INTERSECTING MEMORY

Directed by: Shayma' Awawdeh

Documentary – France, Palestine – 2025 – 21 min

Section: Past Continuous

During the Second Intifada in occupied Palestine, fear, siege, and death define the reality of the city of Hebron. Moments from the past are revived through childhood memory, intersecting with the collective memory. Amid the continuity and repetition of it all, what do we remember? What do we forget?

* Recommended for ages 15 and over.

THE MUSCLES ARE TENSE

Directed by: Mahshid Mahboubifar

Documentary – Iran, Germany – 2025 – 16 min

Section: Past Continuous

Assembled from archival footage from the 2024 Palestine protests in Berlin, this film-essay is centered on the police camera, recording and archiving protestors’ bodies, and the protestors’ body; on the state’s monopoly on violence and protesting under constant surveillance. A composition of public space in which the historical origins of the police, its militarization, and its racial targeting emerge.

FRUITS OF DESPAIR

Directed by: Nima Nassaj

Documentary – Iran – 2026 – 29 min

Section: Past Continuous

While making a documentary on the Palestine-Israel conflict, an Iranian filmmaker is abruptly drawn into war at home. Forced to flee Tehran with his family, he finds temporary refuge in a suburban home. Over twelve tense days, the film transforms from an analytical essay into a self-reflective diary where archive, memory, and lived experience collapse into one another.

* Recommended for ages 12 and over; depicts graphic scenes of war.