The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) marked 50 years since its inception when it opened on Thursday. With 292 films on the programme this year, the film festival has some hard hitting stories from across the world — especially from Palestine, which is the subject of four films being screened.
“Particularly in this moment, stories are how we make sense of the world and make sense of our place in it,” TIFF Director of Programming Robyn Citizen told Reuters. “And it’s very important to have something like TIFF and other film festivals to provide a platform to filmmakers who want to tell these important stories that generate empathy for how others live.” Citizen said film can be both a mirror of society and an escape hatch.
These four films, which deal with different aspects and periods of Palestinian history, will be shown in North America for the first time at the festival.
Palestine 36
Annemarie Jacir is a longtime festival favourite at TIFF. The Bethlehem-born director is known for powerful stories from her homeland such as the films Salt of this Sea (2008), When I Saw You (2012) and Wajib (2017), which were all screened at the festival.
In Palestine 36, she takes a leap into the past and explores the lives of ordinary people living under the British mandate in 1936. Set in Jerusalem against the background a period where the idea of a Palestinian state was forming and Jewish immigration to the territory was rising, the film presents a fresh viewpoint on an underrepresented period.
Hiam Abbass and Saleh Bakri join a cast of Arab actors in the movie, which was filmed entirely in the Middle East. Jeremy Irons will star alongside them as an officer of the British administration. The film is Palestine’s official entry to the Academy Awards this year.
With Hasan in Gaza
Artist and filmmaker Kamal Aljafari was imprisoned in 1989 by Israel during the Palestinian Intifada when he became friends with his cellmate Abdel Rahim. Twelve years later, Aljafari returned to Gaza on quest to find Rahim, armed with a camcorder, a picture and hist trusty guide Hasan.
With Hasan in Gaza is Aljafari’s memoir of his 2001 trip. Using footage he recorded in Gaza, he illustrates how the oppression of the Palestinian people is nothing new. Testimonials from residents about Israeli raids and sniper attacks paint a grim picture of life even during ‘peacetime’ and in supposed ‘safe-zones’, as the smiles of children and monotony of life show how a resilient people carry on in the face of such challenges.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
This film was born out of an unlikely friendship between an Iranian filmmaker living in Paris and a photojournalist living through Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Sepideh Farsi used a year of video calls between herself and Fatma Hassouna to show the effects of Israeli attacks on civilian lives.
The title itself is how Hassouna describes the experience of living amidst constant bombardment. The two develop a bond and the photographer is shown as hopeful amidst the chaos; enthusiastic about her photography, her fiancé, and dreams she’d love to pursue if she weren’t living under siege.
In April, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk was selected to premiere at Cannes at a parallel showcase called ACID. The next day, Hassouna was killed when the Israeli military fired missiles at her apartment.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
A tribute to a little girl gunned down by an Israeli tank, The Voice of Hind Rajab is Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s emotional masterpiece which Vogue says is deserving of the Golden Lion at the Venice Bienale, where it received the longest standing ovation in the festival’s history on Tuesday. The film is Tunisia’s entry to the Oscars.
The Voice of Hind Rajab follows operators at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) as they try to respond to the desperate pleas for help coming from six-year-old Hind Rajab, who has just seen family members get shot as they drove through Gaza City. A harrowing true story, the film uses real voice recordings from Hind’s phone call to the PRCS instead of having her lines voiced by an actor.
It’s So Beautiful Here
One of two pieces showcased at TIFF by Palestinian filmmaker Basma al-Sharif, It’s So Beautiful Here shows a horse ride at dusk on a farm in Gaza, transporting viewers into a scene of tranquillity and devastation. The short will screen with With Hasan in Gaza as a double feature.
Isabelle Mecattaf’s Not Scared, Just Sad will also be screened at the festival. The film isn’t based on Palestine, but it records the director and her family going through Israel’s bombing of Beirut, a very personal account of what it means to live through war.
TIFF announced on August 13 it would not be including The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, a documentary on a man’s journey rescuing his family during the October 7 attacks. The announcement was, however, rescinded a day later and the festival’s organisers denied any notions of the film being rejected as “censorship”.
The festival runs from September 4 to 14, with more information on screenings and ticket sales available on their website.
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