Ghorbankarimi, Maryam and Friedman, Yael (2025) Mediating Realities : The Role of UK Palestine Film Festivals in Navigating Conflict. In: The NECS 2025 Conference (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies), 2025-06-18 - 2025-06-21, Lusofona University.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This proposal explores how three Palestine Film Festivals in the UK – London Palestine Film Festival, Bristol Palestine Film Festival and Leeds Palestinian Film Festival – all of which have been running for over a decade, mediate the realities of conflict in Israel/Palestine through their organisational and curatorial practices. These long-established festivals, dedicated to showcasing films from and about Palestine, have become vital platforms for cultural exchange, addressing themes of migration, displacement, and decolonial resistance. Over the past fifteen months, these annual ‘niche’ festivals have experienced an unprecedented surge in attendance and media exposure, particularly since October 2023. The research examines how these festivals provide platforms to reframe narratives of displacement, siege, and forced uprooting, situating them within broader struggles for justice and survival in the Global South. It further investigates the curatorial strategies that shape these stories, emphasising their urgency and resonance in light of ongoing humanitarian crises. By focusing on programme curation and organisational design, the study highlights how the festivals balance artistic expression with political advocacy, fostering solidarity across cultural and geographical divides. Themes of migration and resistance are central to these curated programmes, with films, Q&As, and panel discussions offering critical perspectives on colonialism and its enduring legacies. The study employs a multi-method approach. Through participant observation at festival events, interviews with organisers, and textual analysis of curated programmes, it examines how curatorial strategies are informed by the producers’ understandings of activism and solidarity. Audience engagement is explored through post-screening discussions and surveys, investigating how attendees interpret the films and events in this context.