Palestinian Photojournalist and Subject of Upcoming Cannes Documentary Killed by Israeli Airstrike
A Palestinian photojournalist whose work is at the heart of an upcoming Cannes documentary has been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Fatima Hassouna, 25, died in Gaza City on Wednesday (April 16) along with nine members of her family just days after a documentary by filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, in which Hassouna is the main character, was accepted to play at the Cannes Film Festival.
“She was such a light, so talented,” Farsi tells Deadline. “When you see the film you’ll understand.”
Hassouna has remained in Gaza ever since the October 7 attacks by Hamas which sparked Israel’s military operation. She covered civilian evacuations, the aftermath of airstrikes, and funerals. Her work has been published in The Guardian and other international websites.
Farsi says she spoke to Hassouna just hours before the strike, sharing the news of the film’s selection and inviting her to the premiere.
According to Farsi, Hassouna was open to attending, but only if she could return home afterward. The director had begun working with the French Embassy to arrange a safe way out and back in.
“I was worried about how to get her out and back in safely. I didn’t want to have the responsibility of separating her from her family,” says Farsi.
Farsi says now Hassouna and her entire family are gone.
“I’m trying to find out if her parents are dead but for sure Fatima and her sisters and brothers are dead. One of the sisters was pregnant. On a video call two days ago, she showed me her belly. It’s so horrible and devastating. Fatima herself had gotten engaged a few months ago,” the director tells Deadline.
The Israeli military tells Le Monde the attack was targeting a member of Hamas who was involved “in attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.” It adds that “precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties.”
Since Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel — which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of 251 hostages — Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has continued for 18 months. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health authority, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed during that time.
“We met Fatima Hassouna when we discovered Sepideh Farsi’s film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. Her smile was as magical as her tenacity: bearing witness, photographing Gaza, distributing food despite bombs, grief, and hunger,” reads a statement by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema, which selected the film for its Cannes lineup.
“Yesterday, we learned with horror that an Israeli missile targeted her building, killing Fatima and her family.
“We had watched and programmed a film in which this young woman’s life force was nothing short of miraculous. This is a different film than the one we will carry, support, and present in every theater, starting with Cannes.”
