It's been two years since Hamas seized military control of the Gaza Strip, sparking a new -- and still unresolved -- internal Palestinian rift and leading to tighter Israeli restrictions that have made life in the isolated Mediterranean strip ever more bleak.
The Israeli human rights group Gisha has issued two years of numbers on the closure. Gisha notes that Israel lets in only 18 kinds of food items and no substantive building materials to rebuild Gaza after the three week Israeli military offensive last winter.
Earlier this year, Gisha also released a short animated film about Gaza, "Closed Zone," produced by the animator of the award-winning Israeli film "Waltz With Bashir."
Now a Palestinian animator is releasing what is billed as the first 3D computer animated film produced in the West Bank.
The 30-minute film, Fatenah, is inspired by the true story of a woman from Gaza who finds a lump in her breast and then has to battle Israeli restrictions so she can get out for life-saving medical treatment.
The movie was directed and animated by Ahmad Habash, a young Palestinian filmmaker who worked on the project for 15 months. It was funded by the World Health Organization, which, along with Israel's Physicians for Human Rights, provided Ahmad with the story that is the basis for the film.
Fatenah will have its world debut at Ramallah's Al Kasaba theater on July 1.
Below is a trailer for the movie...

Comments