Gaza is a war zone. But it’s also the birthplace of Wafa Jamil, and the home of her family. The Other Gaza shows how daily life in Gaza really is, with sorrow and joy existing side-by side. For the audience to understand, as well as her young daughter Leia.
SYNOPSIS
Film director Wafa Jamil lives in Stockholm, but her family lives in Gaza. She longs for this conflict-ridden world where she was raised. She longs for the laughter and the tears and the unbridled creativity that shapes a meaningful life in the middle of this hell on earth. And she wants to give her child Leia the language, the culture, the music, the food and the love that Palestine represents for her.
THE OTHER GAZA is an autobiographical, intimate and family-focused story that ponders the dilemma of constantly yearning for a place where one can no longer live.
Director Statement
"Ramallah, Gaza and Stockholm have split me into three parts. Yet, I can’t live three separate lives, mentally or emotionally. My bond to Stockholm is the most confusing one. My beloved daughter is here. I feel safe and secure. It’s the best place to raise a child. But something is always missing. I feel unrooted even though I should be very grateful to my Swedish in-laws, who accepted me from the moment we met in 2011. Still, I left a part of my heart in my homeland. And now that is a bombed out crater, neither a place to live safely or raise a beautiful girl.”
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Wafa Jamil Espvall
Wafa is blacklisted by Israel because of her films and not permitted to travel freely between Gaza and the West Bank.
Wafa Jamil spent her childhood in Al-Shati refugee camp and Deir El Balah city in Gaza, before moving away to study journalism. She is the only member of her family to leave her siblings still living in the Gaza Strip, at this writing, in bombed-out apartments with barely liveable conditions. Although living in Stockholm, Wafa has an apartment in Ramallah on the West Bank, which is her anchor point in Palestine.
As a Palestinian, this film represents me as well as every other Palestinian, living in or out of Palestine. Being Palestinian brings with it difficulties that we encounter daily in the most basic life activities such as, visiting family, joining a wedding party of relatives, going to a funeral or just simply traveling. This is only one of the basic human rights taken from us, just like our homes, land and dreams.
Wafa is representing all Palestinians in this film, by telling her and her family’s story, reflecting the reality of Palestinians through an introduction to a new side of Gaza, a side unfamiliar to many, which is different from what is normally presented to the world by the news and media. I am honored to work with her on it and make it come to life.
Wafa Jamil is displaced. Uprooted, forced out, cast away. Plucked from a place where her roots ran deep and dropped somewhere completely different, where she has had to start from scratch, rootless. She is one of countless refugees who experience this, a feeling of not belonging where they are, and a constant longing for a place no longer exists: the memories of childhood..
How do you explain your love for these roots and these people to your own offspring? How is Wafa’s daughter Leia, a happy-go-lucky girl from Stockholm, supposed to understand her mother’s love for a place often referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison? A coastal strip which, at the time of writing, is going through its worst crisis to date?
With her Gazan roots and extensive experience as a documentary filmmaker, Wafa Jamil is in a unique position to tell the story of this journey. She has a passion and a commitment rarely seen before. She has already taught me a lot about the unfathomable depth of roots. About how a place can be both heaven and hell at the same time. She possesses a story that the world needs to hear.
PROMOTE THIS PROJECT
Put a donation widget on your site. Click here for code.
ABOUT YOUR DONATION
Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and a confirmation of your donation will be sent via email. WMM will send you an acknowledgement letter in the mail to the address listed for tax purposes.