Three unearthed MiniDV tapes from 2001 offer a time capsule of life in Gaza before devastation. What begins as a search for a former prison mate leads to an unexpected road trip from the north to the south of Gaza, accompanied by Hasan, a local guide whose fate remains unknown. As the camera moves through Gaza’s streets and landscapes, it captures fleeting moments of everyday life: vendors, schoolchildren, shopkeepers, relatives, and strangers, all going about their days in a place that, today, has been forever altered.
In With Hasan in Gaza, Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari — one of the most prolific and formally inventive voices in Palestinian cinema — transforms forgotten footage into a time capsule of extraordinary power. What was once ordinary is now precious, even endangered. The film doesn’t mourn so much as it remembers, offering an intimate, street-level record of Gaza before its erasure. “It is a film about the catastrophe, and the poetry that resists,” Aljafari writes. The result is at once urgent, quiet, and unforgettable.
Media Partner
Community Partner
Palestine/Germany/
France/Qatar
2025
In Arabic with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Flavia Mazzarino
Cinematography
Kamal Aljafari
Editor
Kamal Aljafari
Original Music
Simon Fisher Turner, Attila Faravelli
Kamal Aljafari
Kamal Aljafari is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist. His films have screened at major festivals including Locarno, London, Viennale, and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo. He has received prestigious awards from FIDMarseille, Pesaro, and Visions du Réel, and in 2024, IndieLisboa hosted a full retrospective of his work. Aljafari has taught at The New School and DFFB in Berlin and was a Film Study Center fellow at Harvard and at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination.
Filmography: The Roof (2006); Port of Memory (2009); Recollection (2015); An Unusual Summer (2020); A Fidai Film (2024)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Schindler Space Architect
RM Schindler is now recognized as one of the most important modernist architects of the era, the man who laid the groundwork for what is now considered the epitome of California indoor-outdoor living. This doc sheds light on a previously unsung genius.
Cookie Queens
A documentary about the annual Girl Scouts' cookie sale is probably not high on your list of must-sees, but don't be too sure — this movie is a delight, a rare celebration of girlhood, supportive family relations, and the art of salesmanship.
A Simple Machine
Cutting costs, swapping four wheels for two, Nick is downsizing to pay off his student debt. It's a path which leads to savings he had not anticipated, even if his girlfriend thinks he's losing it (and she may be right). A lean, low budget gem.
