“Cinema Should Be a Bold, Radical and Fearless Space”: Falastin Cinema Week

Ahead of Falastin Cinema Week, Refuge Worldwide, Fighting Seeds, Rawy Films, AL.Berlin,  Jewish Bund and Cultural Resistance Space share their thoughts on the event and the role of cultural boycotts as a tool to fight for liberation. They also compiled some of their favorite songs related to the topic. Have a read and listen below. The full program and tickets are available on the Refuge Worldwide website.

Cultural Boycotts and Liberatory Struggles

Refuge Worldwide: Cultural boycotts have always played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights and social justice movements by raising awareness, challenging the political status quo and creating a change of consciousness. Although they can involve the sacrifice of personal privileges they are also good indicators of a country’s democratic health.

The Berlinale used to have a reputation for being the most political of the major European film festivals but these days it’s just another obedient arm of Germany’s anti-Palestinian Staaträson that relentlessly binds Jewish identity to the state of Israel while simultaneously endangering pluralistic discourse. The fact that the Oscar-nominated film “No Other Land” was used as the justification for the “antisemitism resolution” that was passed in the Bundestag last year and that last year’s Berlinale debacle endangered the safety of the filmmakers Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham is an authoritarian warning that should not go unheeded.

Cinema should be a bold, radical and fearless space. It’s one of the few places where you’ve got people’s undivided attention for two hours, so there’s an enormous opportunity to convey something meaningful, to show something that makes a visceral and intellectual impact.

“There’s the sound of bullets ringing in Sheikh Jarrah”

Refuge Worldwide: In spite of the fragile “ceasefire” in Gaza, the genocidal occupation of Palestine is ongoing. Israel is continuing to use unimaginable violence to ethnically purge the West Bank while simultaneously blocking the entry of medical supplies and essential items into Gaza. Meanwhile, Germany and other Western proxies are physically and psychologically terrorising anyone who dares to speak out against their complicity and are actively profiteering from the occupation’s disaster capitalism.

There will be no “Peace in the Middle East” as long as folks across the political spectrum continue to push for a “negative peace” that fails to encompass justice and liberation for Palestinians everywhere.

The song, “Sheikh Jarrah”, was produced by Al Nather who is performing together with Shabjeed for the first time in Berlin on February 20th. The show at Astra is presented by AL.Berlin, who are curating the second evening of Falastin Cinema Week. The song serves as a reminder that Israel has a long and brutal history of carrying out forced evictions in the occupied West Bank, particularly when the world’s focus is elsewhere. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes and Israel is once again accelerating the evictions in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Due to its geographical and religious significance, it has been – in contravention of international humanitarian law – a regular demolition flashpoint for decades.

Living Archives

We are Fighting Seeds, Andek Akkoub and Plantswap. We see seeds as living archives of memory and resistance. By protecting ancestral knowledge and seed sovereignty, we fight erasure while cultivating relationships between people and land. Together, we work to ensure access to seeds, soil, and nature, recognizing how environmental justice intertwines with cultural preservation and resistance. Through seed-saving, storytelling, workshops, cooking traditional recipes and community exchange, we protect the vital connections between people, plants and place, challenging the systems that separate communities from their agricultural heritage.

The song we selected is a beautiful traditional song but it’s also a resistance anthem. When it talks about choosing death over being ruled by villains, it’s speaking to this deep Palestinian commitment to dignity that’s been passed down through generations. What’s really beautiful is how the song has become this cultural bridge. Whether you’re in Palestine, Berlin, or anywhere else in the diaspora, when this song plays, it carries this whole history of resistance with it. It’s like each note is a thread connecting people back to their roots, their struggle, their hope. Even if you don’t understand every word, you can feel the power in it.

At Falastin Cinema Week, we are especially excited to see the film “Foragers” by Jumana Manna, as it perfectly aligns with our mission. The film captures the struggle of Palestinians resisting Israeli laws that criminalize foraging for native plants like akkoub and za’atar—plants deeply embedded in Palestinian culinary and cultural traditions.

“Foragers” by Jumana Manna (2022)

The Haunting Emblem of a Revolution 

Amir from Rawy Films: The first one is a track I produced myself with the title “Thawra”, which was released in a fundraising Album for Palestine on Bandcamp last year.

In this track, I have sampled and used a revolutionary chant from Lebanon “ثوره فی کل البلدان” , ” revolution everywhere“. In this chant, many countries from Palestine and Lebanon to Hong Kong and Chile,  are mentioned, the chant focuses on the interconnectedness and similarity of our struggles in the face of authoritarianism and different regimes in power and calls for collective revolution in all these contexts, the chant finishes by repeating its verse on Palestine, emphasizing on the Palestinian struggle for liberation as somehow the centerpiece of this revolutionary call and all the struggles in different contexts. reminding us of the importance of solidarity on an international level.

The second song is “جنة يا وطنا (Janna Ya Watana)” in its many forms in different versions  1 , 2 , 3 4. Originally released by Iraqi-Saudi singer Majid Al-Mohandis in 2010, Janna Ya Watana (“Paradise, My Homeland”) was a pop song filled with romanticized notions of home. Its lush instrumentation—a darbuka’s rhythmic beats and an oud’s gentle whispers—created a kitschy ode to nostalgia. At the time, the song’s lyrics about longing for one’s homeland held little relevance to Syrians.

However, as Syria’s civil war forced millions into exile, the song took on profound significance. Abdel Baset Al-Sarout, a former goalkeeper turned revolutionary figure, reinterpreted it in the heat of the resistance. Al-Sarout’s unpolished voice brought raw emotion to the lyrics, resonating with Syrians who had lost their homes and longed for a return to paradise.

The song became a haunting emblem of the Syrian revolution, echoing in the hearts of displaced communities worldwide. Thirteen years later, as Assad’s regime collapses, “Janna Ya Watana” resurfaces in the streets of European capitals, where Syrians sing it boldly, reclaiming their paradise and their voice.

“Janna Ya Watana” has been repurposed by many in the Arab-speaking room from the Palestinians to khaleeji Arabs, it has been used as propaganda, a song for emancipation and solidarity and much more.  Ultimately I think it boils down to its simple lyrics, a text putting the feeling of longing for a lost home in its center, which is the main theme of the Palestinian struggle and therefore could be a good story in this context.

At Falastin Cinema Week, I am especially looking forward to the panel discussion, “Censored But Never Silent. Palestinian Cinema; the Fight against Censorship and the Path to Solidarity”. This panel discussion will critically examine the challenges faced by Palestinian filmmakers and activists within German structures due to the silencing and marginalization of voices advocating for Palestinian rights. The goal is to foster a deeper understanding of the Palestinian cause and promote open dialogue within the German art scene.

The Future Depends on Collective Resilience and Solidarity 

AL.Berlin and Jewish Bund contributed to Falastin Cinema Week by curating and hosting a film screening and discussion. We selected “Untold Revolution: Food Sovereignty in Palestine” and “Mapping Lessons”, two films that explore the connection between food, self-determination, and resistance. After the screenings, we hosted a conversation with filmmaker Philip Rizk and Berlin-based community organizers to reflect on colonialism, struggle, and ways forward.

Falastin Cinema Week reflects our core values—using art to spark political conversations and supporting decolonial storytelling. We are committed to giving space to artists and filmmakers who challenge mainstream narratives and build connections across movements.

These songs come from different times and places: Lebanon, Palestine, and Morocco. Beyond showing support for Palestine, they fight against forgetting and keep the stories and memories of the Palestinian people alive in a poetic, not military, way.

AL.Berlin and Jewish Bund: The future of dissident cultural events in Germany is complicated. On the one hand, there is growing interest in alternative histories and decolonial perspectives, leading to more visibility for Palestinian and Global Majority voices. On the other hand, political pressure on cultural spaces and artists—especially those addressing Palestine—continues to increase. Still, independent spaces, grassroots initiatives, and activist networks are pushing back.

The future will depend on collective resilience, solidarity, and finding ways to operate outside institutional constraints. It’s essential to keep building independent platforms that protect artistic and political expression.

Cultural Resistance

Space of Urgency: “Wen Ward” is the anthem for our initiative, Cultural Resistance, a radical movement—empowering artists and communities to take back what’s theirs, initiated by Space of Urgency. Both the song and our initiative reflect this urgency in culture, resistance, and decolonial narratives. Shabjdeed’s raw lyricism and Al Nather’s dark, immersive production capture the emotional weight of displacement and struggle while maintaining an unbreakable spirit. The track blends drill and trap influences with politically charged storytelling, making it a contemporary anthem of defiance and survival.

The song directly connects to Palestinian liberation by articulating lived realities under occupation—expressing frustration, longing, and the search for beauty amidst oppression. We chose “Wen Ward” as the soundtrack for our Cultural Resistance video because it perfectly encapsulates the initiative’s spirit: reclaiming narratives and spaces, amplifying voices, and using art as a tool for justice and liberation. It stands as both a sonic and visual statement of resistance, aligning with Falastin Cinema Week’s mission to challenge dominant narratives and celebrate Palestinian cultural expression.

Reclaiming Space

At Space of Urgency, we acknowledge our position within Europe’s imperialist core and the growing repression faced by artists and spaces challenging the status quo. As global crises escalate—economic collapse, ecocide, and genocide—arts and culture are increasingly weaponized as distractions rather than tools for justice. This moment demands that we ask: What is the essence of arts and free space, and who is it for?

Through Cultural Resistance, we aim to reclaim space, both physically and economically, for those marginalized by these systems. In Berlin, we have witnessed firsthand the silencing of artists, spaces, and communities standing for human rights—especially those in solidarity with Palestine. The question is not just about the future of dissident cultural events, but whether they can exist at all under increasing surveillance, censorship, and institutional complicity.

Repression Breeds Resilience

We see a greater need than ever for alternative, self-organized spaces. True dissident culture cannot rely on state-funded institutions or the creative industry, both of which have shown their willingness to censor and exclude radical voices. Instead, the future lies in self-sustaining models—spaces that are not just platforms for expression but engines of financial independence and solidarity. That is why we are urgently building alternative funding structures outside of government influence. We refuse to be complicit in a system that conditions access to resources on silence or political neutrality.

Cultural Resistance is our response: a movement that transforms every purchase, every event, and every artistic act into a tool for justice. Through merchandise, music, and events, we are reshaping the cultural landscape—not just as a means of expression, but as a form of economic and political defiance.

The future of dissident cultural events in Germany will depend on how effectively we can reclaim space for justice, move beyond tokenization, and establish independent structures that amplify solidarity with those suffering under global oppression. We invite others to join us in this fight—to make arts and culture a powerful act of resistance again.