A slice of Palestinian cinema lands in southern Sweden this autumn, with Egypt playing an unusually prominent part. Kamal Abdel Aziz, one of Egypt's best-known cinematographers, has been named president of the Feature Film Jury at the Palestinian Film Festival in Sweden, which runs its fourth edition from 30 October to 1 November at the Panora Cinema in Malmö.
Abdel Aziz brings serious weight to the role. His camera credits span more than 40 feature films, plus documentary work shot in the United States, Sweden, Denmark and France. He has sat on juries far beyond his home country too, at festivals in Carthage, Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Alexandria and Ismailia, as well as the Pune International Film Festival in India and the Casablanca International Film Festival in Morocco. His selection signals the festival's ambition to be judged by regional standards, not just as a diaspora event.
He won't be deciding alone. The jury gathers voices from across the region and Scandinavia: Swedish actress Josephine Iziaamo, Jordanian actor and director Salah Al-Hourani, and Palestinian filmmaker and novelist Fajr Yacoub round out the panel, a deliberately mixed bench of four countries.
The programme itself is still taking shape. Film submissions opened on 1 October and run until 7 November, and for this edition the festival is waiving submission fees through FilmFreeway for Palestinian filmmakers, with entries from Gaza given particular consideration. That practical support could matter a lot this year, when filmmakers in Gaza face conditions that make festival submissions hard on almost every level.
The event is organised annually by the Palestinian Cultural Association in Malmö, and it has grown into Sweden's main stage for Palestinian film, pairing screenings with broader cultural conversation. For Malmö, a city with a large Middle Eastern diaspora and a strong independent cinema culture, it fits neatly alongside its international film festival heritage.
Why does this matter to travellers? Because timing a trip around a festival is one of the cheapest ways to see a city at its best. Malmö in late October means dark Nordic evenings, which is exactly what a cinema festival wants, and Panora sits in the riverside Västra Hamnen district, an easy walk or short bus ride from the Old Town. Screenings at small cultural festivals are often followed by director Q&As you'd never get at a big commercial event, and tickets are typically cheaper and easier to secure than at the major European festivals. If you'll already be in Scandinavia for half-term or an autumn city break, a day or two in Malmö built around the programme is a genuinely distinctive addition.
Even if film isn't your main draw, the dates are handy: late October is low season for Swedish city trips, so hotel rates dip and the compact centre becomes very walkable. Copenhagen is twenty minutes away by train across the Øresund Bridge, so it's realistic to combine the festival with a stay in the Danish capital and simply hop over for screenings.
For anyone interested in how Palestinian stories are reaching new audiences, and in how Egypt is using its cinematic clout to open doors for neighbours, this quiet Malmö festival is worth a look from afar or in person.
