Projects in development
A Childhood
Synopsis
A Childhood is a hybrid documentary that traces the lives of Palestinian children growing up under Israeli occupation, where play, imagination, and safety are constantly interrupted by systems of control. Structured around the universal stages of human development—infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence—the film reveals what these phases become under apartheid: when curiosity is met with suspicion, and innocence is treated as defiance. Using testimonies and footage gathered before Israel’s current genocide in Gaza, A Childhood makes clear that nothing began on October 7, 2023. What the world now sees is the continuation of a system built to dominate and erase. We return to the Al-Da’na family, whose children endure relentless night raids; the Haddads, trapped behind checkpoints; and Ahmad Manasra, mirrored by Prisoner X, an animated figure embodying mental collapse under confinement. Blending eyewitness footage and animation, A Childhood is a cinematic act of existence and resistance.
Fresco Films (Palestine)
Jiries Copti & Tony Copti
Tessalit Productions (France)
Jean Bréhat
Senorita Films (France)
Rita Dagher
ToolBox Film (Denmark)
Maria Westergren
Director’s statement
A Childhood begins where childhood is ended by a settler-colonial project that treats Palestinian children as threats and targets them with arrest, interrogation, and erasure as a matter of policy. Built from footage and testimonies gathered before Israel’s current genocide in Gaza, the film shows that nothing began on October 7, 2023. What followed was not a rupture, but the continuation of a multi-decade-old structure rooted in Zionist ideology, a system that calls apartheid “law,” domination “security,” and genocide “defense.” I use animation not to soften, but to reveal: the blindfolded child in the jeep, the traumatised sibling off-frame, the fear behind the silence. These moments, too easily lost, become visible again. A Childhood is not an advocacy film or a victim narrative. It is a cinematic act of resistance and existence, refusing erasure, restoring dignity, and demanding that we see what the world has long-chosen not to.
Biographies
Scandar Copti is an Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker and visual artist. His debut feature-length film, Ajami (2009), won the Caméra d’or at the Festival de Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. His second film, Happy Holidays (2024), had its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and won the Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay. Copti teaches filmmaking at NYU Abu Dhabi and is known for his hybrid, politically engaged cinema.
Tony and Jiries Copti founded Fresco Films to produce bold, socially engaged cinema that connects Palestinian stories with global audiences. Their productions include the Academy Award nominee Ajami, which won the Caméra d’or at the Festival de Cannes; The Stranger (2021), which was selected for the Venice International Film Festival; Yunan and Happy Holidays (both 2024), which were also presented in Venice. Based in Palestine, Fresco Films has co-produced more than 30 international titles and continues to support films that challenge narratives of power through cinematic innovation.
