release date September 25 2025
Palestinian director Ward Kayyal’s short FIN to world premiere at Warsaw International Film Festival
Well known for his short HAMZA: CHASING THE GHOST CHASING ME, which world premiered last year at the Cairo International Film Festival, Palestinian director Ward Kayyal is set to captivate Egyptian audiences once again with his latest short, FIN, set to hold its world premiere at the 41st Warsaw International Film Festival, running from October 9th to 19th in Warsaw, Poland.
Starring Ziad Bakri, best known for SCREWDRIVER, which was nominated for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as Netflix’s THE WEEKEND AWAY, FIN is a gripping single-take short that explores the numbing helplessness felt by those outside Gaza in the face of ongoing genocide.
On a stormy night, a man walks through Haifa’s empty streets, trying to light his cigarette in vain under the heavy rain. As the flame fails him again and again, something happens that he does not foresee.
Commenting on his film, director Kayyal says, “FIN is a small film we made with a small crew, but it carries something heavy: a sense of numbness and helplessness of watching a genocide unfold and feeling unable to stop it. We made this film as a way to face our own silence, our distance and the painful truth that we have left our people in Gaza to face this alone.
“I know a film cannot end a war; it cannot bring back the dead or rebuild what was destroyed, but maybe it can do something else. Maybe it can break the silence, spark a question, or shift something inside us that leads to action. Maybe it can turn the act of watching into something real, something that protects lives rather than simply observes their loss,” he added.
With MAD World handling worldwide sales and MAD Distribution in charge of distribution across the Arab World, the Palestinian short features cinematography by Ashraf Dowani, editing by Nour Abu Kamal, and sound design by Elias Abd El Malek. It is produced by Donna Hawwa under WK Production.
Ward Kayyal is a 29-year-old film director from Palestine. He completed his cinema studies in 2022. His first short film, HAMZA: CHASING THE GHOST CHASING ME, premiered at the Cairo International Film Festival and went on to screen globally. Currently writing his first feature and developing his third short film, Kayyal is dedicated to enriching the Palestinian art scene by addressing political and social issues through the lens of community engagement.
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