Cannes Docs

Original Title: بأرض عزيزة

Runtime: 85'

Expected Release: October 2026

Production Stage: Post-Production

1st Feature: Yes

Looking for: Gap Financing, Distributors, Co-Producers

Synopsis:

Worried about his safety, Azziza asks Tareq to leave Palestine to join the rest of his family in the US, leaving her and his grandmother alone in a state of war. Tareq takes sanctuary in Azziza’s land, observing her seasonal way of living while confronting the difficult decision to leave.

Director’s Profile:

Tareq Khalaf is a filmmaker, architect, and cultural producer based in Ramallah, Palestine. His research in urbanism focuses on the disappearance of agrarian livelihoods and rooted forms of belonging to place. Tareq has used film, socially engaged art and sculpture to address geographic fragmentation and the alienating impacts of settler colonial violence in Palestine. With experience working in both Palestine and South Africa, Tareq aims to explore settler ecologies and create new collaborative narratives across southern regions.

Producer’s Profile:

Bilal Alkhatib is Palestinian filmmaker working on documentary and fiction films that highlights the ordinary life of people in Palestine. Bilal started his career as a cinematographer in 2007, gradually developing his skills as a writer and director. His documentaries and short films have been screened and won international awards in Cine Palestine Paris, Carthage International Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, amongst others. His documentary film project has also participated in Cannes Docs and IDFA Form, Bilal is also working on his first feature film and studying a master’s degree in cinema.

Original Title: نانا

Runtime: 80'

Expected Release: September 2027

Production Stage: Production, Shooting

1st Feature: Yes

Looking for: International co-producer, sales agents, distributors for theatrical and non-theatrical release and TV pre-sales partners to strengthen the financing structure and outreach

Synopsis:

When she realizes her story is not an isolated one, Laila, a young Italian-Palestinian woman, confronts the family lunch her father never misses. Alongside a new generation shaped by exile, she navigates silences and absences until the day of a wedding: mothers sit in the front row, sons and daughters too, the fathers do not.

Director’s Profile:

Giacomo Fausti is a filmmaker from Campania. He studied Graphic Design and Art Direction at NABA in Milan, where he began exploring the relationship between cultural identity and resistance through Somos Mapuche. He later trained at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, collaborating with Laura Poitras and Field of Vision on Notes From CARA (Manifesta12, 2018). In 2022 he directed The Seed Generation, and in 2025 he won the award for Best Video Podcast in Italy with MY ZONE. He is currently working on the documentary Baba – بابا while developing a new project based on his family’s Southern Italian wedding archive.

Co-Director’s Profile:

Laila Sit Aboha is a PhD candidate at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. Her research examines the Palestinian diaspora and generational conflict through a postcolonial lens. She is the daughter of a survivor of the 1967 exile and the granddaughter of a survivor of the 1948 Nakba. An activist with Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia, she lives between Milan and Florence, with her heart in Naples.

Producer’s Profile:

Marta Melina is an Italian-based film producer working with SMK Factory (Bologna), a company specialised in social documentaries. Alongside production, she has extensive experience in fundraising, impact campaigns, crowdfunding campaigns. Among her recent works are: the impact campaign for Sarura (Nicola Zambelli – 2021) selected at FIFDH Impact days 2020, acquired by Al Jazeera Arabic; Kissing Gorbaciov (Andrea Mariani, Luigi D’Alife, 2023), premiered at Festival dei Popoli, nominated for the 2024 Nastri d’Argento, toured successfully in Italian cinemas. She is currently following the development of three documentaries: Waves Album by Armando Duccio Ventriglia, Hans Clemer – An Unauthorized Biography by Fredo Valla, and Missing by Cecilia Fasciani.

Original Title: Gaza Sunbirds

Runtime: 90'

Expected Release: May 2027

Production Stage: Post-Production

1st Feature: Yes

Looking for: Co-Producers, Broadcasters, Sales Agents, Distributors

Synopsis:

When a young amputee cyclist and his underdog team of bike racers chase their dream of representing Palestine on the world stage, their six-year odyssey becomes a matter of life or death adaptation as bombs descend on Gaza.

Director’s Profile:

Flavia Cappellini is a self-shooting director who also works as a correspondent for Sky News Italia in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Her work as a filmmaker has appeared on The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, Sky News Italia and RAI. Her stories explore unexpected aspects of our world by picking out the human experiences and everyday quirks that give meaning to complexity without over-simplification. This multi-year project is her first feature film, and it relates sport to conflict, politics and geographical boundaries. She has also investigated abortion, burials and women’s reproductive rights in Italy through original testimonies and unearthed records. Her career in filmmaking started as a producer of films about travel and the environment for RAI, later producing and shooting in-depth features about professional road cycling racing around the world for 3 years.

Producer’s Profile:

Kristian Van der Heyden began Harald House Belgium in 2016 after honing his skills in Los Angeles as a writer, producer, and actor for eight years. He produced A Punk Daydream (2019), a documentary that delves into the street punk culture of Indonesia, which premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival in 2019. Kristian produced Slave Island, a co-production with Belgium, Estonia, Taiwan, and Italy, about present-day slavery on a remote island of Indonesia, which premiered at Movies That Matter 2025 and won Best Belgian Documentary at Docville 2025. His projects typically explore significant social challenges within various communities, across cultures. Appreciative of the learning experiences each project brings, Kristian’s dedication to impactful storytelling was acknowledged in 2022 when he was named an Emerging Producer at the Ji-Hlava Film Festival.

Original Title: سوبر سيلا

Runtime: 72'

Expected Release: March 2027

Production Stage: Post-Production

1st Feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Distributors, Buyers, Co-Producers, Gap Financing, Strategic Partners, Consultants

Synopsis:

In the heart of the war on Gaza, a father creates an imaginary world where his young daughter becomes a superhero. As war surrounds them, he turns reality into stories to protect her childhood, leaving an open question: does Sila understand what is happening around her, or does she already know more than he thinks?

Director’s Profile:

Mohammad Alshareef is a Palestinian filmmaker from Gaza working across documentary and fiction. His films rely on observation and narratives drawn from lived experience. He began his practice independently in Gaza without a structured production environment, developing his skills through self-learning and hands-on work. He later continued his studies at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo, where he trained in directing, screenwriting, cinematography, and working with actors, shaping a cinematic language based on intimacy and proximity. His films have screened at festivals including Toronto, Cairo, Carthage, and Clermont-Ferrand. One of his works reached the Academy Awards shortlist within the From Ground Zero project. His latest film Hassan won the Youth Jury Award at the Vesoul International Festival of Asian Cinema 2026.

Producer’s Profile:

Ala’ Abu Ghoush is an independent producer working between Palestine and France. He began his career as an artist before moving into cinema, where he worked for several years as a production designer on fiction films screened at international festivals. He holds a Master’s degree from ENSAV (École Nationale Supérieure d’Audiovisuel) in Toulouse, where his interest in cinematic narrative forms developed, leading him toward producing and accompanying auteur-driven projects.
He has directed several films, including Hammurabi, Metro Gaza, and Goldfish. He currently focuses on developing Palestinian auteur cinema and building international partnerships that enable films to reach global platforms and festivals. On Super Sila, he participates as a producer and project developer, as well as a creative partner accompanying the film’s artistic development and international positioning.