Joanna Quinn Unveils ‘This Land Is A Woman,’ Part Of A Global Anijam In Support Of Gaza

Oscar-nominated animator and U.K. industry icon Joanna Quinn, recipient of Annecy’s 2025 Honorary Cristal, has unveiled her latest short, This Land is a Woman, part of the To Gaza with Love: A Global Anijam program, supporting artists and civilians in Gaza through animation.

From Gaza Workshops to a Global Movement

The project’s roots stretch back to Palestinian artist Haneen Koraz, who has been running weekly animation workshops for children in Gaza through the ongoing war.

“For children, stop-motion animation is more than just a technique; it is a window into their deepest thoughts and hidden fears,” Koraz said of the program. “Through character movement, they do more than create scenes; they release their emotions into the world, expressing joy, anger, fear, and love with delicate adjustments to facial expressions and body movements.”

Quinn discovered Koraz’s work last year through the Society for Animation Studies and was deeply moved.

Together with a small international group of academics, filmmakers, and festival programmers, the Animation Community for Palestine (AC4Pal) was founded as a collective that meets regularly online, operating primarily through Instagram. Their mission is to raise money and awareness for Koraz’s workshops while amplifying Palestinian voices through their shared art form.

The idea of an anijam quickly followed. AC4Pal issued a call for contributions, brief films of around 30 seconds. The response was staggering: 326 films from over 50 countries, ranging from seasoned professionals to students, first-time animators, and even children. The works will be presented in a massive YouTube premiere and hosted permanently on an interactive map, transforming the project into a living global archive of activism through animation.

This Land is a Woman

Within this mosaic of shorts, Quinn’s This Land is a Woman stands out for its gravity. Known for her bawdy, irreverent Beryl films and biting satire, Quinn chose to leave humor aside this time. Instead, she created a stark, poetic portrait of resilience, inspired by the strength of women in Gaza.

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Although some of the shorts that inspired Quinn’s involvement in the anijam are humorous, an uplifting fact given the conditions under which many are being made, “I never thought of doing anything funny,” Quinn tells us. “I wanted it to be as powerful as they are. I wanted to show their power and their strength.”

The short features a spoken excerpt from a larger poem called “Hamza” by Fadwa Tuqan, although Quinn began sketching ideas around the imagery of the earth and only later discovered the poem, which matched perfectly the visual concept she had developed. The soundtrack layers fragments of the poem with a haunting composition that samples the sounds of military drones. For Quinn, the blend of art and sound reflects the lived reality in Gaza while elevating it into a universal metaphor for endurance and dignity.

Activism Through Animation

Quinn is no stranger to political work; her BAFTA-nominated 1993 short Britannia skewered British imperialism, but she acknowledges that this project feels different.

“There’s a culture of silence where people are scared to say things. But I feel a responsibility to speak out,” she says. Now self-employed and in a privileged position, she embraces that freedom: “I haven’t got anybody who can sack me. So I can voice my opinions.”

Her short, and the broader anijam, stand as a bold act of witness in a time when many are chastised or ignored when speaking out. For Quinn and the hundreds of contributors, the project is about showing the people of Gaza that they have not been forgotten, even as mainstream media often shifts its focus to the cultural outrage of the day.

Solidarity On Screen

When the anijam launches publicly, audiences will be able to trace its global reach via the interactive map. Each dot reveals a different filmmaker’s contribution, tiny lights across the globe converging in solidarity with Gaza.

Quinn hopes the scale and visibility of the project will make it “Okay to talk about Palestine” within the animation community and beyond. “This has allowed people to do something as a group, not just individually. They’re part of a group making a political statement.”

It’s easy to feel helpless when watching what is happening in Gaza from abroad. By creating a common center for discussion, the anijam gives artists around the world, and those in Gaza, an opportunity to express their frustrations, hopes, and empathy at a time when other options are rare to nonexistent.

Looking Ahead

This Land is a Woman is a gorgeous and touching short film, but also a reminder of the power of animation, not only to entertain and innovate, but to carry messages of defiance, empathy, and connection across borders.

And for those under attack in Gaza, whose weekly animated shorts continue against unimaginable odds, it is a promise that their creativity matters, and that a global community is watching, supporting, and amplifying their voices.

Koraz sums it up best: “Animation here is not just a skill; it is a new language of self-expression, a free space for profound artistic exploration.”