The Cannes film festival said Wednesday that the screening of a documentary about Gaza photojournalist Fatima Hassouna at the event next month would honour her work after the “horror” of her death in an Israeli air strike last week.
“Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi is to be shown at ACID Cannes, at this year’s May 13-24 festival, which runs parallel to the main competition.
The film features conversations between Farsi and Hassouna as the 25-year-old photographer documents the impact of Israel’s devastating war on the Palestinian territory.
Hassouna was killed along with 10 relatives in an air strike on her family home in northern Gaza last Wednesday, the day after the documentary was announced as part of the ACID Cannes selection.
The Israeli military, which media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused of carrying out a “massacre” of Palestinian journalists, claimed it had targeted a Hamas member.
“The Cannes Film Festival wishes to express its horror and deep sorrow at this tragedy, which has moved and shocked the entire world,” the festival said in a statement on Hassouna sent to AFP.
“While a film is little in the face of such a tragedy, its screening at the ACID section in Cannes on May 15 will be, in addition to the message of the film itself, a way of honouring the memory of the young woman, a victim like so many others of the war,” it added.
Just before her death, Hassouna wrote on social media that “if I die, I want a loud death. I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group.”
“She was such a light, so talented. When you see the film you’ll understand,” Farsi told Hollywood news website Deadline after her death. “I had talked to her a few hours before to tell her that the film was in Cannes and to invite her.”
– New films –
Cannes festival organisers also announced new films on Wednesday in its main competition that will compete for its coveted Palme d’Or award.
American filmmaker Lynne Ramsay (“We Need To Talk About Kevin”) has been selected for the main competition with her thriller “Die My Love” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
Out of the 21 films in the main competition this year, seven have been made by women directors, the joint highest total.
Iran’s Saeed Roustaee is also set to compete for the main prize with his latest feature, “Mother and Child”, three years after showing “Leila’s Brothers” in Cannes which led to him being sentenced to six months in prison in Iran.
The festival has also secured the world premiere for the first film directed by former Twilight star Kristen Stewart — “The Chronology of Water” — which will screen in the secondary “Un Certain Regard” competition.
She will be up against fellow American actress-turned-director Scarlett Johansson whose director debut “Eleanor the Great” has also been selected in the same section.
– Miracle –
The death of Hassouna last week has transformed the screening of the documentary about her into a prominent event at Cannes.
The ACID festival said her “life force seemed like a miracle” in a statement released after her death.
“This is no longer the same film that we are going to support and present in all theatres, starting with Cannes,” it added.
RSF also denounced her death. “Her name joins those of nearly 200 journalists killed in 18 months. This carnage must stop,” it wrote on the Bluesky social media website.
Also at Cannes, Palestinian twins Tarzan and Arab Nasser will showcase their latest film “Once Upon a Time In Gaza”, a tale of murder and friendship set in the war-torn territory, in the secondary “Un Certain Regard” section.
An attack by Hamas fighters on Israel on October 7, 2023 set off the war. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israeli forces have since killed more than 51,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.