We sat down with committee member, filmmaker, and professor, Cole Seidl, to talk about the Witness Palestine Film Festival, November 15-23, 2025. (This was recorded on November 17, 2025.) You can learn more and purchase tickets now at www.wpff.us.
We discuss the importance of showing the diversity of Palestinian films--documentary, narrative, and experimental--as well as reflecting on watching "The Voice of Hind Rajab" with an audience, upcoming films this week (Shorts at Visual Studies Workshop ("A Night We Held Between", "Morgenkreis", "The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing"), "All That’s Left of You", "Thank You For Banking With Us", "With Hazan in Gaza", "Palestine 36"), possible award nominations, and Palestinian cuisine with Mama’s Palestinian Dinner on Saturday, Nov 22 cooked by Ahlam Abid.
Cole Seidl is a filmmaker, educator, and literary translator. Once illegally entered the properties of David Lynch and the Sultan of Brunei. Current professor at Monroe Community College. Former Professor at Al Quds University in Abu Dis, Palestine.
The Witness Palestine Film Festival is the primary project of Rochester Witness for Palestine (RW4P), a registered 501 (c)(3), that seeks justice and liberation for the people of Palestine wherever they may be. RW4P's motto "Come and see, go and tell" applies also to the work of WPFF, which aims to provide a space for reflection and discussion, as well as tools for action and change.
The Witness Palestine Film Festival Committee includes activists involved in interfaith and Palestinian solidarity work. As a member organization of the Rochester Committee to End Apartheid, RW4P is dedicated to growing the movement for Palestinian freedom in Rochester, NY, and across the globe.
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