All donations raised from this year’s festival will be shared between two initiatives dedicated to supporting Palestinian filmmaking and filmmakers: FilmLab Palestine, based in Ramallah, and the children’s animation workshop My Story Became a Film in Gaza.
FilmLab Palestine’s mission is “to boost film production and viewership in Palestine by providing the ideal space for filmmakers to convene, evoke learning, exchange experiences, inspire one another, produce film art, while exposing viewers to a diverse repertoire of films.”
My Story became a Film’s founder, Haneen Muhammad Koraz, said: “I deeply believe that every person has the right to express himself freely, and that art making and learning cartoon films is one of the means of free expression, audio-visually, for all segments of society. I tried to change the reality, even if just a little, for the children and women in the tents and I have conducted workshops specifically for children. Children and women draw, color, discuss, play, learn using the photography program, photograph scenes, write stories that express their suffering and reality, draw cartoon characters, and record their voices on film. They have created many cartoon films.”