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.
Director: Jonathan Haff Mehring
Producer: Joe Bressler
videoAnthropology
Margaret Mead explains why the family was entering a brave new world in this 1959 film
29 minutes
videoHistory of science
Meet the Quaker pacifist who shattered British science’s highest glass ceilings
14 minutes
videoPersonality
A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law
5 minutes
videoGender
A catchy tune explains the world’s ‘isms’ – according to your mum doing the laundry
5 minutes
videoHuman rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
10 minutes
videoHistory
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
videoLove and friendship
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone
5 minutes
videoGender
A filmmaker responds to Lars von Trier’s call for a new muse with a unique application
16 minutes
videoSports and games
Havana’s streets become racetracks in this exhilarating portrait of children at play
5 minutes