Jaha

The word “Jaha” originates from the Arabic root ج-ا-ه (jīm-alif-hā), meaning social status, dignity, or collective influence, and traditionally refers to a delegation or group representing honor and mediation, reimagined here to celebrate the collective power, pride, and resilience of queer and trans communities.

In Palestinian tradition, Jaha also means a ceremony where the groom’s family formally visit the bride’s family to ask for her hand in marriage, symbolizing the union of two families, with respected elders speaking, music, coffee, and gift.

Mission

JAHA is a cinematic weapon of collective liberation. We platform trans, intersex, and nonbinary stories from the Global South to celebrate our unruly diversity, fortify global solidarity, and sear our truths into the world’s imagination through film

We envision a world where our trans, intersex, and nonbinary lens are celebrated, uplifted, and unapologetically represented. In a heteronormative, colonial world that seeks to silence us all, we claim our voices as storytellers, artists, and changemakers. JAHA is a cultural movement, a stand for freedom, and a celebration of our shared humanity.

Vision

Who We Are

Behind JAHA are three trans storytellers. Founded by Mama Ganuush with the supportive efforts of Kholoud Nasser and Zara Ahmed.

A smiling man with a beard and shaved head sitting on a beige chair in a room with light-colored walls and curtains.


  • Founder

    Mama Ganuush (they/them) is a Trans Palestinian performance artist, filmmaker, organizer, and activist whose work is a potent and unflinching expression of Palestinian futurism. Their performances are a powerful synthesis of Palestinian folk art and music, the elegance of Egyptian golden-era dance, and the raw, spontaneous energy of clown and theater.

    They use their platform to manifest a future where Palestine is free, presenting Palestinians not as subjects of tragedy but as architects of freedom.

    Mama Ganuush is the founder of the Heritage Activists and Liberation Artists (HALA) Collective, a radically queer collaboration of artists dedicated to the liberation of Palestine and all people fighting colonialism.

A woman with short curly dark hair smiling, wearing a black T-shirt with red and white text, standing in front of green plants and a light-colored wall.


  • Edition 01 Programmer

    Kholoud Nasser (they/them) is a Lebanese non-binary theatre artist, licensed psychotherapist, and drama therapist based in Oakland, California. Their work bridges cultural and healing spaces, shaped by more than sixteen years in Lebanon as a multifaceted theatre practitioner—writing, directing, acting, miming, puppeteering, designing, and producing. Their performances have toured widely across international theatre festivals. Kholoud has taught theatre in schools throughout Lebanon as well as at the Lebanese University, and prior to relocating to the United States, they served as a theatre critic for the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar. They have also led and facilitated community healing spaces for child refugees in Lebanon and for queer and Arab communities in the Bay Area. Rooted in an anti-colonial, empathic approach, Kholoud loves cultivating visions, concepts, and transformative creative spaces. They recently launched and produced Healing Home, a video podcast series that invites guests to share intimate stories of home alongside the enduring impacts of colonisation. Kholoud believes that nurturing decolonial public and cultural spaces is essential to collective healing and liberation.

A young person with short dark hair, glasses, and a gold chain necklace smiling at the camera. They are wearing a black hoodie and are standing in front of a person in a dark jacket.

  • Edition01 Programmer

    Trans Liberation Film School: Curriculum Organizer

    Zara Ahmed (they/them) is a trans and non-binary Pakistani Muslim programmer, storyteller, and creative consultant with leadership experience spanning documentary filmmaking, youth media, public education, nonprofit administration, event production, and small business operations. They are passionate about amplifying ancestral wisdom through storytelling, healing spaces, and performance.

Edition 01


  • Producer (they/them)

    A nonbinary artist based in Lisbon. They manage their time between producing events, directing projects and plotting against the colonial Empire. Throughout the years they have explored film festivals and taken part in organizing them. As a multifaceted octopus, their tentacles are delicate and punchy, musical and crafty. Currently studying to be an art therapist they believe in the healing power of radical self acceptance and exploration through the arts. In their spare time they co create the ceramic project Glitter na Crica, transfeminist, radical and genital sculptures that question and embellish the spaces they are brought into. 

    Free Palestine

  • Visual Identity

    Gil Monteverde (they/them) is a Designer and researcher exploring decolonial and politically engaged practices that use geological technologies, data, and design to communicate and intervene in social and environmental realities. Their MA project, Vibrational Witnessing: Towards a Counter-Sensing Seismology, repurposes seismic infrastructures to detect and testify to extractive violence. Through design and community initiatives, they investigate how territory, technology, and collective memory intersect in processes of radical social transformation.

  • Press Lead

    Toshio Meronek (they/them) is a A trans non-binary journalist and award-winning author. Toshio is a nationally recognized journalist whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, The Nation, them, Truthout, and Vice News. They co-authored Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary, which won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Nonfiction. Their work is currently being translated into Japanese and Portuguese.

    As Press & Communications Lead, Toshio develops media strategies to amplify JAHA’s reach, securing national and international press coverage. They also host the podcast Sad Francisco, which critiques neoliberal policies while exploring radical solutions, further aligning JAHA with a broader discourse on trans liberation and social justice.

  • Community Outreach

    Gustavo Gustrava (they/them), Brazilian queer chameleon living in Lisbon (any pronoun), hybrid professional in the field of communication. He has been working for 12 years in the market, in several fronts: 1) concept & strategy of communication projects & campaigns, 2) creative writing / copywriting & creative direction, 3) consultancy in cultural diversity and social impact projects, 4) branding consultancy, 5) screenwriting and film direction, 6) editorial / PR, 7) educational programs on strategic communication for content creators, and 8) creative direction & production of events. She is also an LGBTQIA+ and human rights activist, a Master in Anthropology with focus on body, queer activism, art & intersectionality, and is always tying knots between all of this. They're the co-founder & CEO of Pajubá, Diversidade em Rede, a consultancy that sees innovation through the lenses of cultural diversity and social impact. Gustrava has led projects, campaigns, classes, workshops, debates and lectures for different brands, companies, institutions, NGOs, and foundations, whether in the arts and culture market, the creative industry, social organizations, the third sector, or basic industry. Finally, they're the co-founder and member of the artivist collective A Revolta da Lâmpada, from São Paulo. Yup: many tabs open! She's layered AF :)

  • Community Outreach

    Vic Hogg (they/them) A citizen of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi and an Indigenous environmental policy leader

    Vic holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor’s from Yale University. They are a Senior FPIC Coordinator at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), leading Indigenous-led environmental policy initiatives.

    At NWF, Vic:

    • Partners with Tribes east of the Mississippi

    • Leads multiple coalitions to center Indigenous voices in climate justice

    Beyond environmental work, Vic is a LGBTQ+ and survivor justice advocate, having co-led the Human Trafficking Leadership Academy, which authored federal recommendations on LGBTQ+ youth trafficking prevention. They also founded a support network for LGBTQ+ Christians, creating safe and affirming spaces. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Vic is deeply involved in queer advocacy, policy change, and community organizing.

  • Website Content Management and Integration

    Zak (he/him) is a queer UX/UI designer who helped shape JAHAFILMFESTIVAL.COM User Flow and Content Management.

Trans Liberation Film School

  • Curriculum Developer

    Eric Stanley (they/them) is the author of Atmospheres of Violence Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable and the co-editor of  Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex and Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility. Along with Chris Vargas, they directed the films Criminal Queers and Homotopia. 

  • Curriculum Developer

    dee(dee) c. ardan (she/her) is a black transvesdyke, pan-african communist*, and an anachronism. Her works appear in Auganile Journal, A Gathering Together, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day Series, and the Prompt Press x Center for Afrofuturist Studies special issue. Most recently her compositions, "Black Studies' Beloved(s)" appeared in differences and “suicide* notes” appeared in TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Culture Studies. 

Community Partners

A black background with the word 'PAVO' written in white chalk or paint, with a leaf and a heart around it.
A black silhouette of a bear standing on its hind legs.
The logo for HALA, featuring a red speech bubble shape with the word 'HALA' in white, and the subtitle 'Heritage. Activists. Liberation. Artists.' beneath.
A stylized purple geometric icon resembling a downward arrow or chevron with a diamond shape below it on a white background.