Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk

''Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk'' is a 2025 documentary film directed by Sepideh Farsi, depicting life in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli military campaign, captured through Farsi's video calls with a young woman living there. A co-production between France, Palestine and Iran, the documentary had its world premiere at the ACID parallel section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2025.

Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, interviewed by Farsi for the film, was killed in an Israeli airstrike alongside nine members of her family on 16 April 2025, the day after the film was selected for the ACID section. The festival released an official statement expressing condolences and criticizing the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Production

The film was produced by Javad Djavahery of Rêves d'Eau Productions and co-produced by Annie Ohayon Dekel of 24images Production.

Unable to enter Gaza, the producers turned to Fatima Hassouna, a young photographer in the north of the territory, to document life under Israeli siege. In April 2024, director Sepideh Farsi had travelled to Cairo, where she filmed Palestinian refugees in the Egyptian capital. In Cairo, a man who had just left Gaza told her about Fatima Hassouna, a "young, brilliant and talented photographer". Farsi contacted Hassouna and after just two conversations with her, the idea arose to make a film from her point of view, about her life and that of the people trapped in the regularly bombarded coastal strip. The film is based on this almost year-long video exchange between the two women. The recorded video conversations are occasionally supplemented by short news reports providing context.

Release

The film was selected to be screened in the ACID section at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 15 May 2025. It is set to be released in French theaters on 24 September 2025, distributed by New Story.

Reception

An open letter published in the run-up to the Cannes opening ceremony, condemning Hassouna's killing and denouncing the industry's "passivity" and "silence" regarding the events in Gaza, was signed by more than 350 actors, directors and producers – among them Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, Guillermo del Toro, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen and Javier Bardem. Juliette Binoche, the jury president of the film festival, honoured Hassouna at the opening of the festival with the words: "She should have been here among us this evening ..Art remains. It is a powerful testimony of our lives and dreams; and we, the audience, embrace it."

Jordan Mintzer's review in ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called the film "intimate portrait of a gifted young woman living through hell ... Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is ultimately less a documentary exposé than a piece of raw unfiltered evidence, bearing witness to a tragedy that continues to unfold as this review is being written. The film, and Hassona's eye-opening photographs, will one day be added to the historical record detailing what happened in Gaza – which, in a broader sense, is also about what has happened to our civilization."

Allan Hunter of ''Screen International'' commented, "There is no hint of self-pity in Hassona's words as she describes the death of a friend or an aunt whose head is found in a different street to her body. She constantly thinks of others, helping to distribute any available aid to hungry children. Her cheerful optimism in the face of terrible conditions is inspirational. ..Hassona's optimism even endures in their last call of April 15th, 2025 as she receives the news that their film has been accepted for Cannes. Hassona and members of her family were killed the following day. Farsi's film now stands as a powerful memorial to someone who was both ordinary and extraordinary."

France 24 reported that few films had attracted more attention at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival than the premiere of ''Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk'', which "drew tears and a lengthy standing at an emotional premiere".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title

''Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk''
at Film-documentaire.fr

Interview with Sepideh Farsi
on ''Democracy Now!''

Artists for Fatem

Tribute fo Fatma Hassona
festival-cannes.com

2025 films
2020s French films
2025 documentary films
Documentary films about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Films set in the Gaza Strip
French documentary films
Iranian documentary films
Palestinian documentary films
Documentary films about the Gaza war