Naila and the Uprising

Saturday, June 16, 2018

RUSH TICKETS ONLY! Advance tickets to this screening are sold out, but the box office may release a limited number of seats to the rush line on the day of the event. Rush lines begin forming one hour before the start of the screening.

Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Julia Bacha, producer Suhad Babaa, and executive producer Abigail Disney Moderated by Liesl Gerntholtz, Executive Director, Women’s Rights division, HRW.

“We can’t be free as women unless we’re in a free country. And even if we are free of the occupation, we can’t know freedom as long as we are subjugated in our own society.”
– Sama Aweidah, film subject, Naila and the Uprising

When an uprising breaks out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 1987, a young woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable real-life journey of Naila Ayesh, a key figure in the First Intifada, which forced the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Using evocative animation, intimate interviews, and exclusive archival footage, this film tells the story the mainstream media missed: of a courageous women’s movement at the head of Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, bringing out of anonymity the bold women activists whose contributions and sacrifices changed history, but whose stories have remained untold until now.

Official selection: DOC NYC 2017, Dubai Int’l Film Festival, Amsterdam Int’l Documentary Festival, Fajr Film Festival 2018

A vital forum for cinema that tackles important global issues, HRWFF annually showcases an international selection of acclaimed films that bring human rights struggles to life through storytelling—challenging, provocative movies that call for justice and social change.

Additional screenings take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

  • Country USA, Palestine
  • Language Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French with English subtitles
  • Year 2017
  • Running Time 76 minutes
  • Director Julia Bacha
  • Editor Flávia de Souza, Rebekah Wingert-Jabi
  • Cinematographer Talal Jabari
  • Cast Naila Ayesh, Zahira Kamal, Naima Al-Sheikh, Azza Al-Khafarneh, Roni Ben Efrat

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.