About Shashat Woman Cinema
Founded in 2005, Shashat Woman Cinema is an independent, indigenous, and non-profit NGO whose objective is to develop the capacity of young women filmmakers from diverse social and economic backgrounds through training, mentoring, production support, and the exhibition and dissemination of films. It is based in Ramallah; the satellite office in Gaza is now destroyed.
Founded in 2005, Shashat Woman Cinema is an independent, indigenous, and non-profit NGO whose objective is to develop the capacity of young women filmmakers from diverse social and economic backgrounds through training, mentoring, production support, and the exhibition and dissemination of films. It is based in Ramallah; the satellite office in Gaza is now destroyed.
The Palestinian geo-political context has generated a stereotypical representation of Palestine as only a location of suffering, conflict, and war, diverting attention from being a society rich in culture and knowledge. Shashat’s focus is on young women to become makers of a gendered modern and creative Palestinian culture. Shashat is committed to the integration of the creative, cultural, educational, and economic implications of women’s cinema. Shashat, which means “screens” in Arabic, emphasizes the diversity of women’s lives.
Since its founding, Shashat has produced 120 short fiction, documentary, and experimental films for young women filmmakers who have been trained or mentored by Shashat and twenty-five TV programs broadcast on Palestinian satellite channels. It has sponsored community discussions about some of these films; has subtitled six international features into Arabic; and held eleven editions of its festival “Shashat’s Woman Film Festival in Palestine” which opens in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It has succeeded in making women’s cinema accepted and valued at the grassroots level with films screened and discussed by over 200,000 participants in 265 locations, in collaboration with over 450 cultural and community organizations, universities, colleges, schools, and Bedouin communities in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem.
Shashat believes that culture and media play a transformative role and can serve as an interventional agent in changing cultural perceptions and attitudes about women. Women’s access to self-expression, creativity, and decision-making in the cultural field, especially the audio-visual one, are essential components of democratic development, promoting equity, growth, and dignity for all citizens, men and women alike.
“The bird of peace deserted us…and The Ghoul began trailing us. In my homeland, and in Gaza, the myth of the Ghoul is made real by the most frightening event—war. The Ghoul myth does not terrify our children. Their greatest fear is war and occupation, which steal life and land—these are the real Ghouls. I have paid the price of wars with my body, and it has made me an exile in my own homeland.”
— Alaa Dasoki, Gazan filmmaker, on her film The Ghoul.
In late 2022 and most of 2023 Shashat Woman Cinema suffered a dangerous and venomous slander campaign from gender-regressive forces and a Salafist religio-political party in the West Bank. The primary focus was Shashat’s work with adolescent girls, as well as its “Films for All” community screenings and discussions of women’s cinema. The regression in the status of women resulting from the weakness of the Palestinian National Authority and the erosion of civil law has increased the power of traditional patriarchal clan law as a social mediator. This has seeded the significant growth of well-resourced Salafist anti-feminist voices and forces. Compounding the impact of these external and internal challenges is the dramatic decrease of overall funding for Palestinian civil society in recent years, leaving women-focused organizations, such as Shashat, with limited resources to counter this trend and defend their work.
The tremendous challenges which Shashat faced during 2022 and 2023 have now paled in comparison to the recent destruction of our infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. We have lost both our office and equipment. The situation of our women filmmakers and crews is tragic. One of them has been killed, others lost their children and family members, some have been wounded, and all have lost their homes and most are living in tents. We have lost contact with several of them. The fate of our friends and colleagues in the hundreds of organizations that we worked with to affirm women’s rights is unknown, and their community centers, have been reduced to rubble.
“Shashat is an organization of accomplished Palestinian women filmmakers who support and train new generations of women to keep alive the history, culture, and aspirations of Palestine. Shashat’s films give fresh insight to life in the West Bank and Gaza and constitute an indispensable addition to Film Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Women’s Studies, Sociology and Anthropology. Donations to Shashat Woman Cinema will build on its strengths and expand its impact.”
— Inez Hedges, author of World Cinema and Cultural Memory and founder, program in Cinema Studies at Northeastern University.
OTHER WAYS TO DONATE:
To support Shashat Woman Cinema continuing its work as an inclusive human rights and women’s rights organization, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Shashat Woman Cinema via our fiscal sponsor Women Make Movies. Please consider adding 6% of your donation for their administrative fee:
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Shashat Woman Cinema
