‘Inside Gaza’ wins best documentary at Montreal's Cinemania festival

Film on AFP journalists honored in Montreal

Montreal's Cinemania Film Festival on Saturday gave its Best Documentary Film award to “Inside Gaza,” a documentary that follows journalists from global news agency AFP after the October 7, 2023 attack. The film was directed by Helene Lam Trong.

Running 72 minutes, it follows the daily lives of four AFP journalists who bear witness to the difficulties of reporting in a war-torn territory largely closed off to international media. The film is compiled from material produced by the team on the ground, as well as from interviews conducted after they left.

Zaanoun dedicates the prize to colleagues

Adel Zaanoun, AFP's Gaza bureau chief and one of the film's four protagonists, accepted the award in Montreal. He dedicated the win to all the journalists “killed in this crazy and dirty war in Gaza” and to those “who still work on the ground without food, without water, without internet, without anything.”

Zaanoun also called on people worldwide to “continue to support journalists not only in Gaza,” but “everywhere for media freedom.” The film has won multiple international awards and is eligible for Oscar contention.

Background to the war

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel killed more than 1,200 people, the vast majority of them civilians, and armed men also took more than 200 people hostage. Israel launched an enormous military response, pulverizing swathes of Gaza in attacks that have left 73,000 people dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.