Children in Gaza are enjoying a rare moment of relief as a film festival aims to help them recover and rebuild hope after Israel's war on the strip.
The first Gaza Children’s Film Festival opened on Thursday with a screening of Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 Palme d’Or-winning short film The Red Balloon. The film is set in a dark and grey post-Second World War Paris, in which the balloon serves as a symbol of hope and light.
Held under the theme “We Love Life, Tomorrow,” the festival is running in several places in Gaza until December 20, bringing cinema to children whose lives have been devastated by Israel's attacks in the past two years.
The festival is led by Gaza-born Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, through his Masharawi Film Fund for Films, and Filmmakers in Gaza.
Organisers described the event as “a true window of hope amid difficult circumstances". They said the festival shows the enduring ability of art to bring life and resilience even in times of destruction.
On Sunday, displaced Palestinians took part in a film screening for children on the ruins of the Beach Services Sports Club in Al Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza city.
The festival features Mats Grorud’s animated film The Tower, about a young Palestinian girl in a Lebanese refugee camp. Also included is The Wanted 18, an animated documentary on the efforts of Palestinians in Beit Sahour to start a small dairy industry during the First Intifada, hiding a herd of 18 cows from Israeli security forces when the dairy collective was deemed a threat to Israel's national security.
Israel's two-year campaign in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. The war has killed more than 69,700 Palestinians, mostly children and women, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
A ceasefire came into effect on October 10 and although there have been repeated outbreaks of violence since, it has brought a halt to major warfare.
The war has turned Gaza's schools into overcrowded camps for displaced people, where children have been enduring the fear of bombardment, displacement from their homes, and shortages of food, water and electricity.
