Saif Hammash
24/4/2024Participation in Cannes International Cinema Festival
The Gazelle's Tooth
BSFF
About the Festival
The Bethlehem Student Film Festival (BSFF) is the first international film festival in Palestine specializing in student cinema — joining the global network of student film festivals and the growing wave of modern Arab festivals that champion emerging filmmakers.
The Festival provides a platform for Palestinian audiences to experience a selection of the best films in different genres produced every year by cinema school programs from around the world. It gives local and international film students the opportunity to exhibit and share their work, and discuss it with experts and the general public.
The Festival also allows the audience to discover a different form of vibrant youth cinema — produced under more open and creative conditions than those of the labor market. It sharpens student skills through workshops with international guests and experts organized during the festival. This festival emerges from the Film Program philosophy at Dar al-Kalima to produce a new generation of filmmakers capable of working professionally, aware of their surroundings, and able to translate ideas and feelings into cinema that is both new in form and content.
WHAT WE DO
Festival Pillars
Cinema for All
A curated platform for Palestinian audiences to experience the best student films from cinema schools around the world.
Student Showcase
Local and international students exhibit and discuss their films with experts and the general public in a professional festival setting.
Global Exchange
Palestinian students interact and engage with peers from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds across the globe.
Masterclasses & Workshops
International filmmakers and experts lead workshops during the festival, sharpening skills across all disciplines of cinema.
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Award-Winning Students
A decade of recognition — Dar al-Kalima students celebrated at festivals and competitions across Palestine and the world (2014–2024).
2024
Hayat Laban
28/5/2024Participation in Palestine Cinema Festival in Paris
Marginalized Memory
Alaa Abu Zaineh
28/5/2024Participation in Palestine Cinema Festival in Paris
The Wall
Abeer Braijeyeh
2024Paltisana Award 2024
2023
Ala Aldayeh
12/6/2023Best Short Film Award — Palestine Film Festival, Paris
Research
Ala Aldayeh
25/9/2023Refugee Cinema Festival Award — Bethlehem
Research
Lina Al Masri
2023First Place — Rami Zahi Khouri Innovation & Entrepreneurship Hub
Zainab Danadneh
2023Paltisana Award 2023
2022
Munir Matoor
8/2/2022Sixth Place — Short Story Competition, Ministry of Higher Education
Rami Qalibo
17/3/2022Best Logo Award — Rami Zahi Khouri Innovation Hub
Wisam Al Jafari
18/6/2022Best Short Film Award — Palestine Film Festival, Paris
By The Sea
Luay Awwad
18/6/2022Best Short Film (Jury & Audience) — Palestine Cinema Festival, Paris
Siri Miri
Rayyan Abuzakham
23/6/2022Ninth Place — Drawing Competition, Ministry of Higher Education
2021
Luay Awwad
22/11/2021Best Short Film Award — Palestine Cinema Days Festival
Siri Miri
2020
Wisam Al Jafari
30/1/2020Best Film Award — Sardinia Festival
Ambience
Elias Abed Rabbo
18/11/2020First Prize (Palestinian Universities) — Best Creative Design for the Day of the Declaration of the Independence of the Palestinian State
2019
Thaer Alzeh
20/1/2019Arts Award (Youth Category) — State of Palestine Awards 2019
Coffee Pot
Salah Abu Nemeh
8/4/2019Best Short Fiction Film — Bethlehem Student Film Festival
Area C
Alaa Al Dayeh
8/4/2019Best Experimental Film — Bethlehem Student Film Festival
Exit
Mohammad Shaloudi
8/4/2019Best Documentary Film — Bethlehem Student Film Festival
Promise
Wisam Al Jafari
24/5/2019Third Place (Short Films) — Cinefondation, 72nd Cannes International Film Festival
Ambience
Ibrahim Handal
31/7/2019Audience Award — NORDIC Youth Film Festival, Norway
He and I
Saliba Rishmawi
31/7/2019Visual & Audio Atmosphere Award — International Student Film Festival of Pernambuco, Brazil
Sawsan
Salah Abu Nemeh
18/9/2019Best Palestinian Film — Elia Short Film Festival 2019
Area C
Wisam Al Jafari
11/12/2019Youssef Chahine Award (Short Films) — Cairo International Film Festival
Ambience
2018
Noor Ghaneyeh
4/3/2018First Place Documentary Film Award — Zayed University Middle East Film Festival 2018
Visit
Bahaa Abu Shanab
16/3/2018First Place Documentary — Qanadeel Short Film Festival
The Living of the Pigeons
Bilal Alkarnaz
16/3/2018Short Fiction Film Award — Qanadeel Short Film Festival
The Shutter
Salah Abu Nemeh
23/10/2018Best Short Fiction Film — Sun Bird Competition, Palestine Cinema Days
Area C
Awad Hamad
23/11/2018Second Place — Karima Abboud Photography Award
Ala Atoun
23/11/2018Third Place — Karima Abboud Photography Award
Raja Barbarawi
23/11/2018Third Place — Karima Abboud Photography Award
2017
Varvara Abdelrazek
28/2/2017First Place — Knights of Integrity Competition
Raimy Sahoury
28/2/2017Second Place — Knights of Integrity Competition
Bahaa Abu Shanab
13/6/2017Jury Award — Festival Cine-Palestine, Paris
The Living of the Pigeons
Fadi Idrees
13/6/2017Audience Award — Festival Cine-Palestine, Paris
Six Fingers
2016
Varvara Abdelrazek
4/3/2016First Place — Ismail Shamout Yearly Award (Visual Arts)
Resilience (painting)
Varvara Abdelrazek
18/5/2016Second Place — Palestine Photo-Marathon (Danish House in Palestine)
Culinary Art Students
17/7/2016First Place — Food and Sweets Manufacturing Competition
Nihaya Alhaj
4/11/2016First Place — Karima Abboud Photography Award
2015
Bahaa Abu Shanab
19/5/2015First Place Documentary Film Award — Zayed University Middle East Film Festival 2015
The Living of the Pigeons
Muhammad Abu Snieneh
19/5/2015Honor Award — Zayed University Middle East Film Festival 2015
Praises of the Wound
Bahaa Abu Shanab
17/12/2015Amnesty International France Prize — Poitiers Film Festival
The Living of the Pigeons
Muhammad Abu Snieneh
29/12/2015First Documentary Film Award — NDU International Film Festival (Notre Dame University, Louaize)
Praises of the Wound
2014
Muhammad Abu Snieneh
16/5/2014First Place Documentary Film Award — Zayed University Middle East Film Festival 2014
Burhan Kashour