AOn Wednesday, an Israeli missile strike in Gaza killed a Palestinian photojournalist presented in a documentary taking place first in Cannes, France, in May.
Journalist Fatma Hassona, 25, was known for her photographs of civilian victims of Israeli military actions, died in her home, with several of her relatives of her family, said the director of the film Sepideh Farsi Deadline.
Hassona had just committed a few months ago. Farsi had spoke to Hassona and her family recently. “One of the sisters was pregnant,” she said. “During a video call two days ago, she showed her belly. It is so horrible and devastating.”
Hassona was killed just after learning her film Put your soul on your hand and walk was selected for a parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, Acid. Farsi – whose film credits include the Siren And Red rose– was understanding how to organize Hassona’s trips to the film festival. She said Hassona was very concerned about being able to return to Gaza just after the event.
Put your soul on your hand and walk is a 110-minute documentary film following an exchange of almost a year that took place between Farsi and Hassona after the start of the War of Israel-Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“This film is a window, open by a miraculous meeting with Fatem. Offering overviews of the Palestinian massacre,” said Farsi in the description of the film on the Acid website. “She became my eyes in Gaza, and I, her connection with the outside world.”
Farsi says Deadline That she wondered if her film made Hassona a target.
Hassona is the last Palestinian journalist to die since the start of the war over a year ago. In response to the most recent air strikes, Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of the United Nations Rescue and Works Agency for the Palestinian refugees in the Near East, published the press release: “Palestinian journalists continue to do a heroic job, paying a high price; 170 have been killed to date. ” The UN estimates that a total of 209 journalists were killed in Gaza during their service or at home.
Last year, the participants of the Cannes Film Festival used the red carpet to make a statement on the War of Israel-Hamas. Actress Leila Bekhti was photographed with a pin in the colors of the Palestinian flag en route to a projection of Furiosa: a mad max saga. Laura Blajman-Kadar, a survivor of the October 7 massacre, wore a belt that said “bring them home” on a yellow dress with photos of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
Acid, the organization behind the independent film festival with Put your soul on your hand and walkThursday published a statement reflecting on what it was to meet Hassona during the consideration process: “Her smile was as magical as her tenacity: testify, photograph Gaza, distribute food despite the bombs, sorrow and hunger.” He added that Hassona’s death makes more imperative than the documentary reaching a consumer public, declaring: “It is a film different from that which we will wear, support and present in each theater, starting with Cannes.”
