Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan’s debut feature fiction, THIRTEEN IN GAZA, has won the NETPAC Award at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), following its world premiere as part of the festival’s Centerpiece Program.
 
The NETPAC Award is a prestigious prize given by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema to highlight new talent and promote outstanding feature films from the Asia-Pacific region.
 
Produced by New Scene for Media Production and supported by the Doha Film Institute and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), THIRTEEN IN GAZA marks a landmark achievement in Palestinian cinema as the first fiction feature film to be shot in Gaza in 12 years. The film offers an intimate examination of forced maturity, fragile dignity, and the profound social consequences of war.
 
Filmed entirely in the Gaza Strip with a local Palestinian cast and crew under active wartime conditions, THIRTEEN IN GAZA shifts away from spectacle to examine the quiet, personal toll of displacement.
 
Set in 2025 following a bombing that destroys her home and kills members of her family, the film follows thirteen-year-old Raghad. As she enters puberty in an overcrowded displacement camp without her mother, privacy, or access to basic sanitary care, her father, Abu Raghad, is drawn into a dark black-market economy run by an influential trader, Khalil.
 
“I did not want to place destruction at the center of the frame,” says director Abu Dan. “I wanted to look at the quieter consequences: The disappearance of privacy inside tents, the difficulty of caring for the body, the social pressure created by poverty, and the transformation of aid and scarcity into sources of power. These are details that rarely appear in news reports, yet their effects continue long after the sound of bombing ends.”
 
The NETPAC Award marks a significant milestone for Abu Dan, who has been an active voice in Gaza's audiovisual landscape since 2010. He previously directed acclaimed works including the documentary GAZA SOUND MAN (2024), which earned international honors including a Karama Gold Award, a Telly Award, and a selection among the Top five films at Sheffield DocFest 2025, alongside the short fiction DIM LIGHT (2015), the documentary SIX MILES OUT (2017), and drama series ANQOUD (2020).
 
The film features a screenplay by Khalil Al-Muzayyen, with additional writing contributions by Hussein Al-Dash and Hosam Abu Dan. Behind the camera, Yousef Mashharawi serves as director of photography, while editor Hiba Othman serves as editing consultant, and sound mixing and engineering are led by renowned sound designer Rana Eid. MAD World handles international sales, while Watermelon Pictures manages North American distribution.