"Dans Gaza" wins best documentary at Montreal's Cinemania festival
Directed by Hélène Lam Trong, "Dans Gaza" won the best documentary prize at Montreal's Cinemania festival. This 72-minute film immerses in the daily lives of four AFP Palestinian journalists, who covered the first months of the war at the risk of their lives.
A documentary directed by Hélène Lam Trong, titled "Dans Gaza," took home the top prize for best documentary at Montreal's Cinemania festival on November 14th. The film chronicles the experiences of four Agence France-Presse journalists who reported on the conflict from Gaza after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023.
These journalists, Mai Yaghi, Adel Zaanoun, Mahmud Hams, and Mohammed Abed, faced immense challenges in their reporting, enduring daily bombardment, limited access, and the personal danger to themselves and their families.
Lam Trong, a veteran journalist who transitioned to documentary filmmaking, was approached by AFP in January 2024, three months after the war began. Despite never being able to enter Gaza due to the Israeli army's ban on free press access, she assembled the documentary from the testimonies of the four reporters and their own footage. Nearly 85% of the film is composed of their personal images.
At the festival, it was Adel Zaanoun who accepted the award on behalf of the team, dedicating the prize to the journalists killed in the war and those still reporting in the field under dire conditions. The film has garnered recognition at several international film festivals, including Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, the Grand Prix and Audience Award at FIGRA, and two prizes at Doc Edge in New Zealand.
With this success, "Dans Gaza" now has a strong chance of being nominated for the 2027 Oscars in the best documentary category.
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