Genocide in Real Time on Our Screens: Story of Fatem in Gaza

This is the story of Fatma Hassouna—Fatem—who died on April 16 at the age of 25 after Israel’s targeted attack with two missiles on the building where she and her family lived.

Fatem lived in the Al-Touffah neighbourhood in the northern part of Gaza City. Her entire family, including her sister Ala who was five months pregnant, died in this attack. The Israeli forces may have thought that by killing her, they would erase the images that she, and many others, have been transmitting about the slow genocide that continues in Gaza. Instead, the Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi’s documentary on her, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, which was screened in the Cannes film festival, broke through the conspiracy of silence that shrouds the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Since the invasion of Gaza by Israel, Fatem had been documenting daily life for the enclave's residents, opening a window into Gaza. This broke the conspiracy of silence that Israel has imposed on Gaza by not allowing international journalists to visit Gaza.

According to Forensic Architecture based at Goldsmiths University in London, “Our analysis indicates that Fatma Hassouna's home was targeted using precision guided munitions (PGMs), equipped with guidance and control systems—including GPS and a delay fuse—designed to detonate at a specific coordinates and floor level.

The missiles dropped by the Israeli military specifically targeted the Hassouna family’s apartment on Floor 2. She was killed just days before her wedding. Ten members of her family were also killed. She is among the more than 200 journalists who, according to UN agencies, have been killed in the ongoing genocidal offensive in Gaza.

Why did Fatima Hassouna document Gaza and its citizens? It was to bring to life its people, how they lived, what they felt, and above all, how they met the violence that had become a daily part of their lives. To show that Gazans felt joy, laughed, wept, and lived like resilient people despite the ongoing catastrophe in their lives. Her camera captured how humanity cannot be killed, even when extreme violence becomes a part of everyday existence.

As Sepideh Farsi held up her photo—that of a young woman with a radiant smile—the audience in the Olympia Hall in Cannes on April 16, rose as one to honour Hassouna’s memory. During the opening ceremony of the festival on May 13, the president of the Cannes competition jury, Juliette Binoche, paid tribute to Hassouna.

Also, the day before the opening of the festival, an open letter was published in Vanity Fair and Libération, bringing together more than 300 cinema figures (including Pedro Almodovar, David Cronenberg, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Ruben Östlund, etc.), condemning the "silence" over Gaza.

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, is the documentary on Hassouna made by the Iranian film maker Sepideh Farsi, who currently resides in France. The film was presented in the official selection of ACID (Independent Film Association for Distribution), running parallel to the festival and is set to be released in French theatres on September 24. Hassouna's death occurred the day after the film's selection at Cannes was announced.

According to ABC Net, Australia, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that Hassouna’s death occurred in its “targeting a Hamas member” who was inside the house. Speaking about Hassouna’s killing, Sepideh said, "I don't know how to describe people who give such orders, to eliminate a young woman who is just taking photos. Are these images really that disturbing? I guess so…”

Le Monde writes about the film:

The film also tells the story of the growing friendship between the two women. Le Monde writes, “Farsi must have always feared for her friend's life, pushing away the possibility, believing in miracles, while sensing that this friendship film would also become a cinematic tombstone…

Before she was murdered, everything had already been taken from "Fatem," "the big things and the small things." Food, carefree moments, the future. Like all Gazans, she had lost dozens of loved ones, killed under Israeli army bombings. Yet, "Fatem" still managed to smile. This is a common trait of great documentaries about war-torn populations devastated by death: They are also great movies about life. Because, before disappearing, "Fatem" appears and lingers before our eyes, in this film that seeks to eternally record the thoughts and life of a young Gazan, connecting us to what will always be missing from the informational realm: intimacy, the impression of touching one life and, through it, all others.”

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is the story of a young girl who, strangely enough, lives: She writes poems, dreams of traveling. It is from this little pixelated window, emblematic of the prison she finds herself in, "Fatem" tells her story...

Her friend, Asmaa Abdu, writes in Electronic Intifada,

“My dearest friend Fatima Hassouna has been martyred. Writing this feels unreal – as if I am waiting for her familiar voice to echo in my ear. We had a playful way of saying “hello” to each other. And Fatima had the most magical of laughs. She could disarm you instantly.

But the silence remains and the void caused by her absence is too vast to comprehend.

Fatima was a photographer and a filmmaker. More importantly – for me – she was an extremely warm human being. She was strong and – in a good way – stubborn.

I knew Fatima from childhood. But life – as it often does – had pulled us apart for many years. It wasn’t until Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza that we became close again. This happened unexpectedly during a film project. Fatima was behind the camera, and I was there with a pen in order to write articles. Our reunion – despite the chaotic circumstances – rekindled something profound. Our shared grief and resilience made our friendship deeper.

Fatima was deeply committed to her craft. She never simply documented a moment. She became part of it.”