The festival will host pop-up screenings across Gaza and run children’s filmmaking workshops, with their films shown at the end of the month-long programme.
The first-ever Gaza Children’s Film Festival has opened with a screening of Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 Palme d’Or–winning short film The Red Balloon. Held under the theme “We Love Life, Tomorrow,” the month-long festival runs across multiple locations in the Gaza Strip from November 20 to December 20, bringing cinema to children in an area devastated by conflict.
The festival is led by Gaza-born Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi through his Masharawi Foundation. In a statement released ahead of the opening, organisers described the event as “a true window of hope amid difficult circumstances,” adding that the festival underscores the enduring ability of art to bring life and resilience even in times of destruction.
Opening activities took place at the Rashad Shawa Cultural Center—despite the venue suffering extensive damage—symbolising the revival of culture in challenging conditions. Coinciding with the United Nations’ World Children’s Day, the festival’s first day featured performances and activities for children, including face-painting and a show by local entertainer Amo Allouch.
The opening film, set in postwar Paris, tells the story of a young boy and a red balloon with a whimsical personality, offering a moment of colour and wonder amid a grey landscape. The festival lineup also features Mats Grorud’s animated film The Tower, centred on a young Palestinian girl in a Lebanese refugee camp, and The Wanted 18, an animated documentary about a West Bank dairy collective once labelled a security threat by Israel.
The new initiative follows last month’s inaugural Gaza International Festival for Women’s Cinema, which opened with Kaouther Ben Hania’s film The Voice of Hind Rajab, portraying the death of a five-year-old Gazan girl during the 2024 conflict.
Rashid Masharawi’s brother, filmmaker and artist Khamis Masharawi, serves as festival director, with filmmaker Mustafa An-Nabih as artistic director. Both previously contributed to the Masharawi Foundation’s collective film From Ground Zero, a compilation of 22 short films documenting life during the war that became Palestine’s 2025 Oscar submission and was distributed in the United States by Watermelon Pictures.
Throughout the month, the festival will bring screenings to improvised venues across Gaza and will host filmmaking workshops for children, culminating in a showcase of their work at the end of the programme.
