Gaza Film Unit – Traces of a City

It has been two years since the genocidal war on Gaza began. In that time, we have lost faith in what we once believed. We have lived through the darkest of times and bid farewell to many we knew and loved. Two years into the genocide, we are not only mourning our martyrs—we are losing memory, place, and the details that vanish day by day. Our children are still being killed, with little global attention. Our people remain hungry. Forever longing, never fulfilled, their blood was mixed with flour.

Genocide surrounds you from all sides; it crushes, suffocates, and severs you from yourself, even if you remain alive. It has killed everything beautiful in us, destroyed our dreams, and erased our beloved city. And yet, filmmakers in Gaza still insist on telling their stories.
They understand that this war is also a war over narrative. It may be their final message, but it is one they refuse to abandon.

The Gaza Film Unit (GFU) presents a new program of six newly made short films that reflect different ways of expressing the deep sense of loss toward the city. This program will premiere at the 44th Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Sweden. The 70-minute screening reflects on the systematic destruction of Gaza’s urban landscape, the narrative of the Palestinians and hope for a better future.

Following the screening, GFU, represented by Eslam Saqqa and Ayman Al-Azraq, will host a vital conversation on the portrayal of Palestinians and how their identity is taking shape in the aftermath of the genocide.

Curator: Eslam Saqqa, Ayman Al-Azraq

Visas:
FRI 24/10, 17:00 REGINA

Köp biljett

HUNGER

Amid the siege of northern Gaza, a filmmaker captures haunting scenes that blur the line between cinema and reality. What begins as raw documentation of survival soon transforms into a desperate testimony, an echo of The Platform movie brought to life under relentless extremity. Using only his phone, he records not for the present, but for history, daring to lend his own voice when words have all but run dry. This film stands as both witness and warning: a stark reminder that reality has now surpassed even the darkest of cinematic visions.

Palestine 2025 / 3:00 / Director: Khaled Thuaima

ESCAPE FROM FARIDA

A struggle between the urge to escape and the weight of memory unfolds when a young man decides to run from the war and search for a new beginning, but first must confront his fiancée, Farida. The film explores human fragility in the face of loss and remembrance, in a city that takes its final breaths.

Palestine 2025 / 15:00 / Director: Yahya Alsholy

ABU SALMA

Here nothing is in place. Sweet tastes bitter, the sea is stained red with blood, freedom costs and dreams are limited. Here everything is in place. The school protects the children, the birds sing in the morning, tears have an end, and hope exists.

Palestine 2025 / 6:00 / Director: Asil Al-Wadyia

IN A MOMENT

Dreams in Gaza are crumbling like our homes, with only a moment between us and death. Between beauty and fire, we meet Khawla, who is trying to adapt to the harsh conditions.

Palestine 2025 / 6:00 / Director: Asil Al-Wadyia

PLEASE HELP ME KILL YOU

In an age where data fuels the development of artificial intelligence, precarious workers, often refugees, often from the Global South, are drawn into the hidden world of “microwork.” Tasked with labeling images and categorising data on remote platforms, they remain unaware of the true purpose of their labour. Are they training harmless systems or technologies of surveillance and control?

Palestine 2025 / 4:00 / Director: Ibrahim Khaled

LIKE AN EVENT IN A DREAM DREAMT BY ANOTHER – INSOMNIA

This is the second iteration of Like An Event In A Dream Dreamt By Another. It explores how Palestinian players transform role-playing games into acts of defiance and worldbuilding, not as escapism but as survival. In Palestine, where sleeplessness is imposed by the constant hum of drones, wakefulness becomes both a curse and a battleground. Rejecting the role of NPCs in a rigged game, Palestinian modders hack, rewrite, and reclaim their narrative, asserting their agency through play. The game is no longer a colonial fantasy; it is a contested ground where Return is the endgame, and resistance is written into the code. The film traces the lineage of colonial violence from Turtle Island to Palestine in Los Santos.

Palestine 2025 / 34:00 / Director: Firas Shehadeh