LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen
LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen
Location
Date
Description
Hosted by Crystal Palace Friends of Palestine and Britain Palestine Project
Doors at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. If you have ordered Palestinian food, please arrive at 6.30pm.
Living Despite Them is a powerful 20-minute documentary filmed and produced by Alaa Hathleen, a former professional footballer from Umm al-Khair in the Occupied West Bank. Shot through the lens of lived experience, the film captures the quiet, relentless realities of life under occupation - checkpoints, house demolitions, curfews, and the daily violence of illegal settlers - alongside the extraordinary resilience required simply to endure.
Alaa describes the film as “a testimony to our ability to endure, to hold on to our dignity, and to live despite them — despite everything.” It is not only a record of injustice, but an act of resistance through life itself.
Once a promising footballer, Alaa’s career was cut short by movement restrictions in Area C and escalating settler violence in Masafer Yatta, alongside the growing need to protect his family and community. He retrained as a physiotherapist, but further restrictions imposed after October 2023 have left him largely unable to work. Following the murder of his cousin Awdeh, who Britain Palestine Project hosted in 2025 with the Mayor of Masafer Yatta, Alaa has taken up advocacy for the safety and security of Palestinians living under occupation in his area.
Following the screening, Alaa will join us with activist Donna Bella for a Q&A, offering rare, first-hand insight into the realities behind the film and his community’s ongoing struggle and survival.
Between 11–25 January, the Britain Palestine Project is hosting Alaa in the UK for an advocacy and film screening tour, bringing the lived reality of Umm al-Khair directly to UK audiences, journalists, and policymakers.
This event offers an urgent opportunity to listen, learn, and bear witness.
If you have booked a ticket but can't attend, please let us know so someone else can have your ticket.
Venue
Upper Norwood Library Hub, 39 Westow Hill, SE19 1TQ London
FAQ
-
I have not received my LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen ticket via email. What should I do?
The first thing to do is check your spam/junk filters and inboxes. Your LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen tickets were sent as an attachment and can be thought of as spam by some email services. Alternatively, you can always find your LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen tickets in your Billetto account that you can access in the browsers or the dedicated Billetto app. For more help with this, read here.
-
I wish to cancel my LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen ticket and receive a refund. What should I do?
The approval of refunds is entirely at the event organiser’s discretion, and you should get in contact with the event organiser to discuss what options are available to you. To get in touch with the event organiser, simply reply to your order confirmation email or use the "Contact organiser" form on the organiser's profile. For more help with this, read here.
-
I have registered on the LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen waiting list, what happens now?
If more tickets become available you will be notified (by email) amongst others who have joined the list. Purchasing is on a first-come first-serve basis. For more information, read here.
-
Where do I find a link to an online event?
Check your order confirmation page or order confirmation email. Usually, the organiser of the event provides the details in the order confirmation email or they might send you a follow-up email with a link to their online event. You might also want to read the event description on Billetto where an event organiser should describe how to join the LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen event online. For more information on this, read here.
-
What is refund protection and why would I need it?
Refund Protection provides you with the assurance that if unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances interfere with your ability to attend an event you can claim a refund. For more information on this, read here.
LIVING DESPITE THEM Screening & Director Q&A with Alaa Hathleen
From Free