Filmed a decade apart, two powerful titles trace the rise of skateboarding in Palestine, from its grassroots birth under occupation to one athlete’s journey of resistance on the road to the Olympic qualifiers.

Epicly Palestine’d
United Kingdom, 2015, Phillip Joa and Theo Krish, 27’

Filmed in 2015 primarily on phones, with zero budget, Epicly Palestine’d is a short documentary capturing the birth of Palestine’s skate scene. With no equipment, no facilities and no blueprint, a small group of teenagers make history by becoming Palestine’s first skateboarders. Despite the challenges of living under military occupation, they set out to build a community from scratch – planting the seeds for what, nearly a decade later, would lead to Palestine’s first Olympic skateboarder.

EXIST
Sweden, 2025, Markus Bengtsson and Viktor Telegin, 40’

EXIST follows Palestinian skateboarder, Aram Sabbah, in the weeks leading up to the Olympic qualifiers in Dubai. Leaving his war-torn homeland, Aram isn’t chasing medals, he’s carrying the mantle for Palestine with a drive to send a message – Palestine exists beyond media headlines and nameless statistics. Through skateboarding, Aram defines the forces that seek to silence and erase his people, offering instead resilience and a quiet resistance built on presence, passion and hope.

This session will be followed by a screen talk with Nora Lagström Jebara, Theo Krish (SkatePal) and Viktor Telegin, hosted by Manal Massalha. 

About the festival:

London Palestine Film Festival (LPFF) presents its 2025 edition showcasing some of this year’s most anticipated new releases reflecting on Palestine. LPFF aims to present stories of political realities as experienced by Palestinians at home and in the diaspora through the creative lens of cinema.
https://www.palestinefilm.org.uk