Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi: ‘World’s silence is killing the people of Gaza’

The filmmaker, who shares his time between Ramallah and Paris, shot his new movie in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel last year on actual locations, continuing his policy of filming without approval of Israeli authorities. Masharawi, who is at the Ajyal Film Festival (November 16-23) in Doha, Qatar, to present From Ground Zero, an anthology of 22 short films made in the middle of war in Gaza by Palestinian filmmakers and produced by him, talks to The Federal on the role of art in the times of war, his own response as an artist to the war in Gaza, the state of Palestinian cinema, and his new film. Excerpts from the interview:

What is your new film, Passing Dreams, about?

It is a simple story. It is about a 12-year-old boy in a refugee camp in Palestine looking for his missing pigeon. He is told that pigeons go back to their original home. The boy then starts to search for the original home of the pigeon. He goes to Bethlehem, the old city of Jerusalem, and ends up in Haifa. His journey is not about the pigeon, it is about Palestine. The beauty of the land, the landscape, the history and the problems. I wrote and filmed Passing Dreams before October 7. When the war broke out, I was in the editing room of the film.

Where did the filming happen and what was the production process like?

We shot Passing Dreams in actual locations. We shot a refugee camp in a refugee camp, Bethlehem in Bethlehem, old city of Jerusalem inside the old city of Jerusalem close to the Al-Aqsa mosque and Haifa at the Carmel mountain range in Haifa. The production happened before October 7. But that doesn't mean before October 7 everything was fine. It was dangerous, it was risky shooting without permissions. We sometimes filmed secretly. I never take permissions from Israeli authorities for shooting on location because if you take permission, it gives them legitimacy. If I take permission to shoot in Jerusalem, it means they are allowing me to shoot in Jerusalem, which is part of my country.

Also read I Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri: ‘If I could go to Gaza, I’d go with my camera tomorrow’

How do you look back at your four-decade-long career as a filmmaker in the backdrop of the war in Gaza?

I was born in Gaza and grew up there. As a 20-year-old, I was filming in Gaza during the war, during the Intifada, and making films and showing all over the world. I always want to be far from the news. I don’t want to make any reportage. What is happening in Gaza is a massacre. It is a genocide. The silence of the world is killing the people of Gaza. 

How do you view the role of art in the times of war?

It is very important. I have been doing that for the last 40 years. Because we have been at war for 40 years since I was born. Art, in general, plays a big role in protecting identity and culture and saving memories. It is true, especially in cinema, because movies talk about history. We create through art our own history, our own identity and our own culture. Once you establish that, nobody can occupy this country. And this is what we are doing. We are making our Palestinian identity that is not possible to occupy. They can kill people, many people, destroy all the buildings, carry out massacres, but they can’t occupy us. And they can’t win this war. They can kill us with American weapons, they can kill us with the silence of European countries and Arab countries. But it is not possible for them to win the war because of culture, because of history, because of art. This is the role of art, all art, like paintings, writings, music, dance, theatre and cinema. Nobody can occupy dreams, thoughts, memories and ideas.

Two months ago you joined other Palestinian filmmakers like Mai Masri and Elia Suleiman to condemn “dehumanizing” of Palestinians by the Western entertainment industry in an open letter. What has been the response to your criticism?

We joined together to express our opinion, also hoping many of these things could change. But historically the American film industry has been creating negative characters of Arabs, Palestinians and Islam, even in big old Hollywood films. Hollywood damages the reality of us. Sometimes when I watch these Hollywood films with friends, we would say, ‘We didn’t look like this, we didn’t think like this, we didn’t behave like this, we didn’t dress like this. We are free people, from where do they bring those characters to put in the minds of millions and millions that they should take care of this primitive society.’ It is a big influence and we are too small to change this image. But we will not give up.

The war in Gaza has been going on for over a year with no ceasefire in sight. What is the future of Palestine?

I don’t know, really I don’t know. But what I know is that I am not worried about the Palestinians existing in Palestine, in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem, even inside historic Palestine. I am not worried. We are not fighting to exist. The Israelis are fighting to exist. They say it could be the end of the Israeli state. But we never say it could be the end of Palestine because we are there like the mountains, like the rivers and we are in harmony with the place. We are not a settlement. We don’t need to protect ourselves. We are at home. This is what makes me relax about the future. I don’t know when and how, but I try not to worry. I feel sad we are losing many people. The Israeli military is destroying everything. It is a bad feeling. Maybe this war in Gaza will change the world outside, just to remind them about humanity. They have to think about themselves as human beings more. In Europe, they are always talking about freedom of expression, human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, animal rights, environment... It is all fake talk. Their mask just fell down. Sometimes, I feel sorry for them. They want me to be their friend to explain to them about our humanity. But they didn’t manage to explain to me their humanity. Let us hope that Gaza will fix something in this world in the future.

Also read I Eliane Raheb interview: ‘Everyday, my country Lebanon is being destroyed’

What is the state of Palestinian cinema today?

Palestinian filmmakers are making movies in Jordan, in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Also, in the United States and Australia. They all make Palestinian films, maybe in another language, but it is still about Palestine even if it has nothing to do with Palestine. Even if a Palestinian filmmaker wants to make a movie about a love story in India, it is a Palestinian film. We are human beings like others, making cinema, showing cinema, even if it is entertainment. Let the people enjoy our cinema. 

Have you visited India or attended a film festival in the country?

I was in New Delhi more than a decade ago to show my film, Palestine Stereo, at the Asian Film Festival. I have strong memories of not only the festival, but also of a trip I made to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. But what was more important for me than the festival, and the Taj Mahal itself, was to see this country during the road journey, to see the landscape, the people, and understand the rich history. There are also poor people fighting to exist in India. I learned a lot from this journey. Touching the lives of the common people was very important for me.

What are your memories of Indian cinema, which is popular in the Middle East?

The first film I saw in my life as a child was Indian. In Gaza, we had three cinemas. I am talking about the 1960s. They were all showing Indian films then. After school, we used to go to the cinema to watch Indian films. We knew the songs inside out without understanding the language. We would sing the songs in school, at home and neighbourhood.