Rashid Mashasrawi, a Palestinian film director who was born in Gaza and grew up in the Shati refugee camp, initiated an anthology film project that stands as a testament to the realities experienced on the ground in Gaza after October 7.
Chosen through a committee process formulated to select work that delivered a cohesive message, the twenty-two entries feature stories ranging from documentary to animation. Running times are between three to six minutes.
The contrast between the utter destruction of decimated buildings with the beach and waves of the Mediterranean Sea is palpable. There is a metaphorical analogy between stark constriction and elusive freedom.
In "From Ground Zero", numerous themes are ubiquitous in depicting daily routines while individualized and translated through each creator's prism. People wait to use a toilet in a city of tents. They seek bread or canned goods that haven't expired. Sorrow and suffering persist during the ongoing search for loved ones who are either buried beneath rubble or already deceased. Bombs are ever-present as people rush to find potential safety. The constant noise of overhead drones becomes an unrelenting buzzing in each Gazan's head. With as many as two hundred dead in an hour, attempting to live a "normal" existence is barely possible. Yet, girls play hopscotch while singing. A mother engages in caregiving routines after tracking down and gathering water for drinking, cooking, and bathing her children. Previous displacement stories from cities like Jaffa and Haifa are shared.
For me, the most unsettling stories capture the faces of innocent children forced to accept the ongoing tragedy as their current fate.
"Soft Skin" by Khamis Masharawi shows youngsters creating an animated film. Masharawi is one of the organizers of the Fekra Foundation in Gaza, which uses film creation as an art therapy. The theme of "Soft Skin" is how mothers write the names of their kids on their body parts-- arms and legs-- so that in the event of death or dismemberment, their limbs can be identified. The children can't sleep until they rub away these markings.
Ahmed Al Danaf's "A School Day" was particularly poignant. A young boy puts his schoolbooks into a bag. He walks through wreckage and debris, ostensibly to attend classes. Rather, his destination is the grave of his teacher, killed on December 1, 2024. There, he takes out a book and begins to read. Later, after returning home, he is shown struggling to obliterate the day's memories through bedtime.
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