Life Is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza (2024)
Director: Mohamed Jabaly Run Time: 93 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2023 Language: Arabic
Starring: Mohamed Jabaly
Country: Norway, Palestinian Territories
Language: Arabic, Norwegian, and English
About the film:
IDFA 2023 Best Directing Award, and Official Selection of Hot Docs Festival 2024. Exiled above the arctic circle in Norway and refusing to accept the boundaries imposed by international politics and rigid bureaucracy, Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly insists on telling heartfelt stories from his hometown Gaza. Despite his statelessness and having only limited connection to his family abroad, he manages to channel support from friends and his own creativity, adhering to his motto “Life is Beautiful.”
“I didn’t know then that it would become a testimony. I didn’t know these streets wouldn’t exist anymore…If I knew, I would have filmed more.”
—Mohamed Jabaly on the release of Life is Beautiful (2024) in POV Magazine
About the filmmaker:
Mohamed Jabaly is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist from Gaza City. He has won several awards for his work, including Best Directing at IDFA, the Grand Prix Award at FIFDH, the International Competition Jury Award for Best Film at One World Festival and the Audience Award at Docville Belgium. Jabaly has held workshops in filmmaking for young people and served on juries for several film festivals. In his latest film, Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza (2024) Jabaly details his seven year fight to get back to his family, during which time he made his award-winning film, Ambulance (2016).
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