Paris and New York-based impact studio Koudéta Films has acquired French distribution rights to Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan’s “Thirteen in Gaza.” The father-daughter drama is the first film shot on the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Mad World – which is the international sales arm of Pan-Arab distributor Mad Solutions – has closed the French distribution deal ahead of the Middle East premiere of “Thirteen in Gaza” at the upcoming Doha Film Festival, which will run Nov. 19-27.
The film world premiered in September in the Centrepiece programme at the Toronto Film Festival, where it scored the fest’s NETPAC Award and was picked up for U.S. distribution by Watermelon Pictures.
Shot in Gaza under wartime conditions with a Palestinian crew, “Thirteen in Gaza” follows Raghad (Mary Ziyara), a 13-year-old girl who has lost her home and much of her family in a bombing. She now lives in a crowded displacement camp in Gaza with her father (Feras Al Masri). In the camp, “Raghad faces puberty, grief and the loss of privacy, while her father struggles to protect her amid poverty and worsening hardship,” says the synopsis. “When he becomes involved with Khalil, a trader profiting from the wartime economy, survival forces him into difficult moral choices.”
“Hosam Abu Dan has made an essential and profoundly moving film, a testament to humanity in the darkest of times,” Koudéta Films said in a statement. “Through the eyes of a father and his daughter, it shows Gaza as cinema rarely lets us see it: through everyday life, love and dignity. We are honoued to bring it to French audiences.”
Koudéta Films is in the process of launching a French distribution label dedicated to political and social films, with Palestine at the heart of its mission, according to a statement. The company is planning a theatrical release for “Thirteen in Gaza” in France accompanied by an impact campaign. The film’s French release date will be announced at a later date.
