This week marks the first anniversary of grassroots, decentralised project Palestine Animada.
The initiative began in 2024 at Slovenia’s Stoptrick Animation Film Festival, when a small group of animators got together to showcase and celebrate Palestinian animation. Another overriding objective was to strengthen the connection between Palestinians at home and amongst the diaspora.
Animators including Samira Badram and Khaled Jarada met at the festival and decided to combine their films into programmes. The group expanded organically through word of mouth, and soon enough, more animators joined in from Egypt, France, and even inside Gaza.
Palestinian animation gathers under an international, decentralised resource
One year on, Palestine Animada hosts a collection of films that are available for screening world wide. Festivals, programmers, libraries, and anyone with a screen can pick a film or programme from the website and contact the organisers to negotiate rights. In addition, the directors have given their consent to free screenings, on the condition that any profits made go to those of the directors in the group that need support.
So far, the collective has facilitated 28 screenings in a number of countries, including Norway, Spain, and Portugal, with another 20 or so in the pipeline. Norwegian animator, Mats Grorud, who helped spearhead the project, is best known for his feature animation The Tower, the story of Wardi, an 11-year-old Palestinian girl, who lives in a Beirut refugee camp and learns about her family’s history. He hopes to expand the programme’s reach, especially inside Palestine:
We’ve had screenings in Ramallah and Birzeit, but of course, we start to dream about holding many more, maybe organise a small festival in Ramallah. We’ve met so many people who would love to take part and attend if it became a reality.
Palestine Animada is just one of many similar initiatives launched in the last couple of years, highlighting the importance of Palestinian storytelling in the face of cultural annihilation. Films of Resistance or the Gaza Biennale are other examples of collectives that facilitate international, decentralised screenings and access to visual arts and films made by Palestinian artists.
Animation amidst genocide
The collective aims to bring together Palestinians in exile and across occupied Palestine, forcibly separated by occupation. Directors come from Gaza, the West Bank or belong to the international diaspora. Remarkably, Shereen Abdelkareem has contributed a selection of short films made by children from inside Gaza, amidst the ongoing blockade and genocide. Using whatever tools she can still access, she’s keen to empathise the importance of this creative outlet:
Animation is very close to the imagination of children. It opens a space for them to express themselves and tell their own stories, away from the daily violence that surrounds them. Whether they watch or participate in creating an animated piece, it becomes a window into another world—a way to preserve hope, stimulate creativity, and reclaim a sense of play and storytelling in a context where those are often under threat.
Animators Haneen Koraz and Nour Jawad also mentor children inside Gaza. In fact, Oscar-nominated animator Joanna Quinn set up the parallel initiative AC4Pal in order to support Haneen’s work. Meanwhile, through Instagram, WhatsApp and other digital media platforms, they maintain regular contact with the rest of the collective directors, such as Rasmi Damo who left Gaza for France where he now runs Fekra association.
Identity and memory
The prolific nature of the Palestinian film and animation sector is the result of a long tradition of storytelling. In fact, Palestinian Hikaye was recognised in 2008 as part of the people’s intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Unsurprisingly, animators all place identity and memory at the heart of their practice. This is often reflected in their titles: Memory of the Land, Ongoing Nakba, and so on.
Speaking to the Canary from Gaza, Shereen Abdulkareem, highlights the role of animation in countering displacement and preventing erasure:
My hope is that my work continues to carry the stories of Gaza and Palestine to the world, offering another layer of truth beyond what is seen in headlines.
For my people, I hope for freedom, dignity, and the possibility to live fully and creatively. Art can’t change reality alone, but it can preserve memory, nurture resilience, and open spaces for dialogue and imagination—and that, I believe, is vital for our future.
The collection of animated films is available on the Palestine Animada website. Anyone can reach out directly to the group to programme their own event.
Contribute to the Palestine Animada crowdfunder here.
Featured images via Palestina Animada
This post was originally published on Canary.