One of the thoughts that constantly runs through the mind while watching From Ground Zero, an anthology of 22 short films and documentaries by Palestinian filmmakers, is on whether all those whom we see on screen are alive now. Going by the data of over 60,000 killed in the past two years in Gaza, in what human rights organisations have accused Israel of executing genocide, there is a possibility that at least some of them have perished already.
The 2024 anthology, the opening film of the 17th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), was kept out of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, after being selected for a world premiere, prompting project director and funder Rashid Masharawi to organise a protest screening outside. Common across all the 22 shorts in the anthology is the background filled with rubbles of buildings amid which are scattered the everyday things which belonged to families who have all ended up in relief camps. It might be impossible to find a background without rubble in post-2023 Gaza.
