https://www.cosmiccatfilms.com/from-ground-zero

From Ground Zero is a remarkable 2024 anthology film — Palestine’s official submission for the Academy Awards and executive produced by Michael Moore — comprising 22 short films made by Palestinian filmmakers living through the war in Gaza. Initiated by veteran Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi through his Masharawi Fund for Cinema and Filmmakers in Gaza, the project was born from a conviction that the Palestinian experience must be told in Palestinians’ own voices and through their own art. Each short — ranging from 3 to 7 minutes and spanning documentary, fiction, animation, and experimental forms — offers a deeply personal window into daily life amidst destruction: children writing their names on their arms for identification, burned doorframes used for cooking, and a stand-up comedian performing for a wounded audience in a refugee camp.

The film was controversially pulled from the Cannes Film Festival on political grounds, prompting director Masharawi to hold a defiant outdoor screening just outside the festival grounds. It later premiered officially at the Amman International Film Festival and screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Roger Ebert’s site called it a “staggering achievement”, praising how it transforms statistics into human beings with names, eyes, colours, and dreams. Its very existence — created under bombardment, siege, and constant danger — is itself an act of resistance. As Masharawi says: “I believe in cinema and that it can bring about change.”