Palestinian Director Kamal Aljafari’s ‘With Hasan in Gaza’ Acquired by Cinema Guild for North American Distribution (EXCLUSIVE)

New York-based indie distributor Cinema Guild has acquired the North American distribution rights to Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari’s personal documentary “With Hasan in Gaza,” which recently screened at the New York Film Festival.

“With Hasan in Gaza” follows Aljafari and Hasan, a local guide, on a 2001 road trip as they travel down the Gaza coastal strip in search of Abdel Rahim, a man the director met in 1989 when they were serving time together as teenagers in the juvenile section of Israel’s Naqab Desert prison.

Edited from three MiniDV tapes that were shot in Gaza in 2001 and rediscovered years later, Aljafari’s documentary “transforms recovered footage into a profound cinematic meditation on memory, loss and the passage of time,” according to promotional materials.

This portrait of a Gaza Strip that no longer exists has been described by Aljafari as “an homage to Gaza and its people, to all that was erased and that came back to me in this urgent moment of Palestinian existence, or non-existence.”

Born in the Israeli city of Ramle, which is a mixed Jewish-Arab town, Aljafari studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. The now Berlin-based director has taught at The New School in New York and the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie in Berlin. Aljafari’s work, including his previous feature “A Fidai Film” (2024), has screened widely at major festivals and institutions worldwide. His visual arts installation “The Camera of the Dispossessed” was shown at the 35th Bienal de São Paulo.

“With Hasan in Gaza” world premiered in competition last summer at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The film — which was directed, shot and edited by Aljafari in collaboration with Hasan Elboubou — subsequently screened widely on the festival circuit, including at the 2025 Toronto and New York film festivals. “With Hasan in Gaza” is produced by Kamal Aljafari Productions in tandem with executive producer Flavia Mazzarino.

Cinema Guild is planning a 2026 U.S. release.

The “With Hasan in Gaza” deal was negotiated by Cinema Guild chief Peter Kelly alongside the film’s executive producer Flavia Mazzarino and Aljafari.

“Director Kamal Aljafari has put together a touching and moving piece of art. We are honored to be releasing the film in theaters and beyond,” Kelly said in a statement.

Mazzarino and Aljafari commented: “We are profoundly moved that ‘With Hasan in Gaza’ will be distributed in North America through one of the great champions of world and independent cinema in the U.S. We look forward to sharing the life and humanity captured in this film.”

Cinema Guild’s other upcoming U.S. and North America releases include Hong Sangsoo’s “What Does That Nature Say to You” and Aleksandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf.