Cannes Docs

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: March 2026

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: $110,000 (65% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Gap financing, buyers, sales

Synopsis:

Amid the escalating war in Gaza, 20-year-old Debs, a Palestinian refugee from the Baqa’a camp in Jordan, dreams of marrying his beloved. he is forced to postpone his wedding due to the death of his relatives in Gaza-one after another. Debs embodies the suffering of an entire generation that has grown up in exile over the decades and within Palestinian refugee camps.

Director’s Profile:

Hamza achieved his B.A. degree in Software engineering from the University of Zarqa. His passion for photography began at an early age in his small neighborhood in Hashmi Shamali to develop a passion for storytelling. He participated in numerous workshops for better understanding of this form of art. “Mahareb” was his first short documentary, This year he was selected by the RFC to travel to Los Angeles to attend an international workshop by design certificate program organized by the University of California.

Producer’s Profile:

Mahmoud Al Massad is a Jordanian-Dutch director, scriptwriter, and producer. He received acclaim for his feature documentaries “Shatter Hassan”, “Recycle”, and “This Is My Picture When I Was Dead”, reaching audiences worldwide.

Al Massad won three international awards for the script of his film “Blessed Benefit”, a narrative feature that premiered in 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the NETPAC Jury Award for Best Asian Film, as well as the Special Jury Award for Best Acting at the Warsaw Film Festival. The film is featured on Netflix.

Runtime: 80-90'

Expected release: May 2027

Production stage: Pre-production

Budget: €477,341 (27.7% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Programmers, sales agents, distributors, buyers, co-producers, production funds, strategic partners, consultants.

Synopsis:

Amid occupation and war, My Rebel Heart follows young actress Yara as she navigates the delicate balance between her artistic ambitions and the fight for Palestinian liberation. In the West Bank, she and her community face the harsh realities of oppression while holding on to their dreams, resilience, and identity.

Director’s Profile:

Ida Kat Balslev is a Danish director and screenwriter based in Copenhagen. She studied philosophy at the University of Southern Denmark before earning her MgA in directing from the Dramatic Faculty DAMU in Prague, followed by film studies at FAMU and Alma Script Academy. Her work spans film, photography, installations, and visual theater.

Ida has directed short films in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Denmark, including “Lost Lovers Glory” (2019), “Norma” (2018), and “Wilki” (2018), which have been screened at festivals such as Slow Film Festival, Film Spring Open, and City Lights Cinema Screenings. Her latest film, “The Art of Falling” (2022), was selected for Screen Talent Europe and screened in four Danish cinemas in 2023.

Producer’s Profile:

Sidsel Lønvig Siersted is an award-winning film producer based in Copenhagen. She has produced TV, documentary films, and series for nearly two decades, working on acclaimed titles such as “Democrats” (PBS), “Something Better to Come” (HBO Max), “Aquarela” (Sony Classics), and “The Kingmaker” (Showtime).
She produced “Natural Disorder” (IDFA 2015) and “Apolonia, Apolonia” (IDFA Best Film Award 2022), which won five Danish Academy Awards and was Oscar-shortlisted in 2024. Other credits include “A Modern Man” (IDA-nominated), “The Edge of Democracy” (Oscar-nominated), and “Hunting for Hedonia” (Amazon Studios). Sidsel holds an MA in Film and Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen.

Runtime: 60'

Expected release: September 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €124,020 (59.14% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, distributors, buyers, co-producers

Synopsis:

Every day, Sama, a 10-year-old girl from Gaza, collects plastic and cardboard to sell as fuel, silently facing a suffering that surpasses her capacity in a world from which her childhood has been stolen.

Director’s Profile:

Rabab Khamis, was born on 25 December 1997 in Gaza, is a multimedia specialist with a diploma in digital media. She has directed children’s plays and worked as a drama and psychological support trainer. Khamis has acted in various productions and made one short documentary.

Producer’s Profile:

Rashid Masharawi is a Palestinian filmmaker, born in Gaza in 1962 to a refugee family from the city of Jaffa. He grew up in Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza.

Rashid Masharawi lives and works between Ramallah and Paris. In 1996, he founded the Cinema Production Center in Ramallah with the aim of promoting local cinematic productions. He also established the Mobile Cinema Project in Palestine, which enabled the screening of films in all Palestinian refugee camps.
Other projects he has founded include the Annual Children’s Film Festival and large workshops on film production and direction.

Following the Israeli war on Gaza in 2023, Masharawi established the Masharawi Film Fund to provide opportunities for Palestinian filmmakers in Gaza. He produced the film From Ground Zero during the last war on Gaza, which was shortlisted for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2025 Oscars.

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: June 2026

Production stage: Pre-production

Budget: $290,000 (28% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Co-producers, gap financing, strategic guidance, festivals

Synopsis:

Marginalized Israeli youth abandon urban life to claim biblical lands in the West Bank through shepherding, displacing Palestinian shepherds from ancestral territory. Meanwhile, across the world, young engineers build crypto-powered farming empires in the metaverse. Though seemingly distant, these parallel worlds are deeply and unexpectedly connected.

Director’s Profile:

Patricia El is a director and producer of documentary and new media works. Her work has premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, and has been featured in festivals including: Sheffield, Geneva, FIPADOC, and more.

She runs The Office for Public Therapy Politics through which she has directed and produced international projects including a Public Therapy Tour across Palestine with AM Qattan Foundation and Matadero Madrid, Outside In, a playback performance with the Freedom Theatre, Parallel Utopias, at the Korean DMZ with National Geographic, In This Land with SAT (Société des arts Technologiques) NYU ITP, and the Venice Biennale College Lab.

Her virtual reality documentary film Remember this Place premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2023.

Producer’s Profile:

The Office for Public Therapy Politics is a new media creative studio & documentary production company. We have been collaborating on multidisciplinary documentary and new media projects with technology and research institutions like NYU ITP, Snap, SAT, and National Geographic, as well as local non-profit, arts, and culture organizations in Palestine through collaborative, co-creative approaches to produce a variety of audio-visual productions. We have collaborated with: AM Qattan Foundation, The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Bait Byout, and more. Our work has been exhibited across galleries, cultural institutions and film festivals including: the Media Majlis, SITE Gallery, Fabric London, Artsy, FIPADOC, Venice International Film Festival, Geneva International Film Festival, Carthage International Film Festival, and more.