In the aftermath of the war, two years after Oct 7, Solidarity Human Rights Film Festival 2025 offers a selection of screenings, events, and discussions surrounding the tragic Oct 7 events and the Gaza War.
Against the backdrop of a traumatic reality of pain, loss, fear and uncertainty, cinema has a vital role to play, to provide testimony and create space for rethinking about humanity and a shared future, as well as for a critical reflection on the ideological, political and economic forces that play a central role in our lives and in cinema alike.
A selection of special festival screenings and events will focus this year on films created during and following Oct 7 – some dealing with it directly and some inevitably echoing it – in order to highlight the various ways in which cinematic works reflect life in times of war.
Taken together, the films reveal a multifaceted reality open to conflicting interpretations, in which the human tragedy of both Israeli and Palestinian society is intertwined – refugees in their homeland, families and communities that move between hope and despair, soldiers, civilians, children and youth – revealed, as it were, in an unexpected light on the big screen with personal stories, struggles and sacrifices made during wartime.
This festival program seeks not only to highlight the experiences of the present and the recent past, but also to offer an invitation to watch, ask, reflect, explore, and also to imagine with empathy a future in which art in general and cinematic creation in particular can serve as a bridge – particularly when the earth trembles.
I Cried in Gaza is a groundbreaking film confronting the severe, hidden mental toll of modern warfare. For the first time since 1948, women were extensively deployed to the front lines of the Gaza War (AKA “Iron Swords War”); war, with over 4,000 having since sought mental health treatment. The film plunges into the intimate, subjective experiences of seven female warriors who fought in active combat in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli Premiere! The film follows members of Combatants for Peace – a joint organization of Israelis and Palestinians who have sought to turn their backs on violence. It documents their daily struggles to remain committed to peace in the face of personal challenges, social pressures and sheer hatred, particularly after the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war