In October 2023 Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Since then, nearly 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 injured in Gaza, and about 1.9 million people – 90% of Gaza’s population – have fled their homes over the past year.

In solidarity with Palestine and peace Kino Aurora presents a short film screening in aim to raise funds to help the victims of war, and also to raise awareness and discussion about the ongoing situation in Palestine.

The event is free entry, but we encourage participants to donate to charities of their choosing. The main target for charities is the family of a local resident and a Gaza refugee, an aspiring filmmaker Omar Alqrinawi, whose two short films will be shown at the event. Omar will also be present at the screening for discussion. Omar has a Gofundme campaign for support of his family, who are still in Gaza.

All the films are either spoken or subtitled in English, and the discussion after the films is also conducted in English. Since the films don’t have an official Finnish age restriction, the event is K-18.

Films shown:

BIRTHDAY (Hanneriina Moisseinen, 2014, 3min)
It’s the year 1944 and Karelia is being evacuated. At the same moment when the people are told they have two minutes to leave the village, a cow starts to give birth.

RETURNING TO ZARNOUQA (Haidar Eid & Neta Golan, 2023, 14min)
Returning to Zarnouqa is a story of generational displacement, genocide and the inevitability of Return. Haidar Eid was raised in Gaza City after his parents were violently expelled from their home village of Zarnouqa in 1948. In 2019 A conversation emerges between Haidar and Neta Golan, an Israeli anti-Zionist comrade, as she shares with him footage from his hometown which he is denied access to. In 2023, Haidar, his wife, and their daughters become the second and third generation to be forced from their home as Israel continues its genocidal war in Palestine. Returning to Zarnouqa depicts a vision that remains as relevant as ever: The time for Return is now.

GAZA CPR (Omar Qrinawi, 2023, 12min)
A short film that focuses on the suffering that the Palestinians are going through. It focuses on Gaza and the 2023 Israeli aggression, in which more than 20,000 civilians were killed and more than 50,000 were injured to the date of this film, most of them children and women. The war is still continuing, and this film comes to clarify that the aggression must be stopped now, which is still the last chance! Don’t let her lose her last breath!

IF I MUST DIE (Omar Qrinawi, 2024, 4min)
In Memory of Dr. Refaat Alareer (1979 – 2023)
Killed by an Israeli airstrike on December 6, 2023. Beloved academic, poet, and co-founder of ‘We Are Not Numbers’.

Do you want to help? Possible fundraising campaigns to help the people in Gaza:

Omar’s campaign to help his family

PCRF – Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Unicef – Auta Gazan lapsia (in Finnish)

UN Women Suomi – Auta naisia ja perheitä Gazassa (in Finnish)

The event is arranged in co-operation with Free Palestine Jyväskylä -collective.

More info: Sumud – The Finnish Palestine Network