A Palestinian film focusing on stories from Gaza has been shortlisted in the International Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. From Ground Zero (2024), an anthological documentary consisting of 22 short films curated by Ramallah-based director Rashid Masharawi, is one of three Palestinian entries shortlisted for this year’s awards ceremony, with final nominations due on January 17 be announced.
From Ground Zero puts the camera in the hands of several filmmakers who survived Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, showing viewers what life is like amid ruins, chaos, scarce resources and uncertainty in three- to six-minute short films. The segments range from documentary footage capturing the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on residential and commercial blocks and daily life in tent camps with the constant buzz of military aircraft overhead, to clips from search and rescue missions, recorded testimonies from children, and even a stop-motion collage animation.
“My goal was to amplify the voices of 22 filmmakers from Gaza, and I was fortunate to realize this vision,” Masharawi said in a press statement.
One of the film’s participants is Basel ElMaqousi, a displaced Gazan artist, teacher and co-founder of the Shababeek for Contemporary Art center in Gaza, which was destroyed last March during Israel’s second attack on Al-Aqsa Hospital. ElMaqousi’s short film ‘Fragments’ (2024) juxtaposes charcoal drawings of the horrors and atrocities suffered by civilians with images of everyday survival amid a completely dissolved infrastructure and finite resources.
In a Facebook message 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 despite the limited means of production. He noted that the film’s message was inspired by part of a quote from Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s novella “Department No. 6” (1892): “And so, as in prison, men who are held together by common misfortunes feel more at ease when they are together….”
“We hope that the film will win and achieve the great success that we all strive for, and that our message and freedom will be conveyed, as is the right of every human being in this world,” El Maqousi wrote.
“The war has destroyed everything in Gaza: people, animals and trees,” he continued. “It destroyed education and healthcare. It caused two and a half million people to die in front of the entire world, living in tents and on the streets. This participation confirms our right to act as a gentle hand on resistance. Cinema is an important way to convey our message.”
Despite being selected to premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, the film was withdrawn from the events program in the weeks leading up to the event, causing Masharawi organizes an unofficial screening in a tent – a nod to the civilians in Gaza – on the festival site in protest against the decision.
From Ground Zero premiered at the Amman Film Festival in Jordan, and has since screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and UrbanWorld Film Festival.
The young Palestinian production and distribution label Watermelon Pictures acquired the distribution rights From Ground Zero in September, and the film will premiere to the public on January 3.
“We are very happy with that From Ground Zero has been nominated for an Academy Award – the perspectives of Gaza filmmakers are 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, to challenge us deeply and to reveal the facets of our shared humanity, I cannot think of a more valuable film for this moment and this honor,” Atalla continued. “We are hopeful that this film will show the world a side of Gaza that they will not 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 pass through an Israeli checkpoint, in the Live Action Short Film category; And No other country (2023), co-directed by Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, under Documentaries. The latter, which chronicles the Israeli destruction of Adra’s home village of Masafer Yatta, caused a stir at the Berlinale in February after both directors gave a cutting speech about Palestinian rights and sovereignty during the ceremony.
