{"id":43575,"date":"2026-03-19T11:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/43575\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:31:09","slug":"palestinian-documentary-films-center-stage-at-cphdox-copenhagen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/43575\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian Documentary Films Center Stage at CPH:DOX Copenhagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe eyes and ears of attendees of the industry conference<\/a> of CPH:DOX<\/a>, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival<\/a>, were on Palestinian filmmakers with documentary projects in development on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe latest edition of CPH:Conference during the 23rd edition<\/a> of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival<\/a> looked to help people understand \u201chow their different approaches to historic Palestine and its people can create impact and empathy both for Palestinian viewers and other audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe featured speakers were Muallem Ashtar, described as \u201ca Jerusalemite multidisciplinary artist, performer and creator whose work combines circus, dance, and theater, is the director of the short film Land of Denied Rituals 2025; Dalia Al Kury, whose work navigates cross-genre storytelling; Kinda Kurdi, whose K\u00b2 Visual Media is a U.K.-based production company specializing in long- and short-form documentary and animated content; and Tanya Marar, a Jordanian-Palestinian-Bulgarian filmmaker living in the U.K. whose work focuses on political struggles and \u201cthe narratives of oppression.\u201d The session, entitled \u201cUpdated Reflections on Contemporary Palestinian Documentary Filmmaking,\u201d was moderated by Mohamed Jabaly (Life Is Beautiful), a Palestinian filmmaker, producer, and artist from Gaza.<\/p>\n

\n\tMarar discussed a project that she directed and that was produced by Ike Rofe under the working title Rage & Resist. Looking around the room from the stage, she started off by saying: \u201cIt\u2019s really nice, actually, to see Palestinian filmmakers and films being the occupiers of a space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer film focuses on Palestine Action, \u201ca U.K.-based activist group, [focused on] direct action,\u201d she said. \u201cThey go to the Israeli weapons manufacturers, and they smash [things] up, and they take matters into their own hands.\u201d In 2025, the group was designated a terrorist organization in the U.K., which means, she said, that \u201cfor legal reasons I cannot support them.\u201d But she has followed members of the group for about two and a half years, \u201cand my film is about the two founders, Huda, an Iraqi Palestinian woman, and Richard, who is English, and a few other characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAl Kuray discussed Rehearsing for Justice, which she directed and which was produced by Nefise \u00d6zkal Lorentzen and Ola Hunnes. \u201cI staged a confrontation with an Israeli war criminal,\u201d portrayed by an actor, in a hotel in Jordan, she explained. \u201cWhere is all this rage going to go?\u201d was the question she wanted to explore. \u201cOf course, it becomes explosive\u201d as people go through a \u201cpersonal justice\u201d experience. <\/p>\n

\n\tAl Kury offered about the Palestinian experience: \u201cWe have been trying not to fall into victim modes, but we are victims.\u201d Her film, she shared, explores: \u201cHow do we kill fascism without becoming fascist ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Kurdi brought The Last Mayor of Jerusalem, her first feature doc, to the event. Produced by Janay Boulos, it is \u201ca story of survival and love\u201d that explores the story of Jerusalem\u2019s last Palestinian mayor, Rawhi Al-Khatib, she explained. The film, which mixes animation and other footage, shows him getting deported as an alleged national security threat, among other things.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about key challenges she sees for Palestinian filmmakers, she said: \u201cThe onus is on us to come together and bring these stories and push for changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Muallem\u2019s first feature doc, Condemned to Dream, produced by Jiries Copti, follows the Ramallah theater, also called Ashtar, run by the filmmaker\u2019s parents, described as \u201cone of the few spaces of creativity and freedom for Palestinian youth.\u201d A summary also reads: \u201cAs occupation erases identity and censors narratives, the film documents fragile beauty,\u201d affirming culture as a form of resistance. \u201cResistance has so many forms, and culture is one of them,\u201d Muaellem told the Copenhagen audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about her challenges, the filmmaker said that it is \u201cNot being censored\u201d in Palestine and in France where she now lives.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust days after the Oscars, Al Kury wrapped up the event with the words: \u201cWe should win an Oscar for pretending that everything is normal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The eyes and ears of attendees of the industry conference of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[108,8200,762,12073],"class_list":["post-43575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-copenhagen","tag-copenhagen","tag-cphdox","tag-international","tag-israel-gaza-conflict"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116255620171909062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}