‘With Hasan In Gaza’ review: Palestinian filmmaker journeys through rediscovered footage in poignant documentary

Dir: Kamal Aljafari. Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar. 2025. 106mins.

Kamal Aljafari presents a time capsule of footage from Gaza in 2001 on this vérité documentary drawn from three miniDV tapes that the Palestinian filmmaker, who’s now primarily based in Berlin, not too long ago rediscovered. Initially supposed as the idea for his debut movie, which was by no means made, they had been shot as Aljafari went in the hunt for a person who had been imprisoned alongside him in 1989. He’s guided by Gazan resident Hasan Elboubou, whose whereabouts are additionally now unknown. The result’s a uncooked however poignant snapshot of Gaza throughout the Second Intifada, which is referenced by a number of of those that converse to the director.

The spectre of battle hangs within the air

Though much less experimental than A Fidai Movie, Aljafari’s earlier documentary, With Hasan In Gaza nonetheless employs an uncommon construction that doesn’t supply a lot in the way in which of context till deep within the working time. It signifies that though it’s prone to get pleasure from a robust competition run, subsequent area of interest distribution is most possible after its premiere within the worldwide competitors in Locarno.

The hand held-camera journey — shot principally by Aljafari himself — travels from the north of Gaza in direction of the south, documenting on a regular basis exercise alongside the way in which. It is going to be unattainable for most individuals to look at this document of life unfolding with out excited about the present humanitarian disaster in Gaza as conflict continues following the Hamas assault and hostage-taking in Israel on October 7, 2023. 

The spectre of battle hangs within the air as Aljafari speaks to folks close to a market. Whereas it’s largely a vibrant area, some outlets are shuttered, with one contributor observing “the financial scenario has been unhealthy for the reason that final intifada”. A way of financial gloom is blended with humour as a bunch of males play playing cards in a barber’s store. “Movie the unemployed,” says one, whereas a second counters, “Movie my bald head, make it look good!”

The present conflict additionally finds its echoes up to now as Aljafari is proven round a household residence that has been shelled. There’s a palpable sense of concern generated by the presence of the Israeli army, as greater than as soon as somebody frets the digicam could also be mistaken for a weapon. He additionally talks to somebody strolling via the rubble of houses that had been destroyed earlier than folks had any probability to pack, a second that chimes with the more moderen West Financial institution-filmed Oscar winner No Different Land. 

At night time, Aljafari’s digicam watches as mortar hearth is shipped from Gaza into Israel and receives retaliation, its depressingly commonplace nature introduced residence by the way in which his information can distinguish between the Israeli and Palestinian munitions purely by listening to them. A lot of the sound used is diegetic, with the harmful proximity of the battle emphasised as weapons change is heard whereas the digicam paperwork a toddler’s bed room. Snippets of in-car music are additionally heard, coupled with spare and dissonant scoring from Simon Fisher Turner and Attila Faravelli, stuffed with mournful glissandos.   

In a lighter second, a bunch of youngsters splash about within the sea, whereas their father tells Aljafari he’s attempting to make up for misplaced time together with his children after eight years in jail. These children, in widespread with many who seem within the movie, are excited by the presence of the digicam, begging Aljafari to “take an image of us”. It’s a repeated demand that’s prone to immediate many viewers to marvel the place they — and people now the identical age — are within the current day.

Apart from shifting from one place to a different, the enhancing seems minimal, presumably as a result of Aljafari didn’t wish to lose the dialogue exchanges. That technique lends the movie immediacy, but it surely means the digicam is commonly unruly or sweeping about, which can make it a tough look ahead to these susceptible to movement illness. Given how private this materials clearly is to the director, With Hasan In Gaza may need benefited from extra editorial collaboration. Simply how private turns into evident late within the movie because the director presents a bleak recollection of his time in jail with the person he was looking for, offered in subtitled Arabic script, which seems on the display screen somewhat than through narration. This fragment of reminiscence merges with the footage, which within the act of being discovered by Aljafari acts as a reminder of a lot that has been misplaced within the years since.