Alumni organized a four-day empowerment cinema event for high school students in Gaza. The idea behind this project was to use movies with powerful stories to inspire students and teach qualities that would help develop their personalities. Also, the concept of learning through film was something different to offer outside of the traditional classroom; it mixed fun with education!

Around 50 students from the Department of State’s English Access Micro Scholarship Program participated during the first two days of the event. A brief introduction to the YES program was presented by Mohammed Abu Zaanona, the alumni coordinator, before the movies were premiered. “The Pursuit of Happiness” was the first movie watched on day one, and the movie “Rudy” was watched on day two. After each movie there was a snack break scheduled, and from there, students were divided into groups that included two alumni leaders. Alumni led discussions on what the students liked and didn’t like, as well as what they would have changed to make the movies better.

On the third day, students from the Greek Orthodox and Al Zahra private schools attended the event; there were almost 100 participants total! “October Sky” was the first movie watched, and “My Left Foot: the Story of Christy Brown" was shown next. During the viewing, alumni stopped at various scenes to discuss plots and main characters. This opened up a general dialogue, which further enhanced the idea of learning through film.

As the project ended, alumni noticed how the students thoroughly enjoyed each of the films. The idea of mixing fun with education was exciting, and the movies chosen were very inspirational. Handouts with additional movie titles and suggestions were distributed so that students could continue to explore new films, and thus, their own personalities.