October 7, 2023 changed the Middle East forever. As Israel’s retaliatory war on Gaza intensified over the month that followed, we wanted to portray what ‘ordinary’ life had become for Palestinians trapped in a besieged warzone. The premise was simple: ask a wide range of people in Gaza, that we could make contact with, to record themselves over the course of a day, whatever they could manage, on any device that still worked. Because who better to tell the stories of life there than the people themselves who are living through it?
Our compilation of people’s personal moments, woven into a nine-minute narrative, provides a compelling snapshot of one single day, out of the more than 200 of the conflict thus far, where even the most mundane of tasks – such as showering or preparing a meal – have become near impossible. Viewers get a brief but emotive glimpse into the daily challenges faced by those who shared their private moments with us and the world; moments that could have been their last. The film serves as a time capsule of life during the early weeks of a war with the grim accolade of having the highest daily death toll, according to Oxfam, of any conflict in the 21st century.
