Palestine Comedy Club

d. Alaa Aliabdallah (UK/Palestine, 2025) 1h36m

Following six Palestinian comedians coming from Haifa, Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron,and the Golan Heights who come together to form the first Palestinian Comedy Club.

Each brings a unique lived experience and distinct perspective on life under occupation, illustrating how comedy serves as a vital space for creativity and a means to explore and process their deep-rooted trauma.

As the troupe embarks on a tour, we closely follow their journey as they navigate not only cultural barriers but also physical obstacles marked by walls and checkpoints. A heartfelt and urgent work that highlights comedy as a means of building community across differences and emphasizes its power as a form of resistance.

Palestine Comedy Club will be preceded by Theo Panagopoulos’s short film The Key, a Scottish-Palestinian magical realism film about personal and collective grief.

SMHAF 2025: Comfort & Disturb

Our theme, Comfort & Disturb, references the famous Cesar A Cruz quote that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. It is a simple expression of the power of art both to challenge and to console, often having a transformative effect on people and societies. The theme was collectively chosen by SMHAF’s team of regional coordinators, along with the arts team from the Mental Health Foundation. Across Scotland, hundreds of programme events have been developed in response to this powerful theme.