An artist and Palestinian photojournalist who is the protagonist of a documentary due to the first in Cannes in May was killed in an Israeli air strike.
Fatima Hassouna died with nine family members during a direct strike on their house in Gaza City on Wednesday.
Hassouna, who had acquired international recognition for his photojournalism capturing the impact on the civilian population of Gaza of the Israeli military campaign, appears in the French director of the Origin, Sepideh Farsi, Put your soul on your hand and walk.
Hassouna was killed 24 hours after the announcement of the documentary as having been selected for the parallel Cannes section, taking place from May 14 to 23 alongside the main festival.
The work revolves around video conversations between Farsi, whose credits include the animated function selected by Berlinale The sirenand Hassouna. They started when the director connected with the young woman while looking for a wider documentary on the events taking place in Gaza.
“She was so light, so talented. When you see the film, you will understand,” Farsi told Deadline. “I had told him about a few hours before to tell him that the film was in Cannes and to invite him.”
Farsi says that Hassouna was open to the idea of attending the projection, as long as she could return to Gaza thereafter.
“She said,” I will come, but I have to return to Gaza. I don’t want to leave Gaza, “said Farsi.” I was already in contact with the French Embassy. We had just started the process. I was in the way I get it out and come back safely. I didn’t want to have the responsibility to separate her from her family. “
“Now the whole family is dead. I try to know if her parents died, but for sure Fatima and his sisters and brothers are dead. One of the sisters was pregnant. During a video call two days ago, she showed me her belly. It’s so horrible and devastating. Fatima herself was committed a few months ago. ”
Farsi says she is now afraid that Hassouna has been targeted due to her photojournalism work. According to figures published by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on February 16, at least 157 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza, and many others wounded since the start of the war.
“I tried to be a voice and accentuate it and now I don’t know. I even feel guilty … Maybe they targeted it because the film was announced. I don’t know. We will never know.” She said.
“The Israeli army said it had bombed the house because there was a Hamas in there, which is completely false. I know the whole family. It is a nonsense. It is so devastating.”
The bombing and invasion of Israel of Gaza began in October 2023 in response to the attacks of October 7 in Hamas against southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of 251 hostages.
Eighteen months later, at least 51,065 people died according to figures published by the Gaza Health Authority managed by Hamas, approved by the United Nations, although the statistical research published by Lancet Medical Journal in February suggested that this figure could be 15,000 higher.
116,505 other people were also injured in the Gaza Strip, while 90% of the population of 2.1 million in the territory was moved. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack on October 7, 59 remain in the Gaza Strip, with around 24 of them which are still alive.
The French association for the dissemination of independent cinema, which organizes the acid sidebar in Cannes, then promotes the films of the year in cinemas through France, published a statement expressing its “horror” to the news of the death of Hassouna.
“We met Fatima Hassouna when we discovered the film of Sepideh Farsi Put your soul on your hand and walk. Her smile was as magical as her tenacity: to wear a witness, photograph Gaza, distribute food despite the bombs, sorrow and hunger. Her story has come down to us and we rejoiced in each of her appearances to know that she was alive; We fear for her, “he said.” Yesterday we learned with horror that an Israeli missile targeted his building, killing Fatima and his family. »»
“We had watched and programmed a film in which the vital force of this young woman was simply miraculous. It is a film different from the one we will wear, support and present in each theater, starting with Cannes.”
