TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Blood Like Water
Screening with: Thank You for Banking With Us

Duration: 14 min Director: Dima Hamdan Genre: Drama Year: 2023
Country: Palestine Languages: Arabic with English Subtitles

Description:
Shadi embarks on a secret adventure, and accidentally drags his family into a trap where they only have two choices; either collaborate with the Israeli occupation, or be shamed and humiliated by their own people.

Cast: Ruba Blal, Adeeb Safadi, Atalah Tannous, Raeda Ghazaleh
Awards: Iris Film Prize 2024, Best Short Film at Brooklyn, Oslo, MENA, Al Ard, and more.
More Info: MUBI

Co-presented by:

Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival

Toronto Queer Film Festival

Queers for Palestine

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Thank You for Banking With Us
Screening with: Blood Like Water

Duration: 92 min Director: Laila Abbas Genre: Drama Year: 2024
Country: Palestine, Germany, Saudi Arabia Languages: Arabic with English Subtitles

Q&A with the director to follow.

Description:
In this darkly comedic drama by Palestinian director Laila Abbas, two sisters in Ramallah face a legal and moral dilemma after their father’s sudden death. When they discover he left a large sum of money in the bank, they must act quickly to withdraw it—before their estranged brother claims his legally entitled share under Sharia inheritance law. Mariam, a weary housewife, and Noura, an outspoken professional, are polar opposites, yet they must work together to outwit a system designed to sideline them. What unfolds is a suspenseful, at times humorous, scheme that exposes the gendered injustice embedded in both law and society.

Cast: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Awards: Al Gouna Film Festival
More Info: MAD Distribution

Co-presented by:

Canadian Council Muslim Woman

Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival

Toronto Queer Film Festival

Queers for Palestine

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

Duration: 110 min Director: Sepideh Farsi Genre: Documentary Year: 2025
Country: France, Iran, Palestine Languages: English

Description:
At the beginning of the genocide, Iranian-exiled director Sepideh Farsi naively sought a way into Gaza to cover the unfolding genocide. In the course of her failed mission, a contact connected her with acclaimed Palestinian photographer and poet Fatma Hassona. While the two had differing views on religion, Middle East politics and exile, their curiousity of each other’s lives resulted in an unlikely friendship over the course of their regularly scheduled glitchy video calls. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk offers an intimate, first-hand perspective on life under genocide in Gaza, through the video calls between Sepideh and Fatma. Tragically, Fatma was killed with her family, in a targeted Israeli airstrike on her home on April 16, 2025 - just one day after she celebrated the announcement of the film’s selection at Cannes. Combining raw immediacy with deep humanity, the film portrays daily life during the genocide through the eyes of a young Palestinian caught in a lifetime of Israeli military aggression and siege.

Cast: Fatma Hassona
Awards: Cannes

Co-presented by:

Pleasure Dome

Just Peace Advocates

Canadian Journalists For Justice in Palestine (CJJP)

South Asian Visual Arts Centre

Gallery, TIFF Lightbox

United in Action: Lessons for Collective Change

Campus organizing has always played a critical role in the gains achieved by broader social justice movements - in the case of Palestine, campuses have been the primary space of Palestine organizing. Last year, one student encampment at Columbia university sparked hundreds globally including in Canada that pressured complicit universities to divest from apartheid Israel. The results varied from campus to campus - but greater than that was the solidarity both on and off campus and between campus that was formed and clear message of no business as usual in a genocide. These sites were hubs of strategic organizing and community building.

This panel with share reflections from recent student organizing to explore how movements, on campuses and beyond, thrive when diverse capacities come together. From student organizing to labour solidarity, and political and media engagement, the panellists will share their experiences in their unique role, the practical limitations of their work, and how these roles intersect to amplify campaigns and sustain momentum across contexts.

The discussion will explore:

• How students, workers, and academics can collaborate effectively across spaces.

• Practical strategies for organizing, communicating, and maintaining movement momentum.

• Lessons learned from challenges, successes, and cross-sector collaboration.

By centering both the strengths and limits of each role, this panel highlights how collective action relies on networks of power and solidarity.

Panellists:

• Sara Rasikh, PhD student at U of T, community organizer

• Marianna Reis, PhD, President CUPE 3902

• D2, Student Workers of Columbia (SWC) - UAW 2710 member

• Mohammed Yassin, U of T student organizer, PYM

• Joshua Sealy-Harrington, Chair in Palestinian Human Rights in Canada, Windsor Law

Copresented with: Occupy Toronto, Tkaraonto Student Solidarity with Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement

Sara Rasikh (she/her) is a community organizer and PhD student based in Tkaronto. She was a spokesperson and organizer for the People’s Circle encampment at U of T. She has over seven years of experience in gender justice and Palestine solidarity organizing and her research at the University of Toronto focuses on anti-colonial social justice movements and transnational feminist theories.

Joshua Sealy-Harrington is an Associate Professor, Chair in Palestinian Human Rights in Canada and the Chair of Equality Law at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Before joining Windsor Law, Joshua supported TMU Law students who were attacked for a letter in support of Palestine. Joshua also was a Law Clerk at the Federal Court and Supreme Court of Canada, as well as an Assistant Professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, where he was awarded “Professor of the Year” by the student body and “Person of the Year” by the faculty association for his steadfast defence of academic and Palestinian freedom. Joshua’s research (as a doctoral student at Columbia Law School) and advocacy (as Counsel at Power Law) apply critical legal theory to questions of socio-legal identity and justice, with a particular focus on Black and Palestinian solidarity/resistance.

Marianna Reis is an organizer, researcher, and educator living in Toronto. Her doctoral research examined urban planning, infrastructure, and the materialities of settler colonialism for ‘48 Palestinians. She is the current president of CUPE 3902, which represents more than 10,000 contract academic workers at the University of Toronto.

D2, Student Workers of Columbia (SWC) - UAW 2710 member (identifying information not included for their protection)

Mohammad Yassin is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement and an alumnus of the University of Toronto. As a student, he worked to push UofT to divest from and cut ties with institutions that propagate the genocidal Israeli regime. During OccupyUofT's encampment at the People's Circle for Palestine, he took on the role of media spokesperson and was a member of the negotiation team that met with the university's administration.

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

$17.74
Screening with: The Encampments

Duration: 13 min Director: Justin Mashouf Genre: Documentary Year: 2025
Country: United States Languages: English

Description:
$17.74 centers on Hamzah, a man serving a life sentence in a California prison. Hamzah’s story takes an unexpected turn in 2023 after the Israeli siege on Gaza. Appalled by Israel’s siege on Gaza and knowing personally the trauma caused by violence, Hamzah is compelled to take action and donates his entire month’s paycheck of $17.74 – towards aid efforts in Gaza. The film highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences and the universal quest for hope and redemption. It also shines a spotlight on mass incarceration in America.

Awards: Chicago Palestine Film Festival, American Documentary Film Festival
More Info: 1774film.com

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

This screening will have a rush line. If you are looking for a ticket wait in the rush line. If you have a ticket, your seat will be held until 15 minutes before showtime. After that, we can’t guarantee your spot, and it may be offered to guests in the rush line.

The Encampments + Panel
Screening with: $17.74

Duration: 81 min Director: Michael T. Workman, Kei Pritsker Genre: Documentary Year: 2025
Country: United States Languages: English

Description:
From Executive Producer Macklemore, The Encampments offers an urgent, intimate portrait of America’s student movement, ignited at Columbia University as students protested their universities’ ties to the war on Gaza. Their actions sparked a nationwide uprising, with encampments spreading across hundreds of campuses. Featuring detained activist Mahmoud Khalil, alongside professors, whistleblowers, and organizers, the film captures the deeper stakes of a historic moment that continues to reverberate across the globe.

Cast: Mahmoud Khalil, Sueda Polat, Bisan Awda
Awards: CPH:DOX
More Info: Watermelon Pictures

Co-presented by:

Watermelon Pictures

Palestine Youth Movement

Faculty for Palestine

Cupe 3902

Gallery, TIFF Lightbox

This workshop co-hosted with Learn Palestine invites youth to learn about the Nakba through stories, games, and creative activities and grow their knowledge of Palestine.

The workshop begins with a gallery walk where participants explore Nakba stories around the room, followed by a lively round of trivia games to test and share knowledge. Together, we’ll draw connections between Palestine and Turtle Island, and watch a short story video clips to deepen our understanding of the impacts of settler-colonialism.

Afterwards, in small groups, participants will be assigned a Palestinian city or village and will collaborate on an interactive poster that brings its story to life. These posters will be scanned and shared so everyone has a copy to take home.

The workshop closes with a conversation on why it’s important to speak about the Nakba today, linking it to anti-Palestinian racism, human rights, and ongoing struggles for justice. Through learning, reflection, and creativity, youth will walk away with new knowledge and tools to carry these stories forward.  

Recommended ages 10+

Email tpff.submissions@gmail.com if fees are unaffordable. 

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

I Witness Silwan
Screening with: Passing Dreams

Duration: 4 min Director: Ahed Izhiman Genre: Documentary Year: 2024
Country: Palestine Languages: English

Description:
I Witness Silwan: Art, Resistance, and Placemaking in Occupied Jerusalem offers a poetic and defiant portrait of life in Silwan, where 65,000 Palestinians face ongoing threats of forced expulsion. Told through the eyes of youth, the film documents a powerful public art project that transforms walls into sites of resistance and remembrance. Towering murals of eyes—those of revolutionaries, writers, martyrs, and community members—gaze out across Jerusalem, asserting presence in a city intent on erasure. Figures like Che Guevara, Rachel Corrie, Malcolm X, Shireen Abu Akleh, Iyad al-Halak, and local residents become symbols of steadfastness. Alongside them bloom murals of red poppies, Palestine’s national flower, as well as suns, trees, and birds—visual affirmations of life, memory, and belonging. As court appeals are lost and demolitions continue, the film captures the deepening impact of these artworks on Silwan’s youth and community. Through intimate glimpses of local and international artists working with residents, I Witness Silwan becomes a testament to creative resistance and the enduring power of art to claim space and shape collective memory in the face of dispossession.

Executive Producer: Susan Greene
Producer/Director: Ahed Izhiman
Co Director/Editor: Yousef Hammad
Camera: Yazid Dadu
I Witness Silwan Mural Team: Manar S, Jenan M, Chris Ghazaleh, Taqi Spateen, Susan Greene

More Info: iwitnesssilwan.org

TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 2

Passing Dreams
Screening with: I Witness Silwan

Duration: 79 min Director: Rashid Masharawi Genre: Drama/Fiction Year: 2024
Country: Palestine, France, Sweden Languages: English, Hebrew & Arabic (translated)

This film is family friendly and we welcomes audiences of all ages to join us. Following the screening join us for a children’s workshop.

Description:
Passing Dreams, directed by Rashid Masharawi, is a poignant Palestinian road movie that follows 12-year-old Sami, who lives with his mother in a West Bank refugee camp. When his cherished homing pigeon goes missing, Sami becomes convinced it has returned to its place of origin. He persuades his uncle Kamal and cousin Miriam to travel across Palestine in search of it. Their journey—from Qalandia to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Haifa—offers a moving glimpse into Palestinian life under occupation. Through tender moments, quiet humour, and human connection, Passing Dreams explores themes of memory, belonging, and resilience in the face of displacement.

Awards: Palestinian Film Award (Special Mention), Cairo Int’l Film Festival; Malmö Arab Film Festival; Marrakech Film Festival
More Info: Coorigines Production

Co-presented by:

Regent Park Film Festival

Learn Palestine

TIFF Lightbox
350 King St W, Toronto,
Gallery (Lobby)

Palestinian artist Jude Abu Zaineh and researcher at Sufra Archive Salma Serry will explore the intersections of culture, displacement, and belonging through interdisciplinary practices. Abu Zaineh will discuss how she used art, food, and technology to examine diaspora and home, while Serry will share insights from her West Asian food archive and research on power infrastructures within food systems, highlighting shared themes of cultural preservation and identity.

Abu Zaineh will tour her exhibition “The Stones Know Our Names” at TIFF Lightbox and Serry will display rare documents from her treasured archive. Join us Saturday the 27th at 12:30-2:30pm for an exciting and educational afternoon with two powerhouses. Walk-ins welcome

Bios:

Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist-curator working across art, food, science, and technology studies. Her work develops counter-archive practices and investigates themes of culture, displacement, storytelling, diaspora, and belonging, through de-colonial and feminist perspectives. She examines ideals of home and community influenced by her childhood and upbringing in Southwest Asia. 

Abu Zaineh is the recipient of several awards including, the 2020 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists, and was one of the first selected artists to participate in a collaborative residency with the Ontario Science Centre and MOCA Toronto (Canada). She has presented her works at Ireland Glass Biennale; Malta Society of Arts, Valletta, Malta; Cultivamos Cultura, São Luis, Portugal; Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon, Portugal; Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, Mexico; SVA, NYC, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, USA; Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada; Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France; Museum London, Canada; Museum of Glass, Washington, USA, and more.

Salma Serry is a doctoral researcher and cultural worker specialized in the history of food in West Asia and Egypt. She is also the curator of @Sufra_Archive, a digital archive project and social media platform dedicated to West Asian and North African food history and culture. Currently, Salma is working on a PhD in History in the University of Toronto with a specialization in Food Studies at the Culinaria Research Center. Her research projects revolve broadly around infrastructures of power and food systems. Her PhD project was recently awarded the distinguished SSHRC Doctoral Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada, while her art projects have received the Research on the Arts grant from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and the Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS). Her research and public programming projects have been exhibited at Art Jameel (Dubai), Hayy Jameel (Jeddah), the Arab Council for Social Sciences (Beirut), the Islamic Biennial (Jeddah), and Cairo Design Week, focusing on the intersection of food history, culture, and the art.