The event includes 29 screenings and two Oscar-recognised titles.
Film fans, it’s time to come together. Cinema Akil is marking the 12th anniversary of Reel Palestine with a festival that aims to shine a spotlight on Palestine. Running from 23 January to 1 February 2026, the event is committed to showcasing stories through cinema and offering an alternative view.
Across ten days, Reel Palestine 2026 features feature films, documentaries and short films. Events include Q&A sessions, workshops, and the souk, alongside community-led events that extend the experience beyond the screen.
Reel Palestine brings together an exciting lineup. The festival opens with the UAE premiere of Once Upon A Time in Gaza by Arab & Tarzan Nasser, with actor Majd Eid in attendance. Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir will attend a special masterclass, as well as two screenings, Palestine 36 and Wajib. Palestine 36, Jacir’s new feature and the Oscar shortlisted nominee, travels back to 1936 Palestine under the British Mandate, following a young man caught between village life and Jerusalem as uprisings and social upheaval intensify. Wajib will be presented as a homage to Mohammad Bakri (1953-2025), honouring the late Palestinian actor and filmmaker through one of his most celebrated performances.
Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi will also attend for an in-person Q&A following the screenings of Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Across the feature selection, the programme traces Palestinian history as lived inheritance and present-day reality. Cherien Dabis’ All That’s Left of You moves across three generations, linking a present-day West Bank protest to the intergenerational impact of displacement since 1948. In documentary, With Hasan in Gaza by Kamal Aljafari blends lived moments and cinematic memory through the portrait of a child navigating the ruins of 2003 Gaza, while Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive brings together nine voices from Gaza as they reconstruct their neighbourhoods and recall life before and during the war.
The festival also turns its focus to the art people create to endure. The Clown of Gaza (Abdulrahman Sabbah), One More Show (Mai Saad and Ahmed Al-Danaf), and Palestine Comedy Club (Alaa Aliabdallah) foreground performance, humour and public presence as ways of holding space for life. Cinema itself becomes a subject in Habibi Hussein by Alex Bakri, which follows the last projectionist of Cinema Jenin as he attempts to revive an old projector through a journey across the West Bank.
In the shorts programme, emerging voices expand the festival’s themes across privacy and visibility, memory and rupture, diaspora and belonging, and the psychological aftershocks of loss. Titles include Born A Celebrity (Luay Awad), winner of the Palme d’Or for short films at Cannes 2025, I’m Glad You’re Dead Now (Tawfeek Barhom), BAISANOS (Andrés and Francisca Khamis Giacoman) and Gaza Bride 17 (Waseem Khair).
The Reel Palestine Souk runs each weekend and features 60 local businesses and social enterprises from Palestine, the UAE, and beyond. Stalls sell arts, books, crafts, and food.
Tickets are available now.
Check in with FACT for the latest things to do in Dubai.
GO: Visit www.cinemaakil.com for more information.