“The only criteria for consideration was that the participants had to be Palestinian,” says Annemarie Jacir, the curator of the festival. “It didn’t matter where they grew up, or the story they wanted to tell. We wanted as many different voices as possible.

“We are showing 34 films in total, many of them are showing in the U.S. for the first time. Another positive element is that half of the filmmakers are women, that is very encouraging and inspiring.”

One of those women is Annemarie herself, whose short film Satellite Shooters centres on a young cowboy-obsessed

Palestinian boy growing up in Texas. But unsurprisingly many of the contributions come from, and directly focus on, Palestine, where the recent Israeli assaults have created the desire for Palestinians to generate their own narrative.

“The video diary format has become very popular in the West Bank. As such, it was difficult to select which ones we would use — in the end, we had to go with just two. I think these are particularly significant inclusions simply because of the difficulties the diarists encountered: it is almost impossible to leave your house, never mind reach a post office.”

The two video diaries that are included, both of which are playing on Sunday evening, are Saed Andoni’s A Number Zero, which takes place inside a Bethlehem barbershop, and Local, three filmmakers’ chronicle of life under siege. Annemarie is convinced that conditions in the West Bank may actually help provide further generations of Palestinian filmmakers able to add their voice.

“The local TV stations in each town — Bethlehem, Jenin, Ramallah, wherever — allow for members of the community to produce their own material,” she says, with some delight.