nazmi Al-Masri and his staff at the University of Gaza.  The course aimed to empower the students to use social media as a means of telling their stories.

Flavia Capellini’s Tour de Gaza tells the story of twenty-two-year-old Alaa AlDali who trained daily in the 40-km long Gaza Strip. Despite being the fastest Palestinian road cyclist, he was repeatedly refused permission to travel abroad for competitions, until one day, he was shot by an Israeli sniper while protesting his immobility. This short documentary follows Alaa’s physical rehabilitation and his new struggle to be a paracyclist under the Gaza blockade. Tour de Gaza takes us through this inaccessible landscape on the wheels of this ambitious cyclist, as he maintains steadfast to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

All films contain scenes that viewers may find distressing, including references to physical violence, genocide, mass destruction and poverty linked to the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

 
Palestinian food will be available for purchase beforehand, as well as a selection of drinks from the Off The Cuff bar. 

6.15pm Doors Open 

7.00pm Film Screening & Q&A 

Off The Cuff is an accessible venue. If you have any accessibility requirements, please reach out and let us know as soon as possible. All films will be captioned.  Over 18s only. 

More information will be sent to all those who have signed up prior to the screening. 

 Any profits, once all film festival costs have been covered, will support The Sameer Project, Gaza Sunbirds and West Norwood 4 Palestine.