Dabke dancers celebrate Palestinian culture at the Cairo Film Festival, where short films on Gaza won awards [Getty/file photo]
The Palestinian film project ‘Gaza, From Ground Zero’, which tells stories of life under Israeli bombardment, has won three Awards at the Cairo Film Festival, which concluded on Friday.
‘Gaza, From Ground Zero’ serves to showcase unfiltered glimpses from the war-battered Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by almost 14 months of Israel’s military onslaught, through the lens and voices of Palestinian filmmakers.
The anthology film, which encompasses 22 short films made in Gaza over the past year, is curated by celebrated Palestinian director Rashid Mashawari. It features a wide range of genres, including animation, documentaries and fiction.
The films ‘Soft Skin’, directed by Khamis Masharawi, ‘Out of Coverage’ by Mohamed El-Sherif and the Ahmed al-Danaf-directed ‘A School Day’, which are all part of the project, won the Youssef Chahine Award for Best Short Film at the 45th edition of the film festival, under the Misr International Film category.
The films illustrate the loss of homes, family, and stability, and capture Palestinian displacement and ongoing struggles endured since the start of Israel’s war, which has killed at least 44,235 Palestinians since 7 October last year.
Israel’s offensive and siege have plunged Gaza into a humanitarian catastrophe, amid widespread accusations of genocide against Palestinians in the enclave.
The project was previously screened at the Ajyal Film Festival in Doha earlier this month, which served to commemorate the ongoing atrocities in Gaza.
It had its premiere in July this year, at the Amman Film Festival, and will serve as the Palestinian entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards in March next year.
The anthology film was co-produced by Metafora Production, which is part of Fadaat Media group alongside The New Arab, and its Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The Cairo Film Festival also saw several Palestinian-centred films win prizes. Among the winners was “State of Passion” directed by Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, which received the best documentary award.
The film documented the work of the British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah, who treated scores of Palestinians injured by Israel’s bombing at the start of the war.
