Young Palestinians find fleeting moments of freedom at a West Bank skate park

The short documentary Walls Cannot Keep Us from Flying (2021) captures skateboard culture in the West Bank, where the sport offers a fleeting sense of freedom to young people living under the constraints of Israeli occupation. The film was shot and released before the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, during which, at the time of writing, an estimated 53,000 Palestinians have died – including around 15,000 children and 1,000 people in the West Bank. Viewed today, the film is especially powerful and poignant, as its subjects speak passionately about how skating gives them an expansive sense of what’s possible, and reflect the universal human drive to learn, grow and be free.