The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Dan Davies, Dr Nadia Naser Najjab, Anne Villoutreix and Jonathan Cook.

Based on the book by award-winning journalist Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory reveals how Israel has turned Palestine into a testing ground for weapons and surveillance technologies. In two parts, the film first exposes how these tools are trialled on Palestinians, then follows their export across the world—from authoritarian regimes to Western democracies—entrenching systems of repression far beyond Palestine.

Speakers

Dr. Nadia Naser-Najjab is an internationally recognized Palestinian scholar, author, and educator whose work critically engages with the politics of knowledge production, resistance, and peacebuilding within the context of settler colonialism. She is currently based at the University of Exeter, where she teaches and conducts research in Palestine Studies, and is the co-director of the European Center for Palestine Studies and Program Director of MA in Palestine Studies. Dr. Naser-Najjab holds a PhD in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter and earned her undergraduate degree from Birzeit University in Palestine. Prior to her current role, she was an Assistant Professor at Birzeit University, teaching across the Departments of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Educational Psychology, and the MA in Arab Contemporary Studies. She has held several other appointments and advisory positions in esteemed institutions including the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, and the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL).

Dan Davies is an executive producer and director whose work has been broadcast on the BBC, Channel 4, ITV1, Al Jazeera English & PBS. He has created and overseen numerous documentary series including Rebel Architecture, Rebel Geeks, The New African Photography and Europe’s Forbidden Colony (2x 50’). He has executive produced investigations like China’s Health Pyramid for Al Jazeera’s People and Power series and in 2019 he senior produced The Gatwick Drone Attack for BBC1s flagship Panorama strand. Dan oversees the development and Executive Production for Black Leaf Film’s work Channel 4 and Al Jazeera English and other clients. He is also a playwright and his plays have been performed on Resonance FM, BBC Radio 4 and at the Arcola Theatre, Theatre 503, The Space and the National Theatre Studio. He has won two Peggy Ramsey awards and received Arts Council funding for “Domestic Extremists”, which was written on the Script Six Attachment at the Space Theatre. He is the executive producer of The Palestine Laboratory.

Donations

All donations from this year’s festival will go to Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), providing humanitarian assistance as well as health and social services to Palestinians whenever and wherever needed. You can donate when buying tickets.