Palestinian filmmaker Hosam Abu Dan’s Thirteen in Gaza, a father-daughter drama set against the devastation of the Gaza Strip, has won the prestigious NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The film, which had its world premiere in TIFF’s Centrepiece section, was shot entirely in Gaza with an all-Palestinian cast and crew working under wartime conditions.
Thirteen in Gaza follows 13-year-old Ragha, played by Mary Ziyara, who loses her home and most of her family in a missile strike. Her father, portrayed by Firas Al-Masri, struggles to protect her as the two attempt to rebuild their lives inside a crowded displacement camp.
As Ragha navigates adolescence without the safety, privacy or support of her mother, her father is forced to make increasingly difficult choices to keep them alive.
The film is being described as the first feature-length local production to emerge from Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli military campaign that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks. According to figures cited in the film’s promotional materials, the conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries and caused widespread destruction across the territory.
Abu Dan was unable to travel to Toronto for the film’s premiere. Festival organizers left the front-row seats reserved for the filmmaker and his team empty, while Abu Dan addressed the audience through a pre-recorded video message filmed among the rubble in Gaza.
“Honestly, I wish I could have been with you in this moment,” Abu Dan said. “To have watched the film on the big screen, to see the birth of Thirteen in Gaza — a film I can only compare to my first child. For it to be born while I am far from it, it’s a hard feeling.”
The director also reflected on the extraordinary circumstances under which the film was made, emphasizing that both the cast and crew were Palestinian and worked entirely in Gaza despite the ongoing war.
“One of the hardest situations is that on the fourth day a nearby strike hit us and one of our colleagues was seriously injured,” Abu Dan said.
The incident forced him to confront what it meant to make a drama in Gaza during a prolonged conflict.
“After that I started asking myself what it means to have a drama come out of Gaza after a long war and a long absence of dramas coming out of Gaza,” he said. “Then I realized this film was made with blood.”
Thirteen in Gaza marks Abu Dan’s first feature film. His previous work includes the short film Six Miles Out and the documentary Gaza Sound Man.
The production was supported by the Doha Film Institute and the Arab Culture Fund, while Mad World is handling international sales.
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