Fatma Hassona, the Palestinian Protagonist of Cannes-Bound ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,' Killed in Israeli Missile Strike
'Her smile was as magical as her tenacity: bearing witness, photographing Gaza, distributing food despite the bombs, mourning and hunger. We heard her story, rejoiced at each of her appearances to see her alive, we feared for her,' said the team in a statement.
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'We had watched and programmed a film in which this young woman's life force seemed like a miracle. This is no longer the same film that we are going to support and present in all theaters, starting with Cannes. All of us, filmmakers and spectators alike, must be worthy of her light.'
Sepideh Farsi, the Iranian director of the film, also wrote about the tragic event:
'Maybe I'm ushering in my death
now
Before the person standing in front of me loads
His elite sniper's rifle
And it ends
And I end.
Silence.
Those are the words of Fatma Hassona, or Fatem to her friends, excerpted from a long poem called 'The Man Who Wore His Eyes.'' A poem that smells of sulfur, that smells of death already, but that is also full of life, as was Fatem, until this morning, before an Israeli bomb took her life, as well as the lives of her entire family, reducing their home to rubble,' she said.
Hassona, who was based in Gaza, had turned 25.
'I got to know her through a Palestinian friend in Cairo, while I was desperately searching for a way to reach Gaza, seeking the answer to a question both simple and complex. How does one survive in Gaza, under siege for all these years? What is the daily life of Palestinian people under war? What is it that Israel wishes to erase in this handful of square kilometers, with bombs and missiles?'
Previously, Farsi made the animated feature 'The Siren' about the war between Iraq and Iran.
'I, who could still feel the distant echo of the explosion's shockwaves ringing in my ears (…) wanted to know how the Gazans resisted all this, what they were going through… I could not find the answer in the news and media. I wanted to hear their words unmediated. I wanted to be in Gaza,' she said.
While she couldn't travel there, she filmed their conversations.
'And so, Fatem became my eyes in Gaza and I, a window open on the world. I filmed, catching the moments offered by our video calls, what Fatem was offering, fiery and full of life. I filmed her laughs, her tears, her hopes and her depression. I followed my instinct. Without knowing beforehand where those images would lead us. Such is the beauty of cinema. The beauty of life.'
In the film, Fatem opened up about being a Palestinian in Gaza. 'I'm proud of it. They'll never be able to beat us, whatever they do. Because we have nothing to lose,' she stated.
Farsi added: 'Every day, I thought about Palestinians outside Gaza, far from their families, and I wondered how they could go on living with such anguish. And for that as well, I had no answer. I told myself I had no right to fear for her, if she herself was not afraid. I clung to her strength, to her unwavering faith.'
'I was very skeptical when the ceasefire was announced in December, but I told myself I had no right not to believe in it if the Palestinians and Fatem did. I did manage to call her two days ago and, miraculously, she answered. I wanted to tell her that her film had been selected by ACID. That it was going to be shown in Cannes.'
Farsi recalled their conversation:
– 'So… will you come present the film with me?
– Yes, but only if I can return to Gaza afterwards. They want to make us leave, to take our lands and our homes. But we will stay.
– Aren't you scared something will happen to you?
– No… You know, nothing lasts forever on this earth. Not even this war. It will be over one day.'
At first, she refused to believe the news, thinking it was a mistake.
'Like the one a few months ago, when a family with the same surname had perished in an Israeli attack. Incredulous, I called her, then sent her a message, then another one. I know that Fatem will no longer answer, that I will never see her brothers again, nor her sister Alaa, a painter who was six months pregnant, nor her father, a taxi driver who was stuck at home since the beginning of the Israeli offensive. All those bright existences were crushed by a finger that pressed on a button and dropped a bomb to erase one more home.'
Farsi stated: 'There are no more doubts to be had. What is occurring in Gaza today is not, and has not been in a long Ame, an answer to the crimes committed by Hamas on October 7. It is a genocide. I blame those that are committing it as well as their accomplices, and I ask for justice for Fatem and for all innocent Palestinians that have died.'
She ended, again, with a poem:
'Are you a fish?
I did not answer when the sea asked me
I didn't know where these crows came from
And pounced on my flesh
Would it have seemed logical?
-If I said: Yes-
Let these crows pounce
at the end
On a fish!
She crossed
And I did not cross
My death crossed me
And a sharp sniper bullet
I became an angel
For a city.
Huge
Bigger than my dreams
Bigger than this city.'
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