As a woman in one of the 22 short films in Palestine’s International Oscar entry, From Ground Zero, says, the loved ones lost in the ongoing war in Gaza are at risk of becoming “just numbers.”
This film aims to resist that happening. But it also aims to go beyond stories of human suffering, according to producer Rashid Masharawi, who conceived of, organized and financed the anthology.
On the one hand, he notes, the film intends to “document what’s going on.” On the other hand, he says, “I want this film to be shown internationally. It’s about life, it’s about love, it’s about hope. It’s about resistance. It’s not trying to show complaining all the time.”
Masharawi is an award-winning, Gaza-born filmmaker (Curfew, Haifa and many more) responsible for launching the Cinema Production and Distribution Center in Ramallah, which offers training and workshops for aspiring filmmakers as well as a mobile cinema and a children’s film festival.
The film doesn’t focus on “political discussions or debates.” Instead, “It has to do with our life, with our culture, with our history. It has to do with people who want to have all these dreams – to make stand-up comedy, to paint, to dance, to sing. It’s about life.”
There is also a heavy presence of women creatives in this collection, something that “was not easy,” Masharawi notes, “because women are having a difficult life during this war. They are more responsible for lives and family, kids, food, for many things, than men are. Besides, they live in tents and they have no privacy.” Getting them to take time to make a film was tough, but he says “it was very important for me to have maximum women.”
I spoke with Masharawi by Zoom from France about the inspiration and logistics behind this collection. From Ground Zero had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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