EXCLUSIVE: The Palestine Film Institute will screen three work-in-progress docs, including the latest feature from artist Amer Shomali, at this year’s Sheffield DocFest. Check out a teaser trailer for the projects above.
The showcase, organized in partnership with Sheffield DocFest, the British Council, and Switzerland’s AKKA Films, will take place on June 21 at the Montgomery Theatre in Sheffield and will be open only to DocFest delegates.
The three projects are:
Theft of Fire
dir. Amer Shomali, prod. Rashid Abdelhamid, Ina Fichman, Remi Grellety
Canada/France/Palestine
Synopsis: Theft of Fire is a genre-defying documentary about an art heist that never happened. A Palestinian archeologist and ex-Prisoner hatch a plan to steal back priceless antiquities.
White Resistance: Letters to the Living
dir. Mahmoud Atassi, prod. Abdulrahman Alkilany
Qatar/Turkey
Synopsis: Using hours of haunting footage from inside Gaza’s Kamal Edwan hospital, a Palestinian lawyer battles to free hospital director Hussam AbuSafiya from Israeli detention.
Reclaiming Time
dir. / prod. Fuad Hindieh Palestine/France
Synopsis: When a Palestinian filmmaker tries to legally change his birthdate, his absurd bureaucratic quest becomes a visually stunning heist to reclaim time stolen by occupation.
Away from the showcase, Sheffield Docfest has also announced a series of Palestinian and Palestine-related projects that will be featured throughout it’s 2025 lineup. Check out a list of those projects below. Sheffield Docfest runs from June 18 to June 23.
If I Don’t Steal It…
Dir. Muna Alkurd, prods. Mike Lerner (Roast Beef Productions), Rula Nasser (The
Imaginarium Films)
Palestine/Jordan/United Kingdom
Gaza Sunbirds
Dir. Flavia Cappellini, prods. Kristian Van der Heyden (Harald House), Ana Gonzalez (Eye Rise
Films), Alex King (Huck), Andrea Kurland (Huck)
Belgium/Spain/United Kingdom
In the Presence of Absence
Dir. Mona El-Naggar, Cora Engelbrecht, prod. Neil Collier (Fireside Studios), Leila Abu-saada (Fireside Studios)
USA
Anatomy of a Genocide
Dir. Torstein Grude, prod. Torstein Grude (Jordskjelv AS), Torstein Parelius (Jordskjelv AS) Norway/Croatia/Sweden
UK Premiere: A State of Passion
Dirs./prods. Carol Mansour, Muna Khalidi
Lebanon/Jordan/United Kingdom/Palestine/Kuwait, 2024
A powerful account of a British-Palestinian surgeon who has become a vital witness to the devastation wreaked by Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
UK Premiere: Coexistance, My Ass!
Dir. Amber Fares, prod. Amber Fares, Rachel Leah Jones
USA/France, 2025
Comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi turns satire into resistance, employing humour to expose hard truths about the relationship between Israel and Palestine – where coexistence feels like a bad joke.
World Premiere: Gaza Sound Man
Dir. Hosam Abu Dan, prod. Shada Salhab
Qatar/Palestine, 2025
Through a series of immersive soundscapes, Mohammad Yaghi captures the realities of life on the ground in Palestine before and after 7 October 2023.