Seeking to film a documentary about the unfolding war in Gaza, Iranian documentarian Sepideh Farsi travels to Cairo in early 2024 hoping to document the events from the city streets. When she is denied entry, she shifts the documentary’s focus, instead capturing her video calls with Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna. Sepideh and Fatima call often, both of them continuing their work as Sepideh travels the globe to show and promote her films and Fatima struggles to keep her camera working and supplied with film as the bombing intensifies. Through Fatima’s calls, we’re shown the reality of war as she and her family cling to their meager home as missiles rain down and tanks encroach. Even as her friends, family, and neighbors are killed, Fatima smiles, showing us the true strength of the Palestinian people: hope.
After a call to Fatima to celebrate the selection of this film to the Cannes Film Festival, the next day, 16 April 2025, Fatima and 9 of her family members are killed during an air strike on their home by Israeli forces. The film credits them, those who died for nothing more than living where they and their ancestors were born. I’ll get my criticism out of the way because it is brief: Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is almost entirely footage of iPhone video calls shot on a cell phone. Sepideh Farsi does bring us an interesting documentary experiment alongside the story of a martyred photojournalist, but for some it will prove too much effort to find cellphone footage of iPhone video calls entrancing. As a moment in history and a cultural artifact, this documentary is highly valuable. If your patrons can’t get enough documentary content about Palestine or the recent history of the Middle East, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk will be a must-have for library shelves. In many ways, this documentary plays out like if Anne Frank had wi-fi, and because of that, we don’t have to wait decades for this story to be discovered and published. Highly Recommended.
Why should public and academic libraries consider including this Gaza documentary in their collections?
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk stands as a powerful firsthand account of life during an ongoing conflict, offering a rare perspective shaped through direct communication with a working photojournalist on the ground. Its unconventional structure, built from video calls rather than traditional footage, reinforces the immediacy and urgency of the material. For public libraries, it serves patrons interested in contemporary global events, human rights, and Middle Eastern history. Academic libraries will find it particularly valuable for courses in journalism, media studies, conflict studies, and documentary ethics, as it raises important questions about witnessing, authorship, and how stories are preserved in real time. As a cultural artifact, it captures a moment that is still unfolding, giving it lasting historical relevance.
Is this Gaza documentary suitable for classroom or community discussion-based screenings?
Yes, especially in moderated or educational settings. The film’s format and subject matter make it well suited for discussions about war reporting, digital storytelling, and the role of media in documenting lived experience during conflict. In classrooms, it can prompt conversations about perspective, access, and the limitations and strengths of nontraditional documentary forms. For community screenings, it works best when paired with contextual framing or facilitated dialogue, helping audiences process both the emotional impact and the broader implications of what they are witnessing. While its minimal production style may not engage all viewers equally, those willing to engage with its format will find it deeply affecting and thought-provoking.
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