THURSDAY 20 NOV – H 18:00 – ROOM 2

FROM GROUND ZERO
Palestine, France, Qatar, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Tunisia – 2024 – color – 113’

Director: Reema Mahmoud, Muhammad Al Sharif, Ahmed Hassouna, Islam Al Zeriei, Mustafa Kolab, Nidal Damo, Khamis Masharawi, Bashar Al Balbisi, Tamer Nijim, Ahmed Al Danaf, Alaa Islam Ayoub, Karim Satoum, Alaa Damo, Aws Al Banna, Rabab Khamis, Mustafa Al-Nabih, Mustafa Al-Nabih, Hana Eleiwa, Wissam Moussa, Basel El Maqousi, Nida’a Abu Hasna, Mahdi Kreirah
Editing: Denis Le Paven, Pauline Eon
Music: Naseer Shamma, Johanni Curtet, Jabr Al Hajj, Sol Band
With: Alaa Nijim, Aws Al Banna, Kamel Mohammad, Karim Satoum, Kenzi Al Balbisi, Nidal Damo, Thaer Abu Zubaida, Yahya Saad
Producer: Rashid Masharawi
Production: Masharawi Film Fund (PS), Coorigines Production (Fr), Metafora Production (Tr), International Media Support (Dk), Royal Film Commission Jordan, Sharjah Art Foundation (Ae), Doha Film Institute (Qa), Akka Films
Distribution: Revolver
World Sales: WaterMelon Pictures

Synopsis
From Ground Zero is made up of twenty-two short films, conceived both in a documentary style as well as narrative form, portraying daily life in the vast tent city that shelters over a million displaced individuals from the smoking rubble of Gaza City. It stands as an almost unique testimony to the current situation and to the state of mind of an entire population. These short films are directed by young men and women from the Gaza Strip, aged between 19 and 28, some of whom are students at the film school organized by the Masharawi Foundation in Palestine. Together, they form a a one-hour and fifty-three-minute program that shifts between cinéma vérité and poetic fiction.

awards and festivals
The film was officially presented at the Turin Film Festival, the MedFilmFest in Rome, Gender Bender in Bologna, Taormina, and later at Corto Dorico. Its official world premiere took place at the Toronto Festival in September 2024, though it had already been screened at various European festivals, including Taormina, and subsequently programmed at other major international events such as in Sarajevo, Thessaloniki, Montpellier, Istanbul, Valencia, Cairo, Oran, the Red Sea, and several Human Rights festivals, including the UNESCO Fest in Paris. It will also be officially presented in Buenos Aires, Oslo, Malmö, and several other events worldwide. From Ground Zero won the Best Film Award in the World Cinema section at the UrbanWorld FF, the Youssef Chahine Award for Best Short Film at the Cairo IFF, the Gandhi Glasses Award at the Turin FF, the Ruya (Visionary) Award at the Arab FF, and the Special Jury Prize at the Fayoum IFF. The film was also shortlisted for the Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category.