‘I thought she'd survive': Story of slain Gaza photojournalist touches Cannes
As the cinema lights came back on, film maker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute.
'To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,' Farsi said.
'There are still children to save. It must be done fast,' the exiled Iranian filmmaker added.
With Israel banning foreign media from entering the besieged Palestinian territory, Farsi last year reached out to Hassouna through video call, and turned more than 200 days of conversations into the documentary 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.'
In often disjointed discussions due to bad internet connection, Hassouna smiles widely and bravely says she is ok.
She recounts how she dreams of eating chicken amid dire food shortages, how she lost 14 relatives including a one-year-old in Israeli bombardment, and what she photographed that day.
In one of her many pictures edited into the film, a little girl laughs on her father's lap in front of a tower block reduced to rubble.
But in another, a boy aims a water hose at the bloodied pavement, trying to clean away the remains of his own family.
'Normal people'
A day after Hassouna was told the documentary had been selected for a sidebar section at the world's most prestigious film festival, an Israeli missile pummelled her home in northern Gaza, killing her and 10 relatives.
Israel has claimed it was targeting Palestinian militant group Hamas.
'Why would you kill someone and decimate an entire family just because she was taking photos?' Farsi told AFP.
'They were normal people. Her father was a taxi driver, she was a photographer, her sister was a painter and her little brother was 10 years old,' said Farsi.
'My heart goes out to her mother, who lost six of her children, her husband and her home.'
On Thursday, British filmmaker Ken Loach -- a double Palme d'Or winner -- on X called on people to honor Hassouna and fellow Palestinian journalists 'who gave their lives to bear witness to mass murder.'
Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians as part of the war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.
Reporters Without Borders estimates around 200 journalists have been killed in 18 months of Israeli strikes on Gaza.
'Reality caught up with us'
As the Gaza death toll mounts, with rescuers saying 120 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday alone, the conflict has cast a shadow over Cannes.
Several actors have walked its red carpet wearing Palestinian flags pinned to their jackets, while others have sported a yellow ribbon for Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
Exiled Gazan film makers Arab and Tarzan Nasser will on Monday screen 'Once Upon a Time in Gaza,' a portrait of two friends set in 2007, the year Hamas started tightening its grip on the territory.
On the eve of the festival, 'Schindler's List' actor Ralph Fiennes and Hollywood star Richard Gere were among more than 380 figures to slam what they see as silence over 'genocide' in Gaza.
'The English Patient' actor Juliette Binoche, who heads the main competition jury, paid homage to Hassouna on opening night.
Sepideh said she had believed until the very end that Hassouna 'would survive, that she would come (to Cannes), that the war would stop.
'But reality caught up with us,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige on their latest exhibition ‘Remembering the Light'
DUBAI: 'We've been working a lot on questioning the writing of history in Lebanon — and elsewhere; the construction of imaginaries and stories kept secret,' says Lebanese artist and filmmaker Joana Hadjithomas. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ In 'Remembering the Light,' their solo exhibition which runs at Beirut's Sursock Museum until September 4, Hadjithomas and her husband and creative partner Khalil Joreige present a collection of works that gather their wide-ranging influences and interests. Not just hidden histories — such as those revealed in the video installation 'Remember the Light,' from which the show takes its title and in which divers head into the depths of the sea of Lebanon's coast, drifting down past tanks, ships, and artifacts from ancient civilizations — but the power and necessity of art in troubled times, the cyclical nature of time, regeneration from chaos, and much more. It is also, as the title suggests, a show filled with hope, even though the bulk of the works on display were created at a time when hope was in short supply in Lebanon. 'But My Head Is Still Singing,' the sixth work in their series 'I Stared At Beauty So Much' — one of three main bodies of work around which the exhibition is based — is a prime example. It's an installation in which looped videos are projected onto two screens made from layers of broken and salvaged glass. Glass from the duo's studio and apartment, both of which were devastated by the explosion in the Port of Beirut in 2020. 'We wanted to transform the glass into something,' says Hadjithomas. 'After the blast, it was very difficult to produce art… There was this question. 'What for? How can art help with all this?' And we thought about the figure of Orpheus (from Greek mythology), saddened by the loss of (his lover) Eurydice. He was dismembered by the maenads, but his head still kept singing. So, we brought together some friends, and we recited some verses from several poets (poetry and poets, she says later, can 'counter chaos') that refer to Orpheus. Even though our voices were exhausted, we were still singing, in a way. So you hear the voices and you can see some of the words on the screen.' Collaboration such as this is key to the duo's work ('We like to see through the eyes of others,' Hadjithomas says). Take the divers in 'Remember the Light,' for example. That video, Joreige explains, is 'about the feeling we have sometimes that our world is shrinking — losing some variation of color and the possibility of light, and we have to find it. The more you go down in water, the more the water will filter the light and you'll lose the colors. But if you put a light here, all the color will reappear, and when you remove the light, the plankton remember the light and refract its luminescence.' It is, Hadjithomas adds, 'a (reminder) to remember the light, even in times of despair.' Collaboration is also central to their ongoing 'Uncomformities' project, another of the show's major bodies of work, and one which won the duo France's most significant contemporary art prize in 2017. The works in the project — including 'Palimpsests,' 'Time Capsules,' 'Message With(out) A Code,' and 'Blow Up' — are based around their fascination with what lies hidden beneath our feet, particularly in three cities: Athens, Paris, and Beirut. The project was inspired by core samples taken by geologists and archeologists — which show the layers of stratification in the earth and can be 'read' by experts. 'The fact that these things were taking us into really deep time was very interesting,' says Hadjithomas. 'Archeologists talk about the way things are always changing and evolving. And at the moment like the one we are living, understanding that after disasters there's always a regeneration is very important.' 'Most of the time, when you imagine sedimentation (in the earth), you think of a stratification that is linear,' Joreige says. 'But what we discovered with archeology is that when you dig, what is old moves up, and what is new moves down … you are recycling, redoing, regenerating. You are using the traces of civilizations to build new ones.' That's apparent in 'Time Capsules,' an installation that includes three large tubes of core samples taken from the area around the Sursock Museum, and which include traces of the tsunami that occurred following the Beirut Earthquake of 551 CE, killing tens of thousands. 'The undergrounds of cities help us understand the way histories are always cycles of construction and destruction and regeneration,' says Hadjithomas. 'And this movement of deep time and history can help us when we are in situations (like today).' 'Unconformities' also includes 'Message With(out) A Code,' a collection of tapestries based on large photographs the pair had collected of archeological traces from digs, woven in such a way that they appear three-dimensional, even though they are not. 'We were fascinated by these samples,' says Hadjithomas. 'We started taking pictures of them, but without really knowing what they were.' 'We weren't really able to understand what we were seeing. Like, you think you're looking at stone, but actually you're looking at teeth. You always need the eyes of others,' Joreige says, once again highlighting the benefits of their collaborative process, in this case working with archeologists. While it's clear that the duo's work would not be what it is without the input of others, perhaps the most significant factor in all of it is their own natural curiosity. When they come across an object that most of us would discard, their instinct is to ask instead: 'Why is this here and what can we learn from it?' They might keep that object for years before they figure out how to turn it into art, but inevitably they do. And with 'Remembering the Light,' they hope once again to spark that same curiosity in others. 'We are trying to reveal a certain complexity,' says Joreige. 'Sometimes you can't explain because there's nothing to explain. There's no easy answer. But (for visitors), we hope that an encounter will occur. We want to share this moment of experiencing something uncommon.' 'We take people with us on a journey to experience and to share knowledge, share emotions and research. For me, it's not about understanding everything, but to have, like, an impression,' Hadjithomas adds. 'You just have to feel something, then understand more if you want. There's a lot of layers. And you can dig as much as you want.'
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
‘Platonic' season 2 — bigger laughs and deeper truths about friendship
DUBAI: Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are back in 'Platonic,' and the first three episodes of season two prove that their non-romantic chemistry remains the show's not-so-secret weapon. The pair's easy banter and instinctive comic timing once again anchor a series that takes the madcap energy of season one and parlays it into a more nuanced, heartfelt exploration of adult friendship. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ The sophomore season of the Apple TV+ series opens with a major update in Will's (Rogen) life — an engagement to a woman Sylvia (Byrne) doesn't have a connection with. It's an awkward adjustment for both, as their once effortless dynamic is suddenly subject to the gravitational pull of a third party. The early episodes mine this setup for all its comic potential — from misguided attempts at bonding to not-so-subtle turf wars over who knows Will best, and a bachelor party that goes sideways quick. The jokes are bigger, the hijinks just as outrageous, but there's an added undercurrent of mature self-awareness that keeps the series from depending on laughs alone. Byrne's Sylvia continues to be one of TV's most relatable depictions of mid-life contradictions. She's a housewife and mother, but still clinging to the 'cool girl' identity she once wore so easily. Her adventures with Will allow her to sidestep the mundanity of domestic life, even if they occasionally leave her with more to clean up — figuratively and literally. Byrne plays her with the perfect mix of warmth, femininity and clownery. Rogen, meanwhile, tempers his trademark goofiness with shades of vulnerability. Will's excitement over his engagement is genuine, but so is his anxiety over how it might change the friendship that's been his emotional constant. His scenes with Byrne shimmer with an authenticity that makes their friendship feel lived-in, not manufactured for the camera. Through it all, 'Platonic' remains breezy, smart and devilishly funny. Season two doesn't just retread the antics of its debut run — it builds on them, delivering sharper humor and a richer look at what it means to keep a friendship alive as life pulls you in different directions. If these first episodes are any indication, Rogen and Byrne's love story — platonic though it is — might just be one of the best on TV.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
After uproar, documentary on Hamas 2023 attack will screen at Toronto Film Festival
NEW YORK: The Toronto International Film Festival will screen a documentary on the 2023 Hamas attack, after all, following an uproar over the film's disinvitation from the upcoming festival. Earlier this week, TIFF withdrew its invitation to the film 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue.' The festival said the decision was based in part on legal clearance for footage used in the documentary. Deadline, which first reported the news, said a sticking point was the identification and legal clearance of Hamas militants' own livestreaming of the attack. On Thursday evening, TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey and 'The Road Between Us' filmmaker Barry Avrich issued a joint statement announcing the film's selection. 'Both TIFF and the filmmakers have heard the pain and frustration expressed by the public and we want to address this together,' said Bailey and Avrich. 'We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal, and programming concerns.' 'In this case, TIFF's communication around its requirements did not clearly articulate the concerns and roadblocks that arose and for that, we are sorry,' they continued. The film chronicles the story of retired Israeli Gen. Noam Tibon, whose efforts to save his family and others during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack was profiled in a '60 Minutes' segment. After being informed that the film wouldn't screen at the festival, the 'Road Between Us' filmmakers issued a statement claiming TIFF 'censored its own programming by refusing the film.' Bailey disputed that allegation, and pleaded that the situation demanded sensitivity. 'The events of October 7, 2023, and the ongoing suffering in Gaza weigh heavily on us, underscoring the urgent need for compassion amid rising antisemitism and Islamophobia,' Bailey said on Wednesday. The Toronto International Film Festival, North America's largest film festival, runs Sept. 4–14. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @
