The Dubai International Film Festival is showcasing five films by Palestine directors. And in an unprecedented fashion not just for Palestinians but for all nations at any film festival, all five films are by female directors.

“Amreeka” (America in Arabic) is by Palestinian-American Cherien Dabis, who is from rural Ohio. The film is a fictions play on Dabis real life experience facing discrimination in the United States. During the first Gulf War, Dabis’ 16-year old sister Nazih was paid a visit to her school by the U.S. Secret Service.

The Service was there investigating whether the 16-year old had threatened to assassinate the president. Although the investigation was baseless and subsequently ceased, the family’s troubles only began. Her father’s doctor practice lose almost all costumers in days after the opening of the first Gulf War and Nazih was taunted as a “Palestinian Nazi” at school.

“We received death threats. People at school started calling my sister the Palestinian Nazi. I began to realize how the depictions of Arabs in the news were totally affecting me as a 14-year-old girl in Ohio,” Dabis recalls.

The film in part of the Festival’s Film Connection program and hopes to raise $50,000. Further, the film will debut in the U.S. as part of the dramatic competition at Sundance, this will be the first Palestinian film to ever showcase at America’s premier film festival.

“Salt of This Sea” is the debut film by Anne-Marie Jacir and is the first Palestinian film made by a woman. The film premiered at Cannes. “Salt of This Sea” is about a Brooklyn-born Palestinian who at the age of 28 decided to to claim assets taken from her family in 1948, only to have her request denied by Israeli authorities. The film is a contender for an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film (”Paradise Now”, another Palestinian film, was the first Palestine film to be nominated for an Oscar in that same category; “Paradise Now” won the Golden Globe in that category.)

Najwa Najjar’s first feature film “Pomegranates and Myrrh” caused a lot of excitement at Dubai as part of the Festival’s Arabian Nights section. The film chronicles the life of a dancer who is able to find freedom even after her husband is detained by Israeli authorities.

Dubai also showcased a documentary that had already premiered in the U.S. first at Sundance. “Slingshot Hip Hop,” by Palestinian-Syrian Jackie Salloum, is a window into the Palestinian Hip Hop scene both in Israel and the occupied territories. (”DAM” is a top Palestinian Hip Hop trio; “DAM” is shorthand for “Da Arab MCs”)

And, finally, there is “A Space Exodus.” Larissa Sansour debuts her film as part of the Festival’s Muhr Arabic Awards Short Competition. The film is a play on the classic “2001: A Space Odyssey” where Sansour casts herself as the first Palestinian to the moon.

Although the Palestinian industry faces many hurdles, such as often prohibition from shooting in Israel, the industry is thriving with films debuting from Cannes to Cairo to Dubai to Salt Lake City. And now Hollywood is taking notice. Danny Glover’s production company, Louverture Films, is one of the firms that financed “Salt of This Sea.”

These films all exhibit a focus more on the personal than political. The Palestinian spirit cannot be broken.