SHAFAQNA- On Wednesday, about 1,000 people attended the launch of the annual Palestine Cinema Days festival at the Cultural Palace in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
The 5th edition of the festival is screening in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nablus and Gaza between 17-23 October with more than 60 films from Palestinian, Arab and international filmmakers. Two Oscar nominated films will also be shown throughout the seven days of the festival, Middle East Monitor reported.
The festival, which was founded by Filmlab Palestine in 2014, hopes to promote Palestinian resilience in the face of hardship and occupation and to put Palestine on the map of international cinema through a unique programme of renowned international film screenings, along with panel discussions, professional film workshops and networking opportunities for aspiring film directors and actors.
Palestine Cinema Days will also present the Sunbird Award competition this year which was first launched in 2016. Twenty-two films of the 60 films submitted have been selected to compete for the award, including four feature length documentaries, 13 short films and five projects.
The winners will be announced during the closing ceremony on 23 October and will be awarded €2,000 ($2,299).
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