The initiative is helping Gaza’s children ‘glimpse a better reality’, says Palestinian filmmaker Mustafa al-Nabih.

Children in Gaza City, traumatised from more than two years of mass bombardment and displacement, the loss of family, friends and the destruction of their homes and schools in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, are getting a brief reprieve through a local cinema initiative.

Volunteers have set up a makeshift screen in one of the city’s displacement camps to show films, offering children a rare space to have fun and experience moments of normalcy and solace despite the war and ongoing ceasefire violations by Israel.

“We’re here trying to present so many activities for children to live in a positive vibe,” said Minass al-Jabour, the initiative’s media coordinator. “So we are trying to make them skip the scenes, the hard scenes that they were living during the war in Gaza.”

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 20,000 children and left tens of thousands more injured since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities. At least 55,000 children have lost one or both parents.

With 92 percent of the enclave’s schools severely damaged or destroyed, most children have had no access to formal education for two years.

For many, the screenings offer the first chance to watch a movie since the conflict began.

“This is something new for me. I came out of the war, and they are giving us many activities, including cinema … and we really enjoyed it,” Sara Abu Sharbi, a displaced girl in the camp, told Al Jazeera, against a backdrop of flimsy tents and rubble-strewn buildings.

Palestinian filmmaker Mustafa al-Nabih, who is also taking part in the initiative, said he believes art, like cinema, is a way for children to hold on to hope and imagination.

“A child who has seen so much blood and loss can, through cinema, glimpse a better reality,” said al-Nabih.

“Cinema transports a child into a world of imagination, love and beauty. It moves their mind, lets them reach for a distant horizon, and shows them colours, stories, and moments that take them out of the ruin around them,” he said.