Mark your calendars for Films at the Whitney’s spring 2025 series: Palestine through Film.
This series—along with the fall 2024 series World Documentaries Today—was selected from more than twenty submissions from graduate students to a call for proposals for semester-long film programs. Curated by a pair of Yale graduate students, Palestine through Film chronicles key moments in Palestinian history—from the Nakba of 1948 to the present occupation. These weekly screenings of documentaries, historical dramas, and shorts open a window onto the mosaic of life in Palestine.
Palestine through Film begins on Thursday, January 23, with a screening of Darin J. Sallam’s FARHA (2021). Set in 1948, and inspired by real events, the film follows Farha, a Palestinian teenager whose dreams of pursuing an education in the city are shattered when militias show up at her family’s home. Jordan’s official entry to the 2023 Academy Awards, FARHA is “a brutal kind of coming-of-age story” that “depicts the upheaval of Palestinian society from a fourteen-year-old girl’s perspective” (Beatrice Loayza, The New York Times—full review here).
All are welcome to attend! Our screenings are free and open to the public.
(If you’re a Yale graduate student interested in proposing your own series, or if you’d like to learn more about the selection process, see our recent call for 2025–26 proposals.)
Schedule and Details
All screenings are in the Alice Cinema (L01), on the lower level of the Humanities Quadrangle at 320 York St.
Content warning: Some films in this series depict graphic violence and trauma. Please read the individual film descriptions for more details about sensitive content.
Thursday, January 23 • 7:00 pm: FARHA (2021) | Directed by Darin J. Sallam | Jordan, Palestine, Sweden, Saudi Arabia | 92 minutes | Arabic, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles
Friday, January 31 • 7:00 pm: RETURN TO HAIFA (1982) | Directed by Kassem Hawal | Palestine, Lebanon | 74 minutes | Arabic, English, and German with English and Arabic subtitles
Friday, February 7 • 7:00 pm: Short Films of Resistance
Two shorts (1973) directed by Mustafa Abu Ali | 34 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles
THE DREAM (1987) directed by Mohammad Malas | 45 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles
Followed by Q&A with Nadine Fattalleh (NYU) and Kaleem Hawa (Columbia)
Saturday, February 8 • 4:00 pm: A FIDAI FILM (2024) | Directed by Kamal Aljafari | Palestine, Germany, Qatar, Brazil, France | 78 minutes | Arabic, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles
Followed by Q&A with Nadine Fattalleh (NYU) and Kaleem Hawa (Columbia)
Saturday, February 15 • 4:00 pm: FERTILE MEMORY (1980) | Directed by Michel Khleifi | Palestine | 99 minutes | Arabic with English subtitles
Friday, February 21 • 7:00 pm: A STONE’S THROW (2024) and other shorts
Directed by Razan AlSalah | Arabic with English subtitles
Followed by Q&A with director Razan AlSalah
Thursday, February 27 • 7:00 pm: THE WANTED 18 (2014) | Directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan | Palestine, Canada, France | 75 minutes | Arabic, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles
Thursday, March 6 • 7:30 pm: MAYOR (2020) | Directed by David Osit | United States, United Kingdom | 89 minutes | Arabic and English with English subtitles