
Falastin
Film
Festival
2025
May 15-19
Scottish Storytelling Centre
Edinburgh
May 9-10
Centre for Contemporary Arts
Glasgow

In partnership with Solidarity Screenings
Falastin Film Festival Scotland brings Palestinian cinema, culture, and art to Scotland, raising awareness of Zionist colonization. We strive to highlight Palestinian resistance, cultural pride, stories of love, and, in the words of poet Rafeef Ziadah, teachings of life.

2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On
2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On
2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On
2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On
2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On 2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On 2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On 2025 Programme Announced - See What’s On
What’s On: View Events
(screening) by Kassem Hawal
9th May, 12:30
The film is based on Kanafani’s novel the plot of which takes place in 1967, when Palestinian refugees living in the newly occupied territories had an opportunity to visit the places from which they had been expelled in 1948.
(workshop)
9th May, 14:15
In this session, facilitated by Glasgow-based art worker Hussein Mitha, we will consider Ghassan Kanafani’s cultural production as well as his writings on the role of art and culture in anti-imperialist struggle.
(short-films collection)
9th May, 14:30
A collection of our favourite submissions by emerging Levantine filmmakers from Turtle Island (Canada) to Palestine, passing through Scotland, these films carry the longing, weight and power of diasporic experiences.
(workshop)
9th May, 16:00
Printmaking crafternoon for 5-12 year olds. Come along and make lino print posters, zines, collages, garlands or fabric patches to show your solidarity with Palestine.
(screening) by Waseem Khair
9th May, 16:30
Followed by post-screening conversation with director.
Shedding light on the human cost of borders in the context of an occupation, and the enduring spirit of connection between Palestinians in Lebanon and occupied Palestine.
(double-screening)
9th May, 18:30
Followed by post-screening conversation with director Mary Jirmanus Saba.
A tribute to a Gaza that no longer exists, these films urge us to ask ourselves, what is our responsibility to Gaza?
(screening) by Elia Suleiman
9th May, 21:00
A semi-biographical film tracing my family from 1948 to today, The Time That Remains blends my father’s resistance diaries, my mother’s letters, and my memories to portray Palestinians who stayed—labeled 'Israeli-Arabs'—living as a minority in their homeland.
(short-films collection)
10th May, 11:00
These four resilient short films from The Palestine Film Unit have survived despite zionist effort to destroy them. Join us as we introduce the films with a presentation on Palestine’s militant cinema tradition, followed by an open discussion post-screening.
(screening) by Collectif Vacarmes Films
10th May, 14:00
The documentary will be followed by a conversation with Charles Hoareau.
Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight retraces the path of this tireless Arab leftist—from the refugee camps that shaped him to the global calls for his release.
(workshop)
10th May, 14:00
An interactive puppetry, mask-making & story-telling event about the olive harvest in Palestine for kids aged 5-12. The workshop will involve puppetry-making and story-telling about land, food, family, community, and perseverance.
(screening) by Carol Mansour
10th May, 16:30
Followed by a Q&A with director.
After her mother's passing, director Carol Mansour enlists the help of friends and strangers in Beirut to navigate the complex journey of returning Aida to Palestine.
(short-films collection)
10th May, 19:00
A collection of four short-films followed by a conversation with director Theo Panagopoulos.
Palestine is always in sight, whether it is through the dead sea or on colonial footage; this programme of short films reflects on how love and longing for Palestine cannot be contained by objects or borders.
(live music)
10th May, 21:15
We’ll be closing our festival in Glasgow with a night of music to raise funds for the Masharawi Films Fund in Gaza, a fund empowering filmmakers in Gaza to continue telling their stories.
(exhibition)
15th May - 1st June
Nakba 77, by Palestine-based independent journalist and photographer Ahmad Al-Bazz, is a photographic documentation of the 500+ Palestinian villages across Mandatory Palestine that were depopulated during the Nakba in 1948 and subsequently destroyed by the zionist settler state.
(screening) by Lina Soualem
16th May, 12:30
Leaving her native village to follow her dream of becoming an actress, Hiam Abbass also left behind her mother, grandmother and seven sisters. Thirty years later, her filmmaker daughter Lina returns with her to journey through the vanished places among the scattered memories of four generations of daring Palestinian women.
(screening) by Raed Andoni
16th May, 15:00
Director Raed Andoni gathers former inmates of Jerusalem’s Moskobiya prison to rebuild it from memory and re-enact their experiences. As trauma resurfaces, the film becomes a powerful act of collective healing—for them and for Andoni himself.
(screening) by Mohammed Bakri
16th May, 17:30
The documentary will be followed by a conversation with Mariam Barghouti (online).
Directed by Mohamed Bakri, Jenin Jenin gives voice to survivors of the 2002 assault on Jenin refugee camp, revealing the lasting trauma and resistance left in its wake.
(live performance)
16th May, 20:00
Saleh, born in exile, first experienced Palestine through a screen before moving there for university during the Second Intifada. His performance merges storytelling and film, illustrating his shift from observer to participant and connecting his memories with those he met.
(screening) by Yousef Srouji
17th May, 11:00
During the early 2000s, as the Israeli army retaliates against the Second Intifada, a mother films her family’s life, often shielding them in the basement. Years later, her son revisits this painful past, depicting the anguish of parents torn between their children's safety and the emotional cost of leaving home.
(short-films collection)
17th May, 13:30
An aesthetic and provocative screening of four experimental shorts uncovering the occupation’s haunting manipulation of sound as a form of torture, the politics of sound and sonic self-determination.
(workshop)
17th May, 14:00
Join us for a hands-on workshop with Rowa and learn the basics of Palestinian embroidery, tatreez.
(panel conversation)
17th May, 16:30
Moderated by Hazem Jamjoum the conversation will bring together distinguished voices to share testimonies from Gaza on the ongoing genocide.
(short-films collection)
17th May, 18:30pm
A cinematic exploration on borders, the physical, emotional, material and immaterial; those that dictate movement and return, or lack thereof, for Palestinians universally.
(short-films collection)
17th May, 20:30
With post-screening conversation with Nadia Dina Yahlom (in-person)
A compelling screening of four short films that delve into the manipulation of archaeological heritage and erasure of folkloric traditions by the occupying zionist entity, revealing the cultural destruction of colonial control.
(screening) by Jayce Salloum & Walid Raad
18th May, 11:00
This documentaryis ostensibly (not) a documentary on the south of Lebanon exploring the conditions of the time it was shot, the issues behind those conditions and their representation both in the West and in Lebanon itself.
(screening) by Rashi Masharawi
18th May, 13:30
With post-screening conversation with Hazem Jamjoum. Anthology film by 22 Palestinian directors
(double-screening)
18th May, 17:30
Followed by Q&A with Director Lamees Almakkawy.
Two beautiful and powerful medium-length films on the coloniality of archives, reclamation of Palestinian music and dance, and the ethnographic underpinnings of colonization:
(live music)
18th May, 8:30pm
Join us for a musical concert by renowned composer and Oud virtuoso Saied Silbak. Saied will perform his own compositions and musical pieces inspired by the past, the current situation and the expectations for something unknown.
(Workshop)
19th May, 14:00
Join us in a session full of creativity, healing and solidarity with Gaza. The session will be hosted by Diline Abushaban.
19th May, 19:00
SacredCuisine founder Izzeldin Bukhari is on a mission to introduce Palestinian cuisine to the world. Through food, he shares the deep connection between Palestinian heritage, the land, and its produce, showing not only how to cook traditional dishes but also the resourcefulness and improvisation that define this rich culinary tradition.

Our 2025 Programme
Our films and events are held in multiple venues. You can find events by type, and films by type, venue and date on our Programme page.


Get Involved
We are entirely volunteer led. Shopping our merch and supporting us through donations helps the festival.
-
“To see the rich Palestinian cultural resistance through docs and films was a rare opportunity. All our exposure to Palestine is mediated through our biased anti-Palestinian Western media.”
-
“My understanding and knowledge of the relationship between Palestinians and their land has deepened a lot–pretty much everything I knew gained new levels of depth through the films I attended!”
-
“Seeing and being exposed to stories behind the statistics brings it all to life in a way which concretises the tragic reality.”
With thanks to our generous sponsors and partners
Our partners





Our sponsors




special thanks to
Emilio Arboledo, Richard Morgan, Rayya, Matthew Dunsmore, Fiona Ogilvie, Paul Derbyshire, Aisha Jan, Jojo H, Arya Hasan
