''From Ground Zero'' () is a 2024

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

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 The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

in the midst of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. ''From Ground Zero'' premiered at the 5th Amman International Film Festival on 5 July 2024 and had its North American premiere at the 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 Best International Feature Film at the

97th Academy Awards The 97th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly r ...

, making the December shortlist, but was not nominated.

* "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

Idealization and production

After the start of the Gaza campaign, film director

Rashid Masharawi Rashid Masharawi (also: "Rashid Mashrawi") () is a Palestinian film director, born in Gaza in 1962 to a family of refugees from Jaffa. He grew up in the Shati refugee camp. Rashid Masharawi lives and works in Ramallah, where he founded the Ci ...

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

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

Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and filmmaker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for ''New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as w ...

of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

'' 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."

References

External links

* *
Official Page
' {{Gaza war 2024 films 2020s Arabic-language films 2020s French films 2024 animated films 2024 documentary films 2024 drama films Documentaries about films Documentaries about war Films set in the Gaza Strip Films shot in Palestine French animated films French anthology films French docudrama films French documentary films French drama films Israeli–Palestinian conflict films Jordanian anthology films Jordanian documentary films Jordanian drama films Palestinian animated films Palestinian anthology films Palestinian documentary films Palestinian drama films Qatari anthology films Qatari documentary films Qatari drama films Documentary films about the Gaza war

Contents

Idealization and production

Release

Critical response

See also

References

External links