A profound testament to the importance of artistic statements in the face of the day-to-day horrors in Gaza, the omnibus film “From Ground Zero” represents an act of bearing witness. Over the course of 22 short films — collected and curated by the Palestinian director Rashid Mashwari, each running just a few minutes long — we witness the horrors, anguish, and, importantly, humanity of the Palestinians currently living in the midst of a genocide. The shorts range in terms of genre, tone, and professional staging. Some are documentaries, others are fictionalized, some blur the lines between the two, and one is notably stop-motion animated. Yet they all collectively add up to a portrait of resilience and artistic output in the face of mass civilian deaths. 
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With their truncated runtimes, they also represent the constraints these filmmakers faced to continue creating art that reflects their current lives. Ahmed Hassouna’s “Sorry, Cinema,” for example, sees the director reflecting on the destruction and closing of cinemas in Gaza, as well as his own inability to work in fiction anymore, after the festival premiere of his sole scripted feature “Istrupya.” His ‘apology’ is to the art form that he loves because, as he notes, he cannot contribute to it in the way that he wanted. Instead, he’s forced to break up his clapperboard because he needs wood for a fire. The simple act of staying warm has forced him to give up part of his dreams. 
Similarly, Etimad Washah’s “Taxi Wanissa” begins as a semi-fictionalized portrait of a man who uses a wagon pulled by a donkey as a taxi for people and goods before the film abruptly cuts to the director explaining her inability to finish the movie because her brother and his family were killed during filming and she cannot will herself to keep going. Here, fact and fiction collide as Washah breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience directly about the mass destruction that is happening and the personal toll that it has taken. How can one focus on their work when faced with such personal tragedy? 
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Other shorts take on these types of stories from different angles. Khamis Mashawari’s “Soft Skin” features interviews with children who tell of how their parents write their names on their arms and legs in case they get killed by a bomb and are only identified by individual body parts. It’s a harrowing few minutes punctuated by a stop-motion animation created by the children that shows drones flying overhead and dropping bombs. Another, Ahmed Al Danaf’s “A School Day,” follows a boy as he works his way through tents to go to school, only to be confronted by the bombed-out ruins of the school and the realization that he continues this daily ritual in search of some normalcy.
As with all anthology films, some obviously are more fully realized than others. But, it also feels futile to separate out the weaker entries, if only because of the incredible limitations these filmmakers had to contend with. The fact that “From Ground Zero” even exists at all is itself something of a revelation. Further, the jagged edges of the productions and the constant switches in format (some shorts resemble TikTok videos, others professional productions) are part of the purpose behind the project. While they are separated out, with credits for each film, Mashwari’s project is really one communally made film. 
Taken together, they add up to an account of mass death and destruction but also of artistic resilience. Hassouna may not be able to make the films that he expected, but he’s also doing the important work of collecting these images for others to see. “From Ground Zero” isn’t a hopeful film by any measure. In fact, it’s a painful and upsetting watch that nevertheless does find some semblance of optimism in the filmmakers and the work that was made. By putting these stories on camera — whether they be nonfiction or scripted — these filmmakers are nevertheless shedding light on a conflict that many would prefer not to see. [A-]