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131m
PFF25: From Ground Zero
Book Tickets
Synopsis
Organised by the Mashawari Fund, founded in November 2023 to provide a means of expression to internally displaced artists in Gaza, this film compiles 22 shorts made in the besieged Gaza Strip, providing critical context beyond the brutal livestream.
In November 2023, Gaza-born Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi (Passing Dreams [PFF’25], Falastine Stereo, Leila’s Birthday) founded the Masharawi Fund to support films and filmmakers in Gaza. From Ground Zero, their first project, gave displaced artists—survivors of Israel’s assault—a platform for personal expression. The collection features 22 short films, spanning documentary, drama, stop-motion, and experimental video art.
These films offer crucial context, countering the gruesome livestreams seen globally. Through allegory and creativity, filmmakers reflect on survival under bombardment. Khamis Masharawi’s Soft Skin shows orphaned children in an art therapy workshop, while Nidal Damo’s Everything is Fine follows a comedian who finds his venue destroyed after a massacre. Ahmed Hassouna’s Sorry Cinema explores a filmmaker’s fractured relationship with the art form.
From Ground Zero provides an urgent response to catastrophe and a powerful portrait of Gaza’s resilient artistic community.
Arabic with English subtitles.
Opening Date
Friday, May 2, 2025
Rating
CTC
Length
131m
Reviews
The very existence of From Ground Zero is a testament to hope.
A moving testament to cinema itself and the human ability to create.
A profound testament to the importance of artistic statements in the face of the day-to-day horrors in Gaza.
Miraculous.
A cry for humanity. A cry for justice.
A staggering achievement... it shows that, after a catastrophe, art is not only still possible but necessary. [...] For all its horror and sadness, this is one of the most hopeful films I’ve ever seen.
These filmmakers process their painful present and sketch hopeful visions of the future... They are making new images of Palestinian life, ones that celebrate survival instead of only documenting despair.
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