Watermelon Pictures has closed a deal for North American rights to "Thirteen in Gaza," the narrative feature debut from Palestinian director Hosam Abu Dan, following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. The acquisition was finalized shortly after the film's first industry screening at TIFF, according to a person familiar with the negotiations, and marks one of the festival's more notable pickups in a market where buyers have been unusually cautious.
The film, which runs a lean 77 minutes, is described as a nuanced and deeply human portrait of a father and his teenage daughter navigating everyday life in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. It is classified as a war drama and is performed in Arabic. A release date and distribution strategy have not yet been announced.
A debut rooted in restraint
Abu Dan arrives on the international festival circuit without the backing of a major production company or a recognizable cast. That the film found a home at all is a reflection of its reception in Toronto, where programmers placed it in a slot that drew steady attention from acquisitions executives.
The director's approach, as outlined in the film's materials, is deliberately small in scale. Rather than building the story around large-scale combat sequences, "Thirteen in Gaza" focuses on the daily rhythms of a father and daughter - the logistics of survival, the small negotiations of adolescence, the weight of living under conditions that have become routine. That framework places the film in a tradition of war dramas that treat the home, not the battlefield, as the primary site of conflict.
At 77 minutes, the film is notably shorter than most contemporary dramas, a runtime that suggests an economical narrative structure. Abu Dan has not yet given extensive interviews about the project, and no casting details have been made public.
Watermelon's growing slate
For Watermelon Pictures, the deal represents a continued push into international art-house cinema with political and human rights dimensions. The distributor has not disclosed financial terms of the acquisition, and it remains unclear whether the deal includes a theatrical commitment or is oriented primarily toward streaming and home entertainment.
The timing of the pickup is significant. TIFF has increasingly served as a launching pad for foreign-language dramas that go on to awards consideration, though the path for a 77-minute Arabic-language debut without star names is likely to depend on critical support and festival word-of-mouth rather than traditional marketing muscle.
The film's subject matter - life in a refugee camp in Gaza - places it in a crowded field of recent documentaries and narrative features addressing the region. What distinguishes "Thirteen in Gaza," according to early festival descriptions, is its refusal to editorialize. The portrait is of a family, not a cause, and the film's emotional register is reported to be restrained rather than polemical.
A quiet festival season for acquisitions
The deal comes during a TIFF marked by fewer headline-grabbing acquisitions than in previous years, as distributors weigh theatrical risk against the growing value of streaming libraries. Watermelon's move on "Thirteen in Gaza" fits a pattern of buyers targeting modestly budgeted international titles with clear critical identities.
No release window has been set. The film currently carries no audience rating, reflecting its limited festival footprint to date. Additional festival bookings are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, which would give the film a chance to build momentum before any commercial rollout.
For Abu Dan, the acquisition offers a rare opening: a first feature, made outside the studio system, that will now reach North American audiences through a distributor willing to bet on a short, quiet film about a father and his daughter. Whether that bet pays off will depend on how critics and festival audiences respond in the months ahead.
USA Film News will update this story as release plans are confirmed.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
