Rashid Masharawi

Directing

Rashid Masharawi

Born 1962-01-01 · Gaza, Palestine

Rashid Masharawi (Arabic: رشيد مشهراوي; born 1962) is a Palestinian film director, born in Gaza in 1962 to a family of refugees from Jaffa. He grew up in the Shati refugee camp. Rashid Masharawi lives and works in Ramallah, where he founded the Cinema Production and Distribution Center in 1996 with the aim of promoting local film productions. He also sponsors a mobile cinema, which allows him to screen films in Palestinian refugee camps. Other projects include the annual Kids Film Festival and major workshops on film production and directing. Rashid Masharawi regularly organises readings and discussion forums at the Al-Matal cultural centre. Through his documentaries and feature films, he has made a name for himself as a film artist and has received several film awards.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

From Ground Zero poster
7.4

"From Ground Zero" is a compelling project that brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by Rashid Masharawi, a notable Palestinian filmmaker, the initiative emerged amid the backdrop of conflict, aiming to provide a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft. Each film, ranging from 3 to 7 minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. With a mix of genres such as fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, "From Ground Zero" showcases a rich tapestry of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.

From Ground Zero

2025

Hassan poster
NR

A 17-year-old Palestinian is trapped by need amid Gaza’s starvation war. His dangerous attempt to fetch a sack of flour ends with a lone fifteen-month journey from north to south Gaza.

Hassan

2026

Haifa poster
6.3

Haifa, nicknamed after the city of his love and hope, goes around and comes around in a Palestinian refugee camp. Although he is everybody's fool, there are many things that only he knows. He is closely related to the family of Abu Said, a former policeman who gains new hopes from the political developments. Oum Said, his wife, hangs her hope on the imminent release of their eldest son, Said, from jail. She tries to find him a bride to secure things for the future. Their youngest son, Siad, is cynical and rebellious. He refuses to believe things. Sabah, the 12 year old daughter is romancing the future and wants to find out what's in it for her. The different stories are interwoven into a very timely insight into the current Palestinian mind.

Haifa

1996

Haifa poster
6.3

Haifa, nicknamed after the city of his love and hope, goes around and comes around in a Palestinian refugee camp. Although he is everybody's fool, there are many things that only he knows. He is closely related to the family of Abu Said, a former policeman who gains new hopes from the political developments. Oum Said, his wife, hangs her hope on the imminent release of their eldest son, Said, from jail. She tries to find him a bride to secure things for the future. Their youngest son, Siad, is cynical and rebellious. He refuses to believe things. Sabah, the 12 year old daughter is romancing the future and wants to find out what's in it for her. The different stories are interwoven into a very timely insight into the current Palestinian mind.

Haifa

1996

Haifa poster
6.3

Haifa, nicknamed after the city of his love and hope, goes around and comes around in a Palestinian refugee camp. Although he is everybody's fool, there are many things that only he knows. He is closely related to the family of Abu Said, a former policeman who gains new hopes from the political developments. Oum Said, his wife, hangs her hope on the imminent release of their eldest son, Said, from jail. She tries to find him a bride to secure things for the future. Their youngest son, Siad, is cynical and rebellious. He refuses to believe things. Sabah, the 12 year old daughter is romancing the future and wants to find out what's in it for her. The different stories are interwoven into a very timely insight into the current Palestinian mind.

Haifa

1996

Attentive poster
9.0

Before leaving to settle abroad, Ahmad accepts one last job. He must audition actors for the new National Palestinian Theatre. On the road with interviewer Bissan and her cameraman Loumir, Ahmad goes in search of talent in the numerous refugee camps of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Hopefully for the last time, Ahmad experiences the insurmountable difficulties of life in Palestine: harassing searches at check points and borders, barricades, constant tension. He realizes the destiny of all waiting refugees is much the same as his own. He ends up guiding the auditioning actors into dramatizing what best embodies their destiny. But with the chance to catch his plane at risk, Ahmad could see the opportunity for his long-awaited exile slip away.

Attentive

2005

Attentive poster
9.0

Before leaving to settle abroad, Ahmad accepts one last job. He must audition actors for the new National Palestinian Theatre. On the road with interviewer Bissan and her cameraman Loumir, Ahmad goes in search of talent in the numerous refugee camps of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Hopefully for the last time, Ahmad experiences the insurmountable difficulties of life in Palestine: harassing searches at check points and borders, barricades, constant tension. He realizes the destiny of all waiting refugees is much the same as his own. He ends up guiding the auditioning actors into dramatizing what best embodies their destiny. But with the chance to catch his plane at risk, Ahmad could see the opportunity for his long-awaited exile slip away.

Attentive

2005

Curfew poster
5.5

This drama portrays a day in the life of a Palestinian family during a curfew announced by the Israeli army in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza Strip in 1993. From that point on, they must live behind closed shutters, barred from their daily lives and needs.

Curfew

1994

Curfew poster
5.5

This drama portrays a day in the life of a Palestinian family during a curfew announced by the Israeli army in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza Strip in 1993. From that point on, they must live behind closed shutters, barred from their daily lives and needs.

Curfew

1994

No artwork available
10.0

Directed by Rashid Masharawi.

Shelter

1989

Very Small Dreams poster
NR

In a land shelled, starved, and denied all essentials, Gazan women fight for health, dignity, and the barest human needs.

Very Small Dreams

2025

Recovery poster
NR

Rashid Marshawi takes us on a special journey across the historical city of Jaffa, where his father was forced to leave in the 1948 exodus. With his own voice, Marshawi narrates his memories of the city, bringing to life the waves on Jaffa’s shore, the sounds of its streets, and the sweetness of its inhabitants and its spirit. Recovery is a splendid cinematic experience that attempts to cloud the border between time and space as Marshawi takes us on a tour of magnificent photos from 1930 to 1948, allowing his nostalgia to breathe a new life into the static bodies portrayed.

Recovery

2021

Recovery poster
NR

Rashid Marshawi takes us on a special journey across the historical city of Jaffa, where his father was forced to leave in the 1948 exodus. With his own voice, Marshawi narrates his memories of the city, bringing to life the waves on Jaffa’s shore, the sounds of its streets, and the sweetness of its inhabitants and its spirit. Recovery is a splendid cinematic experience that attempts to cloud the border between time and space as Marshawi takes us on a tour of magnificent photos from 1930 to 1948, allowing his nostalgia to breathe a new life into the static bodies portrayed.

Recovery

2021

Palestine Stereo poster
8.0

After an Israeli raid causes the two brothers, Milad and Samy, to lose everything, they decide to rent out audio equipment for various occasions, in an attempt to gather enough money to emigrate to Canada.

Palestine Stereo

2014

Palestine Stereo poster
8.0

After an Israeli raid causes the two brothers, Milad and Samy, to lose everything, they decide to rent out audio equipment for various occasions, in an attempt to gather enough money to emigrate to Canada.

Palestine Stereo

2014

Palestine Stereo poster
8.0

After an Israeli raid causes the two brothers, Milad and Samy, to lose everything, they decide to rent out audio equipment for various occasions, in an attempt to gather enough money to emigrate to Canada.

Palestine Stereo

2014

Tension poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tension

1998

The Clown of Gaza poster
NR

A portrait of the greatly beloved performer Alaa Meqdad. The bombings of Gaza City—where he once lived with his parents, sisters, wife, and children—have forced him and his family into a tent camp. With extraordinary optimism, he embraces life in the here and now, and tries to make it more enjoyable for others. Together with his partner, he performs as Aloosh the clown for children in hospitals and on the streets. Their jokes, songs, and boundless energy make the horrific reality momentarily disappear.

The Clown of Gaza

2025

No artwork available
NR

Directed by Rashid Masharawi.

Passport

1986

No artwork available
NR

The preparation of Makloubeh, a traditional Palestinian dish, is served up as image and substance, reflecting on the nature of nourishment, the land and culture. Masharawi uses a regardful humor and a bucolic freshness of shots in this short treatise on Palestinian identity

Upside Down

2000

Colors Under the Sky poster
NR

Amid Gaza's ruins, Aya's voice rises, seeking refuge in music, dreaming of peace, and the road back home.

Colors Under the Sky

2025

Ticket to Jerusalem poster
6.3

This inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction follows Jabir, who runs a mobile cinema from his old truck throughout the West Bank while his wife works to bring emergency medical care to Palestinians. When Jabir is invited by a spirited schoolteacher to make a screening in the old city of Jerusalem, he becomes obsessed with the idea of this pilgrimage and begins to investigate the possibilities.

Ticket to Jerusalem

2002

Ticket to Jerusalem poster
6.3

This inspired hybrid of documentary and fiction follows Jabir, who runs a mobile cinema from his old truck throughout the West Bank while his wife works to bring emergency medical care to Palestinians. When Jabir is invited by a spirited schoolteacher to make a screening in the old city of Jerusalem, he becomes obsessed with the idea of this pilgrimage and begins to investigate the possibilities.

Ticket to Jerusalem

2002

Journal de la Rue Gabrielle poster
NR

When the French authorities closed their borders, landed their planes, confined their citizens to their homes, spreading the police on the streets. I was in Paris. Without any planning, the memory coming from Palestine began to flow and merge with the diaries I live here, and the virus began to awaken other viruses, which made me spontaneously, as a Palestinian citizen, besieged in the most beautiful Parisian neighbourhood (Montmartre), busy documenting aspects of diaries and memories in a period of time that changed the face of the scientist.

Journal de la Rue Gabrielle

2021