"Highly Recommended. A powerful film of fact about the lives of everyday people passionately driven to “survive” and “celebrate life” in a land where no one can take flight or evacuate or courage." - Malcom L. Rigsby, Educational Media Reviews Online
"Recommended. Any political or terrorist sympathies remain off-camera here as Qishta serves up a troubling portrait of modern civilian "collateral damage." - C. Cassady, Video Librarian
The film itself breaks the blockade. Filmmakers in Gaza have never had the opportunity to make a full length, professional documentary of their reality. Fida Qishta, born and raised in Rafah, Gaza, began her filmmaking career as a wedding videographer, and soon moved on to working with international human rights observers in Gaza, documenting day to day life under siege. Her commentary on the siege was published in The International Herald Tribune. Her video reports of Operation Cast Lead were published widely including in the UK newspaper The Guardian and in their weekly news magazine, The Observer.
Fida founded The Life-Maker’s Centre, Rafah, Gaza. She was the manager and a teacher at this free facility for 300 children affected by war. The center continues to provide a safe place to play and offers counseling and English language tutoring.
Listen to Flashpoints radio interview by Dennis Bernstein with director Fida Qishta.
About Flashpoints:
Flashpoints is an award-winning daily investigative newsmagazine broadcast on the national Pacifica Radio network. Through original reports and some of the key investigative reporters of our time, Flashpoints goes to the frontlines and to the core of the stories in the areas of government and corporate criminality, human rights, and economic justice.