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Review: From Ground Zero

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- Shortlisted for the International Feature Film Oscar and composed of 22 shorts by as many Palestinian directors, the movie offers up a poignant kaleidoscope of life in the Gaza Strip

Review: From Ground Zero

Created and overseen by the seasoned Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, From Ground Zero gathers together 22 short films, each lasting less than six minutes, directed by young filmmakers from Gaza hailing from Masharawi’s very own film school. Presented within the Toronto International Film Festival’s TIFF Docs section, the work has also been shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film Oscar of 2025.

Offering up 22 different viewpoints, From Ground Zero delivers a poignant kaleidoscope of life in the refugee camps which have appeared along the Gaza Strip following the attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent response, which has since escalated into a ruthless war predominantly impacting civilians. What really strikes us, as we watch this film, is the suffering that comes with the terrible living conditions which locals are having to contend with. But their pain is mitigated by a sense of resilience, hope and dreams of possible rebirth. We see background images, in these short films, to which we’ve become accustomed over the past two-plus years thanks to TV programmes and various documentaries: hulking mounds of rubble, the remains of bombed buildings. The other constants are the overwhelming presence of tents provided by humanitarian organisations, which have become veritable villages; unmade roads crowded with people on foot, on motorbikes, in cars or on bicycles; markets where fresh food has been replaced by tinned goods (“the prices are similar to what you’d get in London or Paris”, one woman points out). Only the lacerating sound of ambulance sirens interrupts the incessant noise of Israeli drones. In short, a claustrophobic and unescapable landscape engulfs and oppresses the audience.

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But then there are the individual stories. Selfie by Reema Mahmoud is a letter to an imaginary friend which chronicles a typical day in this world, including the queue for the toilet and the make-up used “to hide any signs of tiredness and insomnia” and to maintain dignity. Some of the shorts are pure minimalist documentaries, such as Farah and Myriam by Wissam Moussa, or Rabab Khamis’ tragically ironic work Recycling, which shows a woman using the same precious water to rinse her cups, wash her little girl in a tub, water the flowers and, finally, to flush the toilet. In others, someone is asked to “perform” their experiences, such as in Muhammad Al Sharif’s No Signal, where a little girl and her uncle look for her father beneath the rubble. Others explicitly reference the cinematographic process, such as Ahmed Hassouna’s piece, Sorry Cinema, which sees the author smashing his clapperboard to pieces, effectively and significantly turning it into firewood. There’s also the sophisticated neorealism of Tamer Nijim’s The Teacher, where searching for food and attempting to charge a phone become impossible tasks, and of Etimad Washah’s Taxi Wanissa, where a man transports people including journalists wearing bullet-proof jackets, across the city in a donkey-drawn cart.

The events of 7 October are never mentioned, nor the word “Israel”. If audiences are looking for direct and explicit political statements about peace or revenge, they won’t find them here. Declaring herself to be “against everything that’s happening”, Hana Eleiwa, who directed No, is a bit of an exception to this rule. “On 7 October, I said to myself, no, no, no”. Looking for a “joyful, happy, hopeful” story, Eleiwa sends a very clear message of peace with the Gaza’s Sol Band. But, generally speaking, these shorts avoid apportioning responsibility or blame, distancing themselves from political leaders or attempts to reflect more widely on this historic moment in time. Ultimately, these fulminating life stories are the best political response that cinema could give, in the style of Masharawi who considers himself to be more of an artist than a supporter of the Palestinian cause.

From Ground Zero was produced by the Masharawi Fund in collaboration with Coorigines Production, who are also handling world sales, in co-production with Akka Films, Metafora Production, Sharjah Art Foundation and Revolver.

(Translated from Italian)

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