The Palestinian Ministry of Culture has submitted the collaborative project From Ground Zero as a 2025 Oscar nomination for “Best International Feature”.
Initiated by director Rashid Masharawi, the project consists of 22 separate stories each with its own point of view, format and style. Masharawi provided cameras to 22 artists living in the Gaza Strip so each could share with us the tragedy unfolding there every day.
Presented at the Cannes Film Festival during Critics’ Week, the director explained his idea to the international press. “I said to myself: we must speak out, we must bear witness and preserve the memory of this devastating war in Gaza. How else could we do this except by offering young Gazan artists and directors the chance to record and share what each one sees, making several short films? So I consulted film industry people from the Arab world and we created a workshop to make sure the quality of the films meant they could be distributed internationally.”
Sources: El Watan, Le Jeune Indépendant
