Koudéta Films Acquires France Rights to 'Thirteen in Gaza' Ahead of Doha Premiere

Koudéta Films has acquired French distribution rights to "Thirteen in Gaza," the first feature shot on the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023. The Paris and New York-based impact studio closed the deal ahead of the film's Middle East premiere at the Doha Film Festival, which runs Nov. 19-27.

The sale was negotiated through Mad World, the international sales arm of Pan-Arab distributor Mad Solutions. The agreement lands less than two months after the film's world premiere in the Centrepiece programme at the Toronto Film Festival in September, where it won the festival's NETPAC Award and secured U.S. distribution through Watermelon Pictures.

Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan shot the film in Gaza under wartime conditions with a Palestinian crew. The drama follows Raghad, played by Mary Ziyara, a 13-year-old girl who has lost her home and much of her family in a bombing. She now lives with her father, played by Feras Al Masri, in a crowded displacement camp inside the territory.

"Raghad faces puberty, grief and the loss of privacy, while her father struggles to protect her amid poverty and worsening hardship," the film's synopsis states. "When he becomes involved with Khalil, a trader profiting from the wartime economy, survival forces him into difficult moral choices."

Why the acquisition matters

Koudéta Films framed the purchase as part of a broader mission. The company is launching a French distribution label dedicated to political and social films, with Palestine at the heart of its mission, according to a statement. "Thirteen in Gaza" becomes an early flagship for that venture.

"Hosam Abu Dan has made an essential and profoundly moving film, a testament to humanity in the darkest of times," Koudéta Films said in a statement. "Through the eyes of a father and his daughter, it shows Gaza as cinema rarely lets us see it: through everyday life, love and dignity. We are honoued to bring it to French audiences."

The distributor is planning a theatrical release in France accompanied by an impact campaign, the model that defines its work as an impact studio rather than a conventional distributor. The French release date will be announced at a later date.

What does this change for the film?

The deal gives "Thirteen in Gaza" distribution in three major Western territories within a single festival season. Watermelon Pictures holds U.S. rights, Koudéta Films covers France, and Mad World continues to sell remaining international territories from Doha.

The Doha premiere also marks the film's first screening before a Middle East audience. That matters for a work whose subject is inseparable from the region it depicts, and whose production circumstances, a Palestinian crew shooting on location during an ongoing war, have no recent precedent on the Gaza Strip.

A fast festival trajectory

The film's path has moved quickly since September. It opened in Toronto's Centrepiece programme, took the NETPAC Award given to standout world cinema, and drew immediate commercial interest. Three acquisitions and one major regional festival berth have followed in under three months.

For Abu Dan, the Doha screening on Nov. 19-27 offers a home-region platform before the film's theatrical rollouts begin. For French audiences, the announcement means a cinema release is now guaranteed, with the impact campaign and exact date still to come from Koudéta's new label.