North American audiences will soon be able to see a narrative feature shot inside the Gaza Strip after Watermelon Pictures acquired North American rights to Thirteen in Gaza, the distributor announced Monday. The deal gives Watermelon a title that was filmed entirely inside Gaza, and the company said it will reveal its release plan in the coming months.
Thirteen in Gaza is the narrative feature debut of Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan. The coming-of-age drama premiered in the TIFF Centerpiece section at the Toronto International Film Festival and follows 13-year-old Raghad, played by Mary Ziyara, who survives a bombing and now lives in a displacement camp in Gaza with her father, played by Feras Al Masri.
Producers say the production was shot entirely within the Gaza Strip, a rarity for narrative features. They describe the film as the first narrative feature produced and filmed in Gaza in 12 years, and the first narrative project made there since the 2023 war began. The production was completed by an all-Palestinian crew, who reportedly continued working despite surviving an Israeli airstrike during the shoot.
The team captured the film on just two memory cards, according to producers. Abu Dan not only directed but also produced and edited the picture, working from a screenplay by Khalil Al Muzayyen. Hanna Atallah is credited as an executive producer, Yousef Al Mashharawi as cinematographer, and New Scene for Media Production is listed as the production company.
Munir Atalla, Head of Production and Acquisitions for Watermelon Pictures, negotiated the agreement for the distributor and described the film as "an extraordinary film about childhood, family and the human need to keep living even when ordinary life has been taken away." The distribution deal was finalised with Hanna Atallah acting for the film team.
Launched in 2024, Watermelon Pictures has positioned itself as a domestic home for Palestinian and Arab cinema, with credits that include From Ground Zero, Palestine 36, All That’s Left of You and the Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab. Thirteen in Gaza adds a Gaza-shot narrative to that slate and represents Abu Dan’s move into fiction after earlier documentary and television work.
Watermelon’s next step is to set a market strategy and announce dates and territories for the North American release, a plan the distributor says it will make public in the coming months.
