London Palestine Film Festival runs from 13 to 27 November 2026.
Who Is Still Alive opens the festival at the Barbican with a UK premiere and conversation.
Highlights include Edward Said: Between Worlds and a Mohammad Bakri tribute featuring Saleh Bakri.
The 2026 programme includes UK premieres, filmmaker conversations and a tribute to Mohammad Bakri.
The London Palestine Film Festival is back with a powerful programme spanning features, documentaries, and special events. Curated to offer a look at Palestinian life, history and resilience, this year’s lineup brings together established voices and emerging talent, creating space for stories from Gaza and beyond.
Running from 13 to 27 November 2026, the London Palestine Film Festival 2026 opens at Barbican Cinema on Friday 13 November 2026, with the UK premiere of Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive. Through nine participants from Gaza, the documentary explores loss and remembrance as they sketch the outlines of their neighbourhoods in chalk. Wadimoff will join Jawdat Khoudary, a participant in the film and founder of Gaza’s Al Mat’haf archaeology museum, for a conversation following the screening. A second showing takes place the following afternoon.
Another highlight is Edward Said: Between Worlds, directed by Maiken Baird. Drawing on the Said family’s archives and his own words, the documentary follows his life between Jerusalem and New York. Baird will take part in a conversation at Ciné Lumière on Sunday 15 November 2026, while a second screening is scheduled at Rio Cinema on Sunday 22 November 2026.
The festival also pays tribute to Palestinian filmmaker Mohammad Bakri, with programmes at Rio Cinema on Thursday 19 November 2026 and Riverside Studios on Friday 20 November 2026. His son, actor Saleh Bakri, will join audiences for discussions at both events, offering a personal connection to a career spanning cinema and theatre.
At the ICA, Here and Elsewhere and Godard in America form a double bill examining Jean-Luc Godard’s unfinished project about Palestinian resistance. Elsewhere, Maggie Lemere’s Land of Canaan turns its attention to Palestinian olive farmers, with the Rio Cinema screening presented in partnership with Zaytoun.
The line-up also includes the UK premiere of Who Killed Alex Odeh?, Life Support, presented with Health Workers for Palestine, and Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me. Three short-film programmes introduce further perspectives from Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora, with titles including Gaza Bride 17 and Unfinished Stories.
Khaled Ziada, Founder and Director of London Palestine Film Festival, states, “Founded in the late 90s, the annual two-week film festival continues to create spaces of discussion. Each edition spotlights stories of political realities as experienced by Palestinians, both at home and in the diaspora, through the creative lens of cinema. This year’s programme keeps Gaza at its heart, opening with Who is Still Alive, Nicolas Wadimoff’s most recent documentary mapping Gaza through the stories of nine refugees, and featuring a number of short films documenting the realities on the ground in Gaza. We also celebrate the nuances of the life and legacy of Edward Said, from Jerusalem to New York, exile and belonging, and pay tribute to Mohammad Bakri and his extensive career in cinema and theatre.”
Closing night takes place at Curzon Mayfair on Friday 27 November 2026 with Muayad Alayan’s Conversation with the Sea. Following its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film follows a father in Jerusalem seeking answers about a son he believed had drowned two decades earlier.
Established in the late 1990s, the festival continues to connect audiences with Palestinian culture, history and contemporary life through cinema. This year’s screenings offer opportunities to hear directly from filmmakers and participants, adding context to the stories on screen.
Tickets are available now via the festival’s website, with screenings set to take place at venues across the city.
When: 13 to 27 November 2026
Contact: www.palestinefilm.org.uk