FROM GROUND ZERO: Life During Wartime

One of the most infuriating and essential films from this past year is No Other Land, a documentary chronicling Palestinian activist Basel Adra’s ongoing efforts to resist and record the forced displacement of his people in the West Bank region of Masafer Yatta by Israeli forces. The film, co-directed by Adra with Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor, was shot over five years and wrapped production in October 2023—just before the Hamas attacks on Israel and the resulting war that has led to the almost total destruction of Gaza. Yet in showing us footage of families being evicted from houses that are bulldozed in front of them and protestors being beaten and shot for standing up for their homes, No Other Land provides cinematic proof that Israel has been committing acts of violence and injustice against Palestinians since long before October 7, 2023.

From Ground Zero—Palestine’s submission for Best International Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards—shows us what has happened since. The film, which boasts Michael Moore as an executive producer, was spearheaded by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi and consists of 22 short films ranging from 3 to 6 minutes in length, all depicting the current state of life in Gaza. Some are fictional narratives, some are documentaries, and some utilize techniques like animation and puppetry, but all of them convey the resilience of the Palestinian people in the face of continued devastation. Like No Other Land, it is essential viewing to gain a glimpse at life in Palestine beyond what the mainstream media chooses to convey to us.

A Day in the Life

The films comprising From Ground Zero were pitched to a committee that selected the final 22 projects and helped guide them from concept through production—a necessity when considering the particular obstacles faced when creating art in a war zone. The resulting film isn’t free from the uneven quality that assails most anthology films, but it succeeds in providing a diverse range of perspectives on day-to-day life in Gaza while showcasing just some of the talented artists who call Palestine home.

In “Selfie,” director Reema Mahmoud narrates her efforts to maintain some sense of normality in the face of displacement, destruction, and death; she continues to engage in regular activities like the application of makeup and the drinking of tea, little things that remind her that “life is beautiful and war is ugly.” When she puts a letter and a thumb drive containing video footage of her life into a bottle and tosses it out into the glittering sea—seemingly the only means at her disposal in getting her story out into the world—it’s easy to be overwhelmed with emotion.

Meanwhile, in “Sorry Cinema,” director Ahmed Hassouna describes how his lifelong passion for cinema and pursuit of a filmmaking career has now taken a backseat; instead of chasing his dreams of being a film director, he is chasing survival. At the beginning of “Sorry Cinema,” we see footage of him directing on set, but by the end, he is breaking apart the wooden clapboard bearing his name to use it for firewood. Indeed, the quest to find something—anything—that can be burned for cooking and/or heat is a recurring sight throughout From Ground Zero.

A Light in the Dark

One of the most heartbreaking things about the ongoing violence in Gaza is the number of innocent children who have died in what feels like indiscriminate bombing but what is claimed to be the strategic targeting of Hamas militants. Yet the children we see throughout From Ground Zero are so much more than mere human shields to be sacrificed just to kill some terrorists; they are not numbers, but people with their own hopes and dreams for a peaceful future. In one of the most visually striking and emotionally draining shorts, “Soft Skin,” director Khamis Masharawi guides children through art therapy via animation with paper cutouts. The story they choose to tell revolves around their parents writing their names on their limbs in marker; the hope is that if they die in a bombing, at least they’ll be identifiable, even in pieces. Seeing children being forced to contemplate such things regularly should disturb anyone with a heart.

From Ground Zero doesn’t flinch at depicting the tragedy that has become part of day-to-day life in Gaza, from body bags lying outside a water station with a sign reading “Free Washing and Burial for the Dead” to a young man mourning his dead lover and the future he has lost by losing her, including the children that they’ll never have. One film, “Taxi Wanissa,” remains unfinished; it ends with a coda in which the director, Etimad Washah, informs us she couldn’t bring herself to complete it after experiencing a death in her family.

Yet the people of Gaza are also more than their grief, and still capable of finding moments of joy and beauty amid the detritus of their lives. The most optimistic of the shorts, “No,” centers on director Hana Eleiwa’s quest to tell a story focused on love, hope, and music: the things that make life worth living even during wartime. She “says no to this despair” and sits down with a passionate group of musicians who sing with smiles, hopeful that someday the happy days will return. It’s impossible not to draw inspiration from them.

Conclusion

The shorts cited above are only a handful of the powerful, personal stories told by the filmmakers of From Ground Zero. The film is naturally a difficult watch and one that I’ll admit I paused several times just to take a break from the traumatic events unfolding onscreen. But the people of Gaza do not have the luxury of pressing pause, and their situation deserves our attention.

From Ground Zero opens in theaters in the U.S. on January 3, 2025.