Dubai's Reel Palestine Film Festival announces dates for 2022

The nine-day event will feature films from Palestinian filmmakers and the wider diaspora

Cinema Akil will host the 2022 iteration of the Reel Palestine Film Festival, which will take place from January 29 to February 6, 2022. Photo: Mohamed Somji / Seeing Things

Reel Palestine, the independent festival which celebrates Palestinian films, is returning for the eighth year. The event will take place from January 29 to February 6 at Cinema Akil.

The festival will feature a line-up of films, features and shorts from filmmakers in Palestine and the wider diaspora, as well as filmmakers who highlight stories of Palestinians.

Over the course of nine days, the festival will also host a big market where home-grown brands will sell Palestinian crafts, books, fashion and more.

The festival, which first launched in 2015, has grown into a celebration of Palestinian culture in Dubai.

Over the years, it has provided a platform for award-winning films. Last year, it brought Ameen Nayfeh's 200 Metres, which won the BNL People's Choice Award at Venice Days among other awards. In 2020, the festival screened Gaza, a powerful documentary on the war-torn city directed by Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell; and Ibrahim: A Fate to Define, a documentary about the disappearance of director Lina Al Abed's father.

The festival has also showcased a number of shorts such as Maradona's Legs by Firas Khoury and Ambience by Wisam Al Jafari.

This year, the festival is also partnering with Visualising Palestine, a non-profit organisation that highlights visual stories for social justice, in addition to Alserkal's Kave, Gulf Photo Plus and The Flip Side.

More information about the festival is at www.reelpalestine.org