From Ground Zero curator on Oscars shortlisting and telling the real Palestinian story

Rashid Masharawi says he 'wanted the world to see what was happening' through the acclaimed film collection

Sorry Cinema, one of the films in From Ground Zero, offers a letter of apology to the art form. Photo: Rashid Masharawi

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Since the documentary film collection From Ground Zero began screening at international film festivals last year, its curator Rashid Masharawi has welcomed the growing attention to Gaza it has sparked.

Masharawi, a film director himself, has been making films about Palestine since 1987. When Israel's attacks on Gaza began in 2023, the director says he noticed that the news would report on death numbers in the hundreds, but forget the heartbreaking real stories behind them.

He helped put together From Ground Zero, a collection of 22 short films made by Gazan filmmakers. It tells the stories of individuals who are surviving and showing resilience in the face of constant bombings. The aim, Masharawi says, was to give a voice to the voiceless, the ones he says were forced to remain quiet.

"We wanted to tell the stories that were not being told, to tell them cinematically, using whatever equipment was available,” he tells The National. “As people were attempting to save their lives, me and my team of filmmakers were trying to save the stories.”

From Ground Zero was shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars but did not make it to the final list of nominees, the winners for which are set to be announced on March 2.

Hana Eliwa's No is one of the short films in From Ground Zeo and features a group of Gazan youths singing songs of resistance and hope. Photo: Rashid Masharawi

Masharawi says making it onto the shortlist was in itself a great accomplishment. “When I thought of making From Ground Zero, I never considered it could be an Oscar contender, I just wanted the world to see what was happening,” he says.

Getting on the shortlist benefited the film greatly, he adds, as it put it in the spotlight. “I’m proud that our film was seen in more than 80 film festivals around the world, and screened in 150 cinemas in the US, which makes me feel like we already won multiple Oscars," he adds.

Besides the Gazan filmmakers who contributed films, From Ground Zero involved input and help from people in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Masharawi says some teams worked tirelessly to make sure the film was presented in the best way possible and could be appreciated cinematically. “There are cinema professionals, who I call friends of Palestine, that instructed our filmmakers on techniques and methods," he says. "Before it was a collection of short films, it was a workshop for the filmmakers to learn from.”

Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi spearheaded the project that resulted with the Oscar-shortlisted film From Ground Zero. Photo: Rashid Masharawi

From Ground Zero was possible because many people reached out to him and offered help. He says: “They didn’t want to sit idly by. They wanted to offer assistance in any way they could.”

From Ground Zero had 22 different directors, with whom Masharawi is still in touch. Other short films weren’t completed that could make it to the new collection. “In one case, a filmmaker was in the process of making her film but had to stop because their family home was hit by a rocket," he says.

Masharawi also reveals that there are at least eight documentary film projects set in Gaza that he is helping and supporting. One of them will focus on the efforts of journalists on the ground and the many who lost their lives. “They are cinematically and artistically capturing what is happening, and it will again be presented in a way that everyone around the world could watch and understand," he says.

Hell's Heaven by Karim Satoum, one of the films in From Ground Zero. Photo: Rashid Masharawi

On January 27, 300,000 displaced Gazans who were earlier forced to flee began returning to their homes. Masharawi, who lives in Ramallah in the West Bank, says the scenes were equally happy and painful to see, adding that he was laughing and crying while seeing the people returning on television.

“I feel happy for any ounce of happiness felt by the people of Gaza, these people deserve some happiness after all that happened," he says. “It’s painful because it doesn’t feel like the end of what happened. I consider it to be the beginning of a phase that will feel very painful. We’re talking about thousands and thousands of people who are returning to destroyed homes. They didn’t have time until now to realise how much they lost.”

For Masharawi, the day was also personally important as he was receiving pictures and videos of his family and friends who were returning to their homes. “They say it will take 10 years possibly to rebuild Gaza, I think what’s more difficult is the time it will take to rebuild the humans of Gaza," he says.