Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi on 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' and Fatma Hassona

Documenting Gaza Through Fatma Hassona's Lens

• 💡 Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi discusses her film, "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk," which documents life in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli military campaign.
• 🎯 The film focuses on the perspective of Fatma Hassona, a young woman from Gaza, aiming to fill the absence of Gazan voices in conflict narratives.
• ✈️ Farsi traveled to Cairo in April 2024 to connect with Palestinian refugees from Gaza, eventually finding Fatma Hassona through a mutual contact.

Building Trust and Capturing Gaza's Reality

• 🤝 Farsi and Hassona established immediate mutual trust, with Hassona readily agreeing to be filmed and share her images and views.
• 📸 Hassona's photography captured various aspects of life in Gaza, including the war, destruction, daily struggles for resources like water and food, and the resilience of children.
• 💔 Farsi describes receiving devastating images from Hassona, including a particularly harrowing set showing a young boy cleaning a site after an attack, which deeply affected her emotionally.

The Emotional Toll and Mission

• 😥 Farsi experienced guilt over her own safety and travel while Hassona was in Gaza, but Hassona consistently reassured her, emphasizing their shared understanding and connection.
• 💬 Hassona viewed her documentation as a unique mission to share the Palestinian perspective and the reality of the situation with the world.

Cannes Recognition and Tragic Loss

• 🎉 Farsi received the news that her film was selected for the Cannes Film Festival, a moment she shared with Hassona via video call.
• 💔 Tragically, just a day after this joyful news, Hassona was killed in an Israeli air strike along with nine members of her family.
• 😔 Farsi expresses disbelief and ongoing grief, still sending messages to Hassona, highlighting a past instance where she feared Hassona was lost but she reconnected.

Fatma Hassona's Legacy and Poem

• ✍️ Hassona was also a writer, and Farsi shared a poignant poem written by Hassona about her potential death and her desire for her passing to be a loud, globally recognized event.
• 🕊️ The poem reflects Hassona's deep disappointment with silence and inaction, her desire for justice, and her wish for the world to know her story.
• 🌟 Farsi's hope for the film is that it will be seen by as many people as possible, sharing Hassona's work, words, and images.
• 💔 Hassona's family also suffered greatly, with her father in a coma, her mother severely injured, and other family members lost in the attack.