"I have hope of living the life I want. I have to keep documenting, so I can tell my children what I've been through and what I've survived." It's with these words of hope and resilience that Put Your Soul on your Hand and Walk, the new documentary by Sepideh Farsi, an Iranian filmmaker known and recognized for her work, among other things, on the conflicts in her native country(Tehran without authorization, Red Rose, The Siren), ends.
Words that take on a whole new meaning in the light of last month's events. The woman who utters them is Fatem Hassouna, the 24-year-old Palestinian photojournalist and central character in Sepideh Farsi's documentary. On April 15, the young woman was killed in Gaza by an Israeli bombardment, along with seven members of her family. The day before, she had learned of the selection of Put Your Soul on your Hand and Walk at Acid, one of the parallel sections of the Cannes 2025 Festival.
Knowing this, it's difficult - not to say impossible - to hold back emotion in the face of Sepideh Farsi's implacable work: every second of the documentary brings us, helplessly, closer to the young Palestinian's inescapable and imminent death. The documentary filmmaker has opted for a crude process that leaves room for fear and the vagaries of communication problems: she simply films with a telephone the exchanges between herself and Fatem Hassouna - on another telephone - one in her rather plush apartment, the other in the very heart of theGazan hell.
The network cuts are numerous, the voice and speech are fragmented, Fatem's face freezes until it resembles an unfortunately foreboding death mask, the image decomposes until it's a clean cut - the disconnection and the days without news.
The exchanges between these two women, who forge an almost maternal bond, will last a year, starting in April 2024. A year of living on the run from town to town, a year of documenting the genocide from the inside, aware of the vital importance of her testimony for history. "Every time she logs on and I see her face, it's like a miracle," Sepideh assures us. " It doesn't matter if they kill us, we'll laugh and live," reassures Fatem, who likes to quote a poem or a passage from Les Evadés to give himself courage.
In the ruins, where time seems to have stood still, in the streets deserted by the fear of a sniper ("Every second when you walk down the street, you put your soul in your hand and you walk"), under the bombardments day and night (for proof, a chilling audio clip), Fatem Hassouna 's smile radiates across the screen, impassive, driven by the will to stay and help 'her' Gaza, and to bear witness by capturing striking snapshots, which are projected in the documentary.
Dignified and strong, she dreamed of discovering the world. She never got the chance. Recently, the Cannes Film Festival announced that the films presented at Acid would be included in the competition for the Œil d'Or, awarded each year to the best documentary. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is almost certain to be recognized.
Put your Soul on your Hand and Walk will be unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. The film will be released in French cinemas on September 24, 2025.
Synopsis: This film is a window, opened by the miracle of an encounter with Fatem, which allowed me to see fragments of the ongoing massacre of Palestinians. Fatem became my eyes in Gaza, and I a link between her and the outside world. We maintained this lifeline for almost a year. The bits of pixels and sounds exchanged between us became the film that you see here.
Cannes Festival 2025: Acid's selection
Acid, the parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival that showcases bold, audacious works - mostly first features - has just unveiled its 2025 selection. Here's a quick rundown of the 9 films in competition! [Read more]
Cannes Festival 2025: Acid's selection
