We are screening this double bill of fascinating films about Gaza's 2018 March of Return protest movement on two dates.  At the second screening (May 1st) there will be a Q&A facilitated by Juman Quneis, a Palestinian Filmmaker and teacher of journalism.

'Gaza Fights for Freedom' provides exclusive footage of The Great March of Return, Gaza’s peaceful mass protest movement of 2018 when 40-50,000 people gathered at the fence between Gaza and Israel. Filmed during the height of the protest.

Along with background to the protests, interviews enable the people of Gaza to speak for themselves, of their concerns, hopes, ambitions, and longing for change. Also explains the Israeli use of illegal exploding bullets that cut into the flesh before exploding creating catastrophic injuries.

As with every other manifestation of the Palestinian demand for dignity, Israel used the Great March of Return to engage in mass slaughter: 200 were killed and 29,00 wounded by Israeli forces.

“This is a situation completely underestimated by the world. More people were injured in about 10 days of mostly peaceful demonstrations than during the 50 days of an all-out war in 2014. This should have generated far more robust reactions.” (UNRWA Commissioner-General June 2018).

“What would happen if thousands of Gazans, most of them refugees, attempted to peacefully cross the fence that separated them from their ancestral lands?” That was the question 33-year-old Palestinian poet and journalist Ahmed Abu Artema posted on Facebook.

'Between Fire & Sea' follows his post went viral. It was a rallying cry that inspired a movement of peaceful protests known as the Great March of Return. “Our hardships induced this scream for life,” the soft-spoken father explains. “The March of Return is a scream for life so that we may leave the walls of our prison.”

But the marches were met with violence, Israeli soldiers killed over 200 protesters and injured 36,000. But as the cost in human suffering mounts, Ahmed battles with his conscience and the question of the power of non-violence.