Gaza

A beautiful and powerful 2019 documentary portraying everyday life for the people of Gaza. The film depicts ordinary people who dream of a life in peace and freedom, and of a sea without borders.

The documentary Gaza was made between 2014 and 2019 and offers a warm and poignant glimpse into life in the Gaza Strip before Israel’s war machine left almost everything in ruins in 2023. Irish filmmaker Andrew McConnell had heard rumours about the surfers along Gaza’s beaches and wanted to make a film about this sporting culture, which was unknown to most people. That was the starting point for the film, which became something quite different when Andrew invited his filmmaking friend Garry Keane to join him. Instead, the film became a portrait of the residents of this strictly regulated part of Palestine.

The Gaza Strip is a 41-kilometre-long coastal strip between Israel and Egypt. Through encounters with Palestinians from different parts of society, the film portrays everyday life for fishermen, tailors, hairdressers and street vendors, among others. It also follows an actor who performs to keep people’s spirits up, a taxi driver struggling to feed his family, and an ambulance driver dealing with the consequences of violence and war.

The people of Gaza have lived through more or less continuous war and unrest for nearly 80 years. Those who were displaced from their homes in 1948 carried the keys to their houses on cords around their necks for a long time. Many older Palestinians have nostalgic dreams of a time that will never return. Today, Gaza also serves as a historical snapshot of Palestinian life in Gaza before the extensive destruction of 2023.

School screening for lower secondary students

On Wednesday 9 September at 09.30 and Thursday 26 November at 09.30, we welcome lower secondary students to a free screening of the film. The film may be suitable for teaching topics such as human rights, cultural understanding, history, war and conflict, critical thinking and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

To register your class, email sita.jacobsen[a]nfi.no and include:

• Preferred date

• School name and year group

• Total number of students and teachers

• Email address and telephone number of the contact person

Places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. We will confirm bookings.

Would you like to explore the film further after your visit?

• Teaching materials are available on Filmrommet Skolekino (https://skolekino.filmrommet.no/gaza).

• Teaching materials prepared by the distributor are available here (https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cinemateket-no/documents/GAZA-undervisningsmateriell-Tour-De-Force.pdf).

Venue: Cinemateket i Oslo, Dronningens gate 16, 0152 Oslo