A Palestinian film centering stories from Gaza has been shortlisted in the International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. From Ground Zero (2024), an anthological documentary comprising 22 short films curated by Ramallah-based director Rashid Masharawi, is among three Palestinian entries shortlisted in this year’s awards cycle, with final nominations to be announced on January 17.
From Ground Zero puts the camera into the hands of several filmmakers surviving through Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza, showing viewers what life looks like amid ruin, chaos, scarce resources, and uncertainty in three- to six-minute shorts. The segments range from documentarian footage capturing the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on residential and commercial blocks and day-to-day life in tent camps with the constant hum of military planes overhead, to clips of search and rescue missions, recorded testimony from children, and even a stop-motion collage animation.
“My goal was to amplify the voices of 22 Gazan filmmakers, and I was fortunate to bring this vision to fruition,” Masharawi said in a press statement.
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One of the film’s participants is Basel ElMaqousi, a displaced Gazan artist, teacher, and co-founder of Gaza’s Shababeek for Contemporary Art center, which was destroyed last March during Israel’s second strike on Al-Aqsa Hospital. ElMaqousi’s short, “Fragments” (2024), juxtaposes charcoal drawings of the horrors and atrocities endured by civilians alongside footage of day-to-day survival amid a completely dissolved infrastructure and finite resources.
In a Facebook message to Hyperallergic from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, ElMaqousi said that Masharawi gave each artist “complete freedom of expression, direction, and spontaneity” for their contribution to From Ground Zero in spite of the limited means for production. He noted that the film’s message was inspired by a portion of a quote from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s novella “Ward No. 6” (1892): “And so, just as in prison men held together by common misfortune feel more at ease when they are together …”
“We hope that the film will win and achieve the great success that we all aspire to and that our message and freedom will be delivered, as is the right of every human being in this world,” El Maqousi wrote.
“The war destroyed everything in Gaza from people, animals and trees,” he continued. “It destroyed education and health. It made two and a half million people die before the eyes of the whole world, living in tents and in the streets. This participation confirms our right as a soft hand for resistance. Cinema is an important way to deliver our message.”
Despite being selected to premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, the film was pulled from the event program in the weeks leading up to the event, propelling Masharawi to stage an unofficial screening in a tent — a nod to the civilians in Gaza — on the festival’s grounds in protest of the decision.
From Ground Zero premiered at the Amman Film Festival in Jordan, and has since screened at Toronto International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and UrbanWorld Film Festival.
The fledgling Palestinian-owned production and distribution label Watermelon Pictures acquired the distribution rights for From Ground Zero in September, and the film will premiere to the public on January 3.
“We’re thrilled that From Ground Zero has been shortlisted for an Academy Award — the perspectives of Gazan filmmakers is more urgent and important today than ever,” said Munir Atalla, who leads productions and acquisitions for Watermelon Pictures, in a message to Hyperallergic.
“If cinema is meant to bring the world closer to us, profoundly challenge us, and reveal the facets of our shared humanity, I can think of no more worthy film for this moment and this honor,” Atalla continued. “We have high hopes that this film will show the world a side of Gaza that they won’t see on the news. Made entirely in the past year under unimaginable circumstances, From Ground Zero is more than a movie, it’s a miracle.”
Other Palestinian films shortlisted for the 97th Academy Awards include “An Orange from Jaffa” (2024), a 27-minute production about a young Palestinian man’s struggle to cross through an Israeli checkpoint, in the Live Action Short Film category; and No Other Land (2023), co-directed by Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, under Documentaries. The latter, which captures Israel’s destruction of Adra’s home village of Masafer Yatta, caused a stir at Berlinale in February after both directors shared a cutting speech about Palestinian rights and sovereignty during the ceremony.
Credit: hyperallergic
