TIFF Lightbox, Cinema 1

Film Details: 96 minutes | Directed by Alaa AliAbdallah and Charlotte Knowles | Documentary | 2025 | United Kingdom, Palestine Q&A TO FOLLOW

Synopsis: Palestine Comedy Club follows five Palestinian stand-up comedians who write and tour a stand-up comedy show exploring the unlikely, often dark humour that surrounds the complexity of Palestinian identity. What starts as a blending of comic traditions to encourage honest and open reflections through the shared enjoyment of laughter becomes an existential imperative to share common humanity.

In Palestine, there are no comedy clubs or traditions of stand-up comedy. The country is divided by walls, fences, and checkpoints, creating cultural and quality-of-life disparities between towns. Consequently, developing a comedy show that can resonate with vastly different audiences across these divides poses a significant challenge. Nonetheless, comedians Alaa, Hanna, Diana, Khalil, Ebaa, along with their British director, Sam, man- age to navigate checkpoints and borders to perform in theatres across Palestine and Israel. Word of their performances spreads internationally, leading to an invitation to London for a series of gigs, tragically scheduled to commence in October 2023, just as war breaks out.

Palestine Comedy Club serves as an exploration of comedy and the power of laughter to unite, liberate, challenge and heal.

Website: palestinecomedyclub.com

Awards: SXSW London, Sheffield, Raindance, IDFA, DOC NYC, Nordic Palestinian FF, BAFTA, Bath FF, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, Margate FF, Bristol Palestine FF, Tempo Documentary Festival, New Black Film Collective PictureEast, Reel Palestine, Baff Art FF, Palæstina FF, Solange FF, Chicago Palestine FF, Seoul Human Rights FF, San Francisco Indie FF, The Segal FF

Co-Presented by our allies at Regent Park Film Festival and MARSM Canada