Palestinian women reclaim their voices through cinema at Gaza festival

The Gaza Strip hosted the first Gaza International Festival for Women's Cinema, a new cultural initiative amplifying the voices of Palestinian women through film on October 27. The event, held in the central city of Deir al-Balah, sought to shed light on women's lives amid two years of relentless Israeli bombardment.

Organised in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and supported by both local and international arts institutions, the festival opened with the docudrama "The Voice of Hind Rajab", which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at this year's 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

Photo: Collected

The film recounts the final hours of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed alongside her family on January 29, 2024, when their car was struck by Israeli fire in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood. The story, now immortalised on screen, has become a symbol of Palestinian civilian suffering — particularly that of women and children trapped in the ongoing war.

Festival founder Ezzaldeen Shalh said the event emerged from a need to give Palestinian women a cinematic space to tell their own stories. "The Gaza International Women's Film Festival was born amid genocide — among women who lost their spouses, children, and families," he said. "We wanted to create a platform where women could reclaim their narratives and speak for themselves."

US actor Joaquin Phoenix, US actress Rooney Mara, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, actor Motaz Malhees and actress Clara Khoury pose with a portrait of late Palestinian girl Hind Rajab during the red carpet for 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' at the 82nd International Venice Film Festival on September 3, 2025. FILE PHOTO: AFP

Shalh added that the festival also aims to encourage women to enter filmmaking and develop educational programs to help their work reach international audiences.

The festival coincided with Palestinian Women's National Day, officially declared by the Palestinian Authority in 2019, underscoring the central role women play in both cultural and political resistance.

According to the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 12,500 Palestinian women have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while overall casualties now exceed 68,000 deaths and 170,000 injuries since the war began on October 7, 2023.

Despite the devastation, the women of Gaza continue to resist through storytelling, art, and film — turning grief into collective remembrance and reclaiming visibility in a world too often unwilling to see them.