Gaza Surf Club
| Gaza Surf Club | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Philip Gnadt Mickey Yamine |
| Written by | Philip Gnadt Mickey Yamine |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | Arabic |
Gaza Surf Club is a 2016 German documentary film directed by Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine. It documents and follows the story of a group of Gazans who practice surfing in their daily lives as a source of freedom in the Mediterranean Gaza Strip coast. Also, the journey of the young Mohammed, one of the surfers who travels to Hawaii looking for opportunities to create a Surfing Club in his home city, the Gaza Strip.[1][2]
The documentary took 5 years of filming, and it was screened for the first in the Documentaries section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.[3]
Synopsis
The film documents the story of a group of Palestinians who practice surfing as a recreational activity in their daily lives in the Mediterranean Gaza Strip coast. The film starts by focusing on the narrative of 3 people, which together provide an insight into the culture and reality of surfing in the Gaza Strip.[4] Later on, it follows the journey of Ibrahim, one of those 3 people who travels to Hawaii where a friend of his is waiting and where he hopes to get the inspiration and resources necessary to create a surfing club once back in the Gaza Strip.
Therefore, the film has two main settings: the Gaza Strip, and Hawaii. During the first part of the documentary, the life of the surfers in Gaza is documented. Once Ibrahim travels to Hawaii, the two scenarios are interspersed. The documentary ends by explaining that Ibrahim did not return from Hawaii to the Gaza Strip.
Due to the small piece of Mediterranean Sea accessible through the sieged Gaza City, surfing is one of the last activities still open to its population. The political turmoil however, challenges their enthusiasm and opportunities for surfing, as there are very limited resources available.
Production
Cast
The film gives voice to the 49 years old fishermen Mohammed Abu Jayab, who struggles to feed his family for the limited fish resources on the sea, and who is in charge of teaching surf to the young population. Also, it presents the life of the 15 years old young girl Sabah, who is not allowed to surf anymore because of the social stigma and cultural norms attached to her gender. Last, the wishes and journey of Ibrahim are followed. He is 23 years old, and hopes to create a surf shop and sport club to encourage the growth of the sport in the Gaza Strip. Ibrahim tries to obtain his visa to travel to Hawaii, where a friend of his, Matthew Olsen lives. He hopes to learn more about surfing there. His friend is waiting to provide materials for surfing, such as surfing boards and other training resources. [4]
Reception
The documentary film was screened for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016.
Context
Surfing in the Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is the Palestinian territory that the documentary is about. The area is situated between the southwest of Israel and the northeast of the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt). It also has a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. In 2022, the population is estimated at 2.166.269 people, making it the third most populated political entity in the world. [5]
The Gaza Strip, together with the West Bank, are the regions from the former British Mandate for Palestine that form the Palestinian territories. The geographical territory and rule of the area have been a source of conflict and its situation is a result of the non-stoping Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The territory is under Israeli military occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967[6], and although in 2005 Israel withdrew settlers from the Gaza Strip, it established a security ring around it.[7] Today, the territory is self-governed but ruled by Hamas, a Palestinian military and nationalist resistance organization.
Access to their waters in the correspondent Mediterranean coast has been progressively denied to the population. Nowadays and since 2012, more than 85% of the maritime areas agreed to in 1995 have been denied to the fishermen.[8]
The ocean however, is among the last things that people in the Gaza Strip can enjoy. People surfing in the gaza strip find their way to freedom from their political and social situation in the aquatic activity. In this way, surfing is part of their daily lifes and their culture. Surfing takes a very important role for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, is have been transmited generationally and takes an important meaning in the relation to their homeland.[4][9]
The political conflict and turmoil, the scarce supplies, and the lossing of right over their lands, makes it difficult for Gazans to surf.[4]
The Gaza Surf Club
In 2005 the Surfing 4 Peace cooperation initiative was established by Doc Paskowitz. [10][11] He donated surfboards to Israeli Arab surfers and organised a surfing contest. One of the two surfers involved with the cooperation from Gaza was Mohammed Abu Jayab who later on is involved with the Gaza Surf Club. He teaches surfing in Gaza Strip. Surfing 4 Peace keeps working with local surfers in Gaza Strip to establish the sport and a clubhouse there. Surfing is a way to stand up against the authorities and to escape every day living conditions in Gaza. In 2010 Surfing 4 Peace donated 30 surfboards to the local surfers in Gaza. It took over two years and a lot of negotiations to get the surfboards into the Gaza Strip. Matt Olsen, one of the ambassadors of Surfing 4 Peace is also involved with the establishment of the Gaza Surf Club in 2008. [10][11] He had many difficulties getting the donated surfboards in Gaza as the security ring and checkpoints prevented them coming in. [11] This is the reason that the Gaza Surf Club has struggled to build a clubhouse and surfshop since the film has come out. On the website of the Gaza Surf Club it is mentioned that the Gaza government and local charitable organizations prevent the further building of a Gaza Surf Club. Also it is not possible for surfers from Surfing 4 Peace to visit the Gaza Strip and hardly possible for people living in the Gaza Strip to leave. These problems suggest that to develop a club and the surfing sector in Gaza, the local surfers would need to leave Gaza. [10]
See also
- God Went Surfing with the Devil, a related documentary film.
References
- ^ "TIFF: Meet the Young Middle Eastern Hopefuls of 'Gaza Surf Club'". The Hollywood Reporter. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ "Oscar bait? Twelve films set to make a splash at Toronto". BBC News. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ "Gaza Surf Club". TIFF. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
- ^ a b c d Spiker, Rabia (15 April 2022). "Gaza Surf Club: Catching Waves in a War Zone". Alchemiya. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee 3 May 2023" (PDF). https://unsco.unmissions.org/.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ^ Anderson, Betty S. (2016). A history of the modern Middle East. Rulers, rebels, and rogues. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 282–289.
- ^ Akbarzadeh, Shahram (2022). Middle East politics and international relations. Crisis zone (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 70.
- ^ Gaza in 2020: A liveable place?', UNRWA, August 2012
- ^ "Gaza Surf Club". Revista Periferias. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ a b c Gartside, Luke (12 December 2019). "Between struggle & rubble; The besieged surfers of Gaza". Wavelength volume 255.
- ^ a b c Olsen, Matt (27 September 2012). "The Gaza Surf Club. The troubled times of an unlikely surf community". www.surfer.com.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links
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