THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB TO OPEN LONDON PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL 2025

Lon­don Palestine Film Fest­iv­al (LPFF) returns this Novem­ber with a power­ful line-up of films offer­ing rich insights into Palestini­an life, cul­ture and res­ist­ance. Stay­ing true to its mis­sion of amp­li­fy­ing Palestini­an voices, LPFF 2025 shines a spot­light on urgent and com­pel­ling nar­rat­ives from Gaza and beyond.

For the first time LPFF is expand­ing bey­ond the cap­it­al, with selec­ted screen­ings and events tak­ing place in Liv­er­pool, extend­ing the festival’s reach to new audi­ences out­side of London.

The fest­iv­al opens on Fri­day, Novem­ber 14^th at the Bar­bican with the crit­ic­ally acclaimed The Voice of Hind Rajab, dir­ec­ted by Kaouth­er Ben Hania. Acclaimed on the inter­na­tion­al fest­iv­al cir­cuit and win­ner of mul­tiple awards, the film tells the har­row­ing final moments of six-year-old Hind Rajab dur­ing the Gaza bom­bard­ment. The screen­ing will be fol­lowed by a con­ver­sa­tion with cast mem­bers Amer Hle­hel and Motaz Malhees.

LPFF 2025 con­cludes on Fri­day, Novem­ber 28^th with two spe­cial clos­ing night events. At the ICA, a shorts pro­gramme will present a son­ic and visu­al med­it­a­tion on life in and bey­ond Gaza, explor­ing how war, memory and sur­viv­al are etched into sound and silence. At River­side Stu­di­os, audi­ences will exper­i­ence All That’s Left of You, Jordan’s offi­cial sub­mis­sion to the Academy Awards®. Dir­ec­ted by Cher­i­en Dabis, the film is a haunt­ingly intim­ate por­trait of three gen­er­a­tions of a Palestini­an fam­ily shaped by exile, res­ist­ance and inher­ited memory.

Mak­ing its UK première at LPFF 2025, The Mis­sion is one of the festival’s most urgent and unflinch­ing doc­u­ment­ar­ies. Dir­ec­ted by The Gaza Col­lect­ive and Mike Lern­er, the film fol­lows acclaimed Brit­ish-Iraqi sur­geon Dr. Mohammed Tahir on his third human­it­ari­an mis­sion to Gaza. Filmed by mem­bers of his med­ic­al team, The Mis­sion cap­tures the raw intens­ity of Gaza’s oper­at­ing rooms, where Dr. Tahir and his col­leagues work tire­lessly to save lives amid relent­less bom­bard­ment. The res­ult is a his­tor­ic test­a­ment to human com­pas­sion and resi­li­ence in the face of unima­gin­able dev­ast­a­tion. The screen­ing will be fol­lowed by a con­ver­sa­tion with Dr. Mohammed Tahir and director/producer Mike Lerner.

Between the open­ing and clos­ing nights, LPFF 2025 presents a cur­ated pro­gramme of inter­na­tion­ally acclaimed works. Among the high­lights is Palestine 36, Annemarie Jacir’s much-praised explor­a­tion of love, exile and memory, which has drawn admir­a­tion from audi­ences and artists world­wide, includ­ing Riz Ahmed who hailed it as an essen­tial film. The pro­gramme also includes Once Upon a Time in Gaza, the latest work from the Tar­z­an Broth­ers, receiv­ing its UK première at the fest­iv­al, as well as new titles from cel­eb­rated film­makers Yas­min Fedda, Sepideh Farsi and Kamal Alja­fari. Col­lect­ively, these films show­case the diversity and cre­at­ive strength of Palestini­an cinema today, span­ning doc­u­ment­ary, fic­tion and exper­i­ment­al works that con­tin­ue to res­on­ate across borders.

Khaled Ziada, Founder and Dir­ect­or of Lon­don Palestine Film Fest­iv­al, and Exec­ut­ive Pro­du­cer of Togeth­er for Palestine said:

“Foun­ded in the late 90s, the annu­al two-week film fest­iv­al con­tin­ues to cre­ate spaces of dis­cus­sion. Each edi­tion spot­lights stor­ies of polit­ic­al real­it­ies as exper­i­enced by Palestini­ans, both at home and in the dia­spora, through the cre­at­ive lens of cinema. This year’s pro­gramme feels more urgent than ever, open­ing with the inter­na­tion­ally acclaimed The Voice of Hind Rajab, a film that speaks to both the fra­gil­ity and the resi­li­ence of Palestini­an life.”

Full Pro­gramme of Events

Fri­day, Novem­ber 14^th at 8:30 PM – Bar­bican Cinema 1
Open­ing Night: The Voice of Hind Rajab (89 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Amer Hle­hel and Motaz Malhees

Sat­urday, Novem­ber 15^th at 2:00 PM – The Garden Cinema
Yalla Parkour (87 min)
Fol­lowed by a self-guided col­lage work­shop, cur­ated by Gath­er with Anis

Sat­urday, Novem­ber 15^th at 6:20 PM – Curzon Soho
The Voice of Hind Rajab (89 min)

Sunday, Novem­ber 16^th at 1:00 PM – ICA, Screen 1
With Has­an in Gaza (106 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Kamal Aljafari

Sunday, Novem­ber 16^th at 5:40 PM – Curzon Soho
Palestine 36 (118 min)

Monday, Novem­ber 17^th at 6:45 PM – Gen­es­is Cinema
The Palestine Excep­tion (72 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Janice Haaken

Monday, Novem­ber 17^th at 7:00 PM – Liv­er­pool (FACT)
A State of Pas­sion (93 min)

Monday, Novem­ber 17^th at 8:45 PM – Bar­bican Cinema 1
Thank You for Bank­ing With Us! (92 min)

Tues­day, Novem­ber 18^th at 6:20 PM – Ber­tha DocHouse
Song of All Ends (73 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Gio­vanni C. Lorusso

Tues­day, Novem­ber 18^th at 8:00 PM – Sands Films Cinema Club
The Tank and the Olive Tree (101 min)

Wed­nes­day, Novem­ber 19^th at 6:45 PM – Gen­es­is Cinema
Skate­Pal Double Bill: Epi­cly Palestine’d (26 min) and EXIST (40 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Theo Krish and Vikt­or Telegin

Thursday, Novem­ber 20^th at 8:45 PM – Bar­bican Cinema 1
UK Première: Once Upon A Time in Gaza (110 min)

Fri­day, Novem­ber 21^st at 8:00 PM – River­side Stu­di­os, Screen 1
Once Upon a Time in Gaza (110 min)

Sat­urday, Novem­ber 22^nd at 2:00 PM — ICA, Screen 1
Ayouni (75 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Yas­min Fedda

Sunday, Novem­ber 23^rd at 5:40 PM – Curzon Soho
UK Première: The Mis­sion (88 min)
Fol­lowed by a screen talk with Dr Mohammed Tahir and Mike Lerner

Monday, Novem­ber 24^th at 6:30 PM – Gen­es­is Cinema
48 Res­ist­ing the big set­tle­ment (78 min) and Where the Wind Blows (18 min)

Monday, Novem­ber 24^th at 7:00 PM – Liv­er­pool (FACT)
Shorts Ses­sion: Bear­ing Witness
Gaza Sound Man (43 min), The Clown of Gaza (62 min), Vibra­tions from Gaza (16 min)

Monday, Novem­ber 24^th at 8:00 PM – River­side Stu­di­os, Screen 1
A State of Pas­sion (93 min)

Tues­day, Novem­ber 25^th at 8:00 PM – Sands Film Cinema Club
Yal­lah Gaza (101 min)

Tues­day, Novem­ber 25^th at 8:45 PM – Bar­bican Cinema 1
Passing Dreams (79 min)

Wed­nes­day, Novem­ber 26^th at 6:20 PM – Curzon Hox­ton, Screen 1
Shorts Ses­sion: Frag­ments of Life
Born a Celebrity (13 min), Fin (5 min), Canary in a Coal Mine (20 min), What If They Bomb Here Tonight (16 min), Upshot (34 min)

Wed­nes­day, Novem­ber 26^th at 8:45 PM – ICA, Screen 1
Put Your Soul on You Hand and Walk (113 min)

Thursday, Novem­ber 27^th at 6:20 PM – Curzon Hox­ton, Screen 1
The Jack­et (71 min) and The Clown of Gaza (60 min)

Fri­day, Novem­ber 28^th at 6:30 PM – ICA, Screen 1
Clos­ing night: Shorts Ses­sion: Bear­ing Witness
Gaza Sound Man (42 min), Vibra­tions from Gaza (16 min), Sounds of Gaza (6 min), The Diary of a Sky (45 min)

Fri­day, Novem­ber 28^th at 8:00 PM – River­side, Screen 1
Clos­ing night: All That’s Left of You (150 min)

For the full 2025 pro­gramme and more details: www.palestinefilm.org.uk
Ins­tagram: @lpffofficial