Also screens on Tuesday, October 21 | 1:45 PM | BB
Screenlife movies are typically the terrain of low-budget horror, but Sepideh Farsi’s heartbreaking documentary seizes on the style to do something entirely different and far more rewarding. Over the course of a year, she corresponded regularly with 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who lived in Gaza, via FaceTime. These two women, separated by thousands of miles, collaborate to amplify the plight of a people living through war crimes every day. Fatma holds the center as a courageous young idealist enduring an unfathomable situation. Over the course of the movie, the war takes a toll on her spirit, but her hope, resilience, and ambitions never fade. With shades of Chantal Akerman’s No Home Movie, Farsi records their phone calls using a separate mobile device, so instead of static talking heads, she is constantly reframing the compositions, catching glimpses of her home and various hotels, and capturing the dust and stains on the screen with Fatma’s beaming face. The layers of mediation emphasize our physical and emotional detachment from the crisis, as Farsi imbues her own guilt and helplessness into the very format of the movie. But even through all the pixelation and hitchy connections, Fatma’s megawatt smile and incandescent personality still light up the screen. ~OO