PFI is a voluntary and independent Palestinian non-profit organization established in 2019. The PFI was born from a shared desire among active Palestinian-identified film professionals to create an inclusive body with the mission of developing, promoting, and preserving Palestine’s cinema, and to empower the film industry in Palestine and for Palestinians around the world.

Executive Board

Salma Abu Ayyash | May Odeh | Elhum Shakerifar | Reem Shadid | Mohamed Jabaly

General Assembly

Rashid Abdel Hamid | Raed Andoni | Rasha Salti | Marion Schmidt | Mohamed Jabaly | Jihan El Tahiri | Saeed Taji Farouky | May Odeh | Juna Sulieman | Reem Shadid | Elhum Shakerifar | Salma Abu Ayyash | Hamza Abu Ayyash | Dorota Lech

Legal Board

Nael Khliefi | Stoffel Debuysere | Mohanad Yaqubi

The Goals of the Institute

To initiate coordination, partnerships and collaborations within the network of existing Palestinian film labs, workshops and pedagogical programs;

To enable access to international experts and mediate between Palestinian film professionals and local, regional and international festivals, industry events and marketplaces. This is accomplished by participating in such events, and as an independent professional body that supports the presence of film talent;

To develop Palestinian film talent (in all aspects of the craft) ) by providing training programs, workshops and seminars in the creation, production, promotion and distribution of Palestinian cinema;

To empower production using the organization’s network with structures of support worldwide, creating a database of grant-making institutions and residencies, and providing expertise support in coproduction agreements

To facilitate access and dissemination of Palestinian films worldwide, mediation of audiences, and solicitation of film agents, film critics and film scholars;

To serve the production of knowledge around Palestinian cinema, past, present and future, and to preserve film heritage, film culture and the social history of cinema by creating digital reference libraries that list Palestinian films and information regarding access as well as references for scholarship on Palestinian cinema in as many languages as possible;

To create bridges among the dispersed community of Palestinian cinema across the world while acknowledging and celebrating its achievements and mobilizing philanthropic resources;

To provide tools and resources for developing strategies that empower visibility, promotion and marketing for addressing the  challenges of the digital platforms.