SAFAR Film Festival and Falasteen on Film invite you to a screening of A State of Passion, the urgent new documentary by filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi. Join us before the screening for a short vigil, honouring the martyrs of Gaza through poetry, music and testimonies. Palestinian sage tea and honey will be provided.
Stay for a conversation after the film to learn more about the tireless efforts of healthcare workers in Gaza.
7pm - Vigil, music and poetry outside the cinema
8pm - Screening starts
9:40pm - Conversation
10:15 - End of event
About A State of Passion
After 43 horrific days working round the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals, British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.
This was Ghassan’s sixth and most horrific Gaza “war”. Why does he do it? Where does he find the strength to face it again and again? How does it impact his family? How do they process the risks he takes? The answer lies simply in their shared passion: Palestine, a passion they articulate through their support of his perilous humanitarian work.
Filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, close friends of the Abu Sittahs, share that same passion. They were waiting anxiously for Ghassan to emerge from Gaza, following a long and terrifying journey through the night, to meet him in Amman. Determined to capture his raw emotions they began filming him the moment he arrived through the door. Following him to Beirut, Amman, London, Kuwait, and Dubai, they and he explore their common State of Passion.
Premiering at the 2024 Cairo International Film Festival and awarded the Saad Eldin Wahba Award for Best Arabic Film, A State of Passion offers a deeply human perspective on the cost of survival and the ongoing fight for dignity.
Content notes: this film contains graphic footage of war including torture, injury, surgery and, views of dead bodies.
