22 powerful short films: Steven Dávila reviews From Ground Zero which screened as part of Docs Ireland.
How much power can be relayed by having a camera and something to say? That is what my standout film of Docs Ireland 2025, From Ground Zero, unearths. This is a collection of 22 short documentary films by 22 Palestinian artists, ranging in length and form, and assembled by Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi. Born from Israel’s ongoing genocide, these shorts naturally bleed into one another: visions of rubble and blood pools, wails, despair and disbelief, a ringing in your brain that cannot be shaken. There are, of course, many awful images, and the sensations of fear and disgust drawn from you are visceral. However, it is important to mention just how full of love and joy these shorts are as well. Memories and images become present and real. Suddenly, walking around your own home is a statement. Reaching for a loved one is the most precious thing in the world. From Ground Zero is a testament to their cultural resilience: that such bright feeling still overwhelms the horror is reinvigorating, as is the love for art and creation that is present in each short.
That passion of each filmmaker is tangible. On display are those who already had love for and experience with the form, and those with little or no experience at all (one moving segment was an animated short put together by schoolchildren and their teachers). Yet familiarity and knowledge do not factor much into the quality; even bringing the word into conversation is wrong. Film is seldom this raw, authentic and reflective, especially when resources are so limited. The difference in shorts—documentaries, interviews, fiction, animation and experimental work—provides plenty of diversity and mirrors the richness in culture and perspectives on the same events affecting so many people.
There is no apparent order to the shorts; rather, the fragmented structure serves to mirror a physical fragmentation. The displacement of people and their scattered thoughts are not only among the focus of the shorts, but are within the fabric of their making. In one particularly evocative short entitled Sorry Cinema, the director, Ahmad Hassouna, contends with his dreams of being a filmmaker and a survivor through both his own archived footage and what he filmed for this project. He reflects on his career and its purpose amidst a genocide, ultimately making this short as an apology to the form he loves because he must put himself and his family ahead of it. Another standout is Taxi Wanissa from Etimad Washah, about a cart driver, his donkey, and the means of offering fellow Palestinians a way to rest and travel. Midway through the film, it ends, and Washah informs the audience of the murder of her brother and his family. Upon learning of this, she is unable to continue making the film, and instead delivers her shattering testimony on life in Palestine.
From Ground Zero simply reminds you of the total power of filmmaking, the potential emotional and political capacity of the form at a base level. There is very little for these filmmakers to work with, and the shorts can be quite unrefined, but that does not matter. The choice to film and explore is the political act, and the films’ existence is what is important. It is easy to be swept up by the potential scale of cinema, and the escape it can offer, but ultimately no amount of production value can replicate the true image. No amount of money could have made these upsetting experiences more upsetting, nor can it amplify the love and hope shown between people under such oppression.
To come up with films that can ignite these feelings within you, under these conditions, is quite frankly life-affirming. It is a reminder of cinema’s capabilities and beauty. Beyond that, the film is simply a remarkable display of political filmmaking, the different works amounting to a collective act of rebellion and expression, a unified voice.
One visual motif that stayed with me was the differing interpretations and involvements of the Gaza sea. The water is not only a source of tranquillity and inspiration for these filmmakers, but a living entity. A guard and a refuge, its endless horizon safe from the bombs, an eternal landmark of Palestinian beauty. Ultimately, that eternity is what this film serves: freedom to create and explore in an environment where it should be impossible to do so, to live forever through film.
From Ground Zero screened at Docs Ireland at Queen's Film Theatre on 24th June 2025.
