Zawya Cinema will host Azza … Gaza, a film program curated in solidarity with Sudan and Palestine, from 19 to 24 December. The program takes place at the same time across three cities, Ramallah, Cairo, and Nairobi, and brings together Sudanese and Palestinian films from different generations.
The program’s name reflects a shared understanding of homeland across the region, from Sudan to Palestine, with “Azza” serving as another word for home in Sudanese. As the program’s poster puts it, “what binds us is not geography alone, but a shared wound.”
The film program focuses on stories shaped by war, displacement, loss, resistance, and survival. Through both feature films and shorts, the program highlights personal and collective experiences while creating space for reflection and shared memory.
The Cairo screenings will include Khartoum (2025), which follows five people as they navigate daily life amid the dangers of war in Sudan. Also screening is A World Not Ours (2012), a documentary about three generations of a Palestinian family living in exile in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, as they try to survive and hold onto a sense of home.
Another highlight is UPSHOT (2024), an award-winning short film by Palestinian director Maha Haj. The film follows a couple who retreat to a remote, mist-covered farm as they struggle to cope with a profound personal loss. These films are shown alongside many other works by Sudanese and Palestinian filmmakers.
The program is jointly developed by FilmLab Palestine, the Sudan Film Factory, Cimatheque, and Zawya Cinema, with support from the Network of Alternative Arabic Screens (NAAS).
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