Hélène Lam Trong’s Inside Gaza was invited to Sarajevo after picking up the AJB Doc Special Award at the Sunny Side of the Doc in June 2024. The project also won the Best Global Issues Pitch Award in La Rochelle.
Budgeted at €479,566 with €316,236 still to be raised, the project’s logline tells a war most international media have been banned from covering, as told through the experiences of Palestinian AFP (Agence France-Presse) reporters trapped in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the subsequent Israeli retaliation. “While ensuring their survival and that of their loved ones, they work under rocket fire and propaganda from all sides,” the synopsis reads.
“Our film brings the unique perspective of what happened in Gaza, seen through the eyes of professional witnesses working for an independent international news agency, dedicated to fact-based journalism,” says Yann Ollivier, Head of Documentary at French outfit FACTSTORY. “The world has seen a lot of images of the war in Gaza, but this film provides a unique testimony of the making of news coming out of Gaza. It also tells how hard it is to be a reporter there, dealing with coverage restrictions and bad internet connections, while living in a constant fear of targeted strikes at media representatives.”
“But our film goes beyond that. It tells the story of reporting the news under rocket fire and under political propaganda coming from all sides,” he adds.
“Our protagonists have been caught in the middle of a fierce war of images, sometimes seeing their own stories distorted, manipulated, or censored. Some have accused them of being Israeli spies, they’ve had stones thrown at them, while others have accused them of being terrorists. And it’s also a film about the essence of war journalism: do you keep on reporting when your relatives and your own life are at risk? What do you do if people ask you to use your car to bring victims of a strike to the nearest hospital? When do you stop being a journalist in war situations? Last but not least, it is a film about factual journalism versus fake news and the influence of social media.”
In 2023 Director Hélène Lam Trong won the prestigious Albert Londres Prize for her film Ghost Children of ISIS, and has just completed another “very powerful” work on the aftermaths of the war in Raqqa, Syria.
“[Her] first quality for [Inside Gaza] is that she’s been a journalist herself, so she can easily relate from a professional point of view to the protagonists of her film,” says Ollivier. “We believe it is our duty to address the war in Gaza in an impartial, journalistic manner, while also being humane and sensitive. Over her 20-year career, Hélène has specialized in delicate and controversial subjects (sexual abuse, terrorism, radicalization, racism, social violence, cancer), and we believe she’s the perfect fit for this project despite the challenges it will present.”
He further explains how the film’s narrative arc will build upon “the intimate experience of the nightmare that we’ve gone through, as well as the memories of happier days.” The film will be composed of intertwining storylines featuring the daily lives of the AFP reporters during the 5-7 months they have spent in Gaza illustrated by AFP footage and exclusive footage shot behind the scenes, as well as “cinematic shots” of their lives now that they are out of Gaza. “We will be filming them in their new environments in exile, starting a new life while being confronted with their memories and interacting with friends, relatives and colleagues who are still in Gaza,” says Ollivier.
Belgian broadcaster RTBF and ARTE have committed to the project. At Sarajevo Ollivier is looking to attract other funding partners and distributors, as well as festivals and impact production partners ahead of a mid-2025 premiere.
The producer further underlines how the film will address another overarching and contemporary dilemma. “Given the level of fake news and accusations of dishonest reporting surrounding the Gaza conflict, we believe that this film is a necessary contribution to the global debate about the role of professional journalists in conflicts.”
