TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Film Details: 98 minutes | Directed by Abdallah Al-Khatib | Fiction | 2026 | Algeria, France | Arabic with English Subtitles | Canadian Premiere

Screening with Gauze

Synopsis: While Arafat struggles to survive amid hunger, isolation, and the lack of psychological support, a group of friends slips through wall openings to gather what they need to face the winter cold, only to find themselves in Arafat’s abandoned video store, where their friendship is put to the test.

Waleed pursues a simple pleasure that has become a rare treasure under the siege, while Fares, a relief activist, relies on his friends to clear the way so he can share a moment of intimacy with Huda amid the chaos of war and social constraints.

Farah, in her final month of pregnancy and seriously injured, struggles alongside her husband Saleh, a notorious war profiteer, to secure what is needed to save her life and that of her unborn child.

Between hunger, cold, desire, small pleasures, and survival, the film weaves a tapestry of ordinary lives upended by a suffocating siege, exploring how siege distorts priorities and turns the simplest human gestures into matters of survival.

Inspired by the director’s personal experience during the siege of Yarmouk camp, the film reflects the broader Palestinian experience of siege, from the Nakba to the present day.

Award: Berlin International Film Festival — Best First Feature

Co-Presented by our friends at Reel Asian