This November, Bristol Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) returns with a vital programme that spotlights the creative storytelling and defiance of filmmakers from Palestine and beyond. Against intensifying challenges to freedom of expression, BPFF celebrates art that flourishes in the face of adversity and censorship.
From the UK’s first screening of The Voice of Hind Rajab to urgent documentaries including Censoring Palestine and The Palestine Laboratory, alongside bold fiction, rare archival films, and communal events, this year’s Festival is a call to witness, remember, and act.
Date: Friday 28th November, 2025
Time: 18:00 - 20:20
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
A hybrid drama/documentary telling the heart-shattering story of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the Israeli army in 2024. Winner of Venice International Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.
Date: Saturday 29th November, 2025
Time: 14:00 - 16:25
Location: Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
An urgent documentary investigating freedom of expression on Palestine, and how terrorism laws are used—or misused—to silence dissent. Feat. Alexei Sayle, Ken Loach, Peter Oborne and Sarah Wilkinson.
Date: Saturday 29th November, 2025
Time: 17:30 - 20:05
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
After Noor, a Palestinian teenager, confronts Israeli soldiers at a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the history that brought Noor—and Palestine—to this moment. A story of hope, courage and relentless struggle.
Date: Sunday 30th November, 2025
Time: 12:30 - 14:40
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
A British-Palestinian surgeon’s 43 day journey working day and night under bombardment in Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals. Dr Abu Sittah emerges as a voice of resilience and hope for Palestine.
Date: Sunday 30th November, 2025
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Location: Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
The dancers of the Alrowwad Dabke Troupe will lead this special one-hour workshop, sharing the joy, energy, and tradition of dabke — the powerful communal dance at the heart of celebrations across the Middle East.
Date: Sunday 30th November, 2025
Time: 15:15 - 17:00
Location: Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
A joyful afternoon of Palestinian culture for all ages. Enjoy a lively programme of short films perfect for families, followed by a high-energy performance from the Dabke Dance Troupe of Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society.
Date: Sunday 30th November, 2025
Time: 19:30 - 21:00
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
This collection of short documentary films, under the banner ‘Voices from Gaza’, explores three different perspectives on life in the Strip before and after October 7th, 2023. Featuring Gaza Sound Man, Vibrations from Gaza, and It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive.
Date: Monday 1st December, 2025
Time: 19:45 - 22:15
Location: The Cube, BS2 8JD
This historical pre-WWII epic documents the revolt against British rule by villages in Mandatory Palestine, as Yusuf moves between his rural home and Jerusalem, yearning for a life beyond the unrest.
Date: Tuesday 2nd December, 2025
Time: 19:45 - 21:15
Location: The Cube, BS2 8JD
Our ever-popular programme of short films returns to the Cube this year with an offering of five new films.
Date: Wednesday 3rd December, 2025
Time: 19:00 - 21:55
Location: Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
The Palestine Laboratory uncovers how Israel tests weapons and surveillance on Palestinians before exporting them worldwide—a powerful investigation based on Antony Loewenstein’s ground-breaking book.
Date: Thursday 4th December, 2025
Time: 18:30 - 20:30
Location: Bristol Palestine Museum, BS1 2HG
Join us for a special evening combining cinema and culinary delights, celebrating the richness of Palestinian food and olive oil culture and the spirit of sustainability. Tickets include film + food.
Date: Friday 5th December, 2025
Time: 19:30 - 21:00
Location: Bristol Palestine Museum, BS1 2HG
Nostalgia for her homeland overwhelms filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter when she discovers a video of young men practicing parkour on Gaza's sandy shores, their joy starkly contrasted with the distant echoes of explosions.
Date: Saturday 6th December, 2025
Time: 14:00 - 16:20
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
Five short films from the revolutionary period of Palestinian cinema (1968 to 1974) – exploring the importance of archive film in social and cultural documentation. Curated by filmmaker and artist Saeed Taji Farouky.
Date: Saturday 6th December, 2025
Time: 17:30 - 20:05
Location: Watershed, BS1 5TX
In this powerful drama, a Palestinian and Israeli fear raising a child in a mixed Arab-Jewish community in Haifa, where they can’t even be seen together in public. With humour, heartbreak & social tensions.
Date: Sunday 7th December, 2025
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Location: The Cube, BS2 8JD
A gentle, funny and good-hearted film that believes in the kindness of strangers and salutes a solidarity forged in adversity, capturing the absurdity of life under occupation, and ingenuity needed to survive it.
Date: Sunday 7th December, 2025
Time: 19:00 - 21:10
Location: The Cube, BS2 8JD
Documentary following Palestinian stand-up comedians as they cross borders and military checkpoints, bringing comedy to packed audiences in Palestine and abroad. Laughter becomes a form of resistance.
