Inspired by Mohammed El-Kurd’s critique of the “perfect victim,” this programme brings together two films that refuse the narrow roles so often assigned to Palestinian men. Across life before and during Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, they offer intimate portraits of men in all their contradictions – playful, vulnerable, stubborn, imperfect, and deeply ordinary – insisting on the right to be seen as fully human rather than as symbols to be judged.

Screened as part of Falastin Film Festival (27—30 August).

About the films

Bisan Owda: Free Fish

Free Fish is an intimate short documentary filmed entirely in Gaza during one of the deadliest years in recent history. The film follows two brothers, Mohammad and Ahmad Kaloob, separated by siege and displacement, yet bound by the sea. Mohammad, displaced in Khan Younis with his two young daughters, fishes from the South and tries to find alternatives for the boat and net he lost in the bombing of Gaza Seaport. Ahmad, still in the North under total blockade, risks his life each morning near the Al-Shate’e refugee camp, what was once a livelihood is now a daily act of survival, the coastline is militarized, boats are shot at and hunger is used as a weapon of war.

And yet, the brothers return to the sea. They cast their nets and their memories, into waters that no longer offer freedom, but still carry meaning. Fishing becomes a fragile ritual of resistance, of connection, of presence. The film also follows Rami, Mohammad’s teenage nephew, who lost his twin brother during the genocide and now fishes alone. Through him, Free Fish becomes not just a story of survival, but of grief, inheritance, and the quiet defiance of those who refuse to disappear.

Mahmoud Nabil Ahmed: Gazan Tales

In the heart of the beloved Gaza Strip, four men navigate through divergent paths in pursuit of their own definitions of existence, intertwining their fates amidst the complexities of life, love, and survival. As the film unfolds, viewers are immersed in the daily lives of these men, observing how they navigate their routines alongside their families in their beloved city.