Life is Beautiful

• Mohamed Jabaly
• 93 min
• Norway, Palestine, Qatar
• 2023
• Documentary

Palestinian documentary filmmaker on exchange trip gets stuck in a North Norwegian limbo in a warm and beautiful documentary about exile, filmmaking, and solidarity.

Mohamed Jabaly is on a cultural exchange in Tromsø in 2014, when the closure of the Rafah border crossing makes it impossible for him to return to Gaza. Amid snow and new Norwegian friends, Mohamed Jabaly uses the time to process his material from an ambulance in Gaza into the film Ambulance, which wins several international festival awards. But despite the successes, he is unable to obtain a work visa in Norway because he is not a trained filmmaker – the fact that there is no film school in Gaza is irrelevant. In Life is Beautiful, Jabaly tells personally and vividly about the longing for his family, the struggle against bureaucracy, and the support from the local community. It is a film full of heart and humanity.


All proceeds from the screenings of Life is Beautiful will go to Save the Children, who are working to provide vital assistance to the children in Gaza.

- Jonas Holmberg

• Flykt
• Film om film
• Krig
• Dokumentär