Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk

In April 2024, the Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi starts holding regular video calls with Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona. Farsi, always on the move, calls from various countries; Hassona is trapped in Gaza. Most of this intense documentary consists of their conversations, supplemented by Hassona’s powerful war photography, and some of her poems and songs.

They talk about everyday life in Gaza, the longing for coffee and chocolate, the many friends and relatives Hassona has lost, and the constant fear of bombardment. The unstable internet connection highlights Hassona’s physical inaccessibility. For Farsi, it’s agonizing, but Hassona replies with an unwavering smile, despite the increasing hunger and despair: “You’re here beside me and that’s enough.”

In the epilogue, the 25-year-old Hassona beams when she hears the film has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival. One day later, she is killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike at home, along with most of her family. The attack was widely condemned by the international film community at the film’s premiere.