From Ground Zero


From Ground Zero is a 2024 anthology film directed by 22 different Palestinian directors. The film is made up of 22 short films, including documentaries, fiction, animation and experimental films about the current situation of the people of the Gaza Strip in the midst of the Gaza war.
From Ground Zero premiered at the 5th Amman International Film Festival on 5 July 2024 and had its North American premiere at the 2024 [Toronto International Film Festival|49th Toronto International Film Festival] on 9 September 2024 as part of the TIFF Docs section. It was selected as the Palestinian entry for the Academy Award for [Best International Feature Film|Best International Feature Film] at the 97th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist, but was not nominated.

Contents

  • "Selfie", Directed by Reema Mahmoud
  • "No Signal", Directed by Muhammad Alshareef
  • "Sorry Cinema", Directed by Ahmad Hassouna
  • "Flash Back", Directed by Islam Al Zrieai
  • "Echo", Directed by Mustafa Kallab
  • "Everything Is Fine", Directed by Nidal Damo
  • "Soft Skin", Directed by Khamees Masharawi
  • "The Teacher", Directed by Tamer Najm
  • "Charm", Directed by Bashar Al-Balbeisi
  • "A School Day", Directed by Ahmed Al-Danf
  • "Overburden", Directed by Ala’a Ayob
  • "Hell’s Heaven", Directed by Kareem Satoum
  • "24 Hours", Directed by Alaa Damo
  • "Jad and Natalie", Directed by Aws Al-Banna
  • "Recycling", Directed by Rabab Khamees
  • "Taxi Waneesa", Directed by E’temad Weshah
  • "Offerings", Directed by Mustafa Al-Nabih
  • "No", Directed by Hana Awad
  • "Farah and Mirayim", Directed by Wissam Moussa
  • "Fragments", Directed by Basil Al-Maqousi
  • "Out of Frame", Directed by Nidaa Abu Hasna
  • "Awakening", Directed by Mahdi Karirah

    Development and production

After the start of the Gaza war, film director Rashid Masharawi founded the Masharawi Fund for Cinema and Filmmakers in Gaza with the purpose of supporting young Palestinian filmmakers to express themselves and tell their stories through cinema. Masharawi supported the production and post-production of the 22 short films that make up From Ground Zero filmed in different parts of the Gaza Strip at the end of 2023.

Release

The film was scheduled to have its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, but was pulled by organizers on "political grounds". In response, Masharawi held a screening via projection outside the festival grounds in protest. It had its official world premiere on July 5, 2024, at the 5th Amman International Film Festival, then screened in mid-July 2024 at the 70th Taormina Film Festival, on September 9, 2024, at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival and on September 28, 2024, at the 17th Toronto Palestine Film Festival.

Critical response

of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, praising it as a "staggering achievement" not just for being completed but also for expressing that "after a catastrophe, art is not only still possible but necessary". He stated that "We don't always understand the connections between people within individual stories and have to intuit them.... Rather than being confusing, this has a universalizing effect. We feel it could happen to us, too, or that it is happening to us, thanks to the empathy machine aspect of cinema storytelling." Seitz concluded that "Even amid so much murder and destruction, the urge to create abides. For all its horror and sadness, this is one of the most hopeful films I've ever seen."