Makeshift movie screenings in Gaza City bring children ‘out of the ruin’ | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The initiative is helping Gaza’s children “glimpse a better reality,” says Palestinian filmmaker Mustafa al-Nabih.

The children of Gaza City, traumatized by more than two years of bombing and mass displacement, the loss of family, friends and the destruction of their homes and schools in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, are getting a brief respite thanks to a local film initiative.

Volunteers have set up a makeshift screen in one of the city’s displaced persons camps to show films, offering children a rare space to have fun and experience moments of normality and solace despite the war and Israel’s continued ceasefire violations.

“We are here trying to present many activities for children to live in a positive environment,” said Minass al-Jabour, media coordinator for the initiative. “So we’re trying to make them skip the scenes, the hard scenes that they experienced during the war in Gaza.”

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 20,000 children and injured tens of thousands more since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza health authorities. At least 55,000 children have lost one or both parents.

With 92 percent of the enclave’s schools severely damaged or destroyed, most children have not had access to formal education for two years.

For many, the screenings offer the first opportunity to see a film since the conflict began.

“This is something new for me. I came out of the war and they offer us many activities, including cinema… and we really enjoy it,” Sara Abu Sharbi, a displaced girl in the camp, told Al Jazeera, against a backdrop of flimsy tents and buildings covered in rubble.

Palestinian filmmaker Mustafa al-Nabih, who is also involved in the initiative, said he believes art, like film, is a way for children to hold on to hope and imagination.

“A child who has seen so much blood and loss can, through cinema, glimpse a better reality,” al-Nabih said.

“Cinema transports a child to a world of imagination, love and beauty. It moves their minds, allows them to reach a distant horizon and shows them colors, stories and moments that lift them out of the ruin that surrounds them,” he said.