Palestinians Celebrate Arab Film at Gaza Festival

Rajab Abu Seriya, a Gaza-based filmmaker and chairman of the forum, explained that the purpose of the festival was for Gaza to participate in the celebration of Jerusalem as capital of Arab culture for 2009. He added that it was also to introduce "the people of Gaza to other forms of cinema."

Abu Seriya explained that the greatest difficulty was bringing the films into Gaza. "We spent about one month and a half trying to bring [the films] here. Finally we asked an independent Palestinian dignitary to bring them from Cairo." He added that officials with the Hamas party currently in control of Gaza did not object to the festival and it was coordinated with the Ministry of Information.

Both the festival and the films shown were well received by Gazans in attendance at the festival. "I am a resident of Rafah, 18 miles away from Gaza City, however I wanted to attend the festival. This is a unique event, especially here in the Gaza Strip, where I have been raised without observing cinema or theater," said Ismail Matter, a 20-year-old university student.

Sahar Yaghi, a media and Arabic language student, echoed these sentiments. "I think the shows are very interesting. Unfortunately, we don't have cinemas in Gaza so it has been a very good opportunity for me and others to attend such shows."