Emerging from more than two years of work by the Masharawi Fund in film production in Gaza, the Cinema School project is a natural continuation of the institution’s vision. It complements its policies of support and development of Palestinian cinema by expanding its actions: beyond production, it aims to strengthen technical means and create a sustainable educational environment.
In the context of the emergency faced by the Gaza Strip, where survival and daily challenges intersect with the vital need for expression and the preservation of identity, cinema emerges as an artistic and cultural tool capable of preserving collective memory and opening windows to the future amidst confinement and attempts at erasure.
The Gaza Film School meets this need as an educational and cultural initiative aimed at empowering a new generation of young Palestinians to become filmmakers, possessing their audiovisual tools and expressing their reality with awareness and freedom, far from stereotypes or imposed narratives. The school does not present itself as a traditional educational institution, but as a living and renewed space for the production of audiovisual knowledge, a laboratory open to experimentation and creativity, where learning meets practice, and where cinematic language is formed from everyday experience itself.
It also aspires to be an interactive platform connecting Gaza to the world thru sound, image, and human stories, redefining Palestinian identity in all its diversity and depth, and breaking stereotypes thru works that emanate from within and address the world with a contemporary cinematic language. It is a space of dreams and action, where cinema amplifies its narrative tools into acts of existence, resistance, and support for the reconstruction of the future.
The experimental phase of the Gaza Film School is based on an intensive training program lasting six to nine months, combining theoretical and practical training, based on a hybrid model that integrates an artistic and experimental approach as well as a technical and professional approach.
General training
This phase aims to provide participants with a comprehensive foundation in various aspects of filmmaking, thru practical and theoretical training including cinematic language, directing, writing, cinematography, sound, and editing. This stage is based on practical exercises and collective work, where participants carry out a series of exercises and short films that allow them to understand the relationship between narratives and images as well as its implementation thru technical learning.
Project development
The participants move on to developing their own projects, where each student works on a short film, from its inception to the screenplay writing. This phase is supported by individual mentoring sessions supervised by specialists, as well as specialized workshops in writing and directing, and training on project presentation, ensuring an in-depth development of each project.
Production phase (practical laboratory)
The experimental phase concludes with the production of short films, where participants work within real production teams, dividing roles such as directing, cinematography, sound, and production. In this context, a training production unit is established to provide the necessary technical infrastructure, including shooting, sound, lighting, and editing equipment, to ensure the transformation of projects into concrete cinematic works, with an emphasis on technical quality and working within available resources.
The experimental workshop
In this context, the school is launching its first training experience thru the Good Morning Gaza workshop, which represents an initial model of the program. This workshop involves the production of ten documentary short films, each lasting between five to ten minutes, and serves as a practical space to train a new generation of filmmakers.
The workshop builds on the experience gained thru the From Ground Zero project, while expanding it to include an organized educational dimension, where the 10 selected participants work on creating their first films, thanks to guidance that gives a voice to these young filmmakers, allowing them to express their reality with sincerity and professionalism.
English 
Arabic 
French 
German 
