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Gaza Surf Club

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Gaza Surf Club
Film poster
Directed byPhilip Gnadt
Mickey Yamine
Written byPhilip Gnadt
Mickey Yamine
Release date
  • 9 September 2016 (2016-09-09) (TIFF)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageArabic

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 Ibrahim N. Arafat, one of the surfers who travels to Hawaii looking for opportunities to create a Surfing Club in his home, 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, called the Gaza Surf 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 N. Arafat 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 first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. It had its European premiere on 17 november 2016 at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and was screened at a cinematour in Germany (Kinotour) in 2017 in cities like Berlin, Stuttgart, Dresden, Hamburg. In 2017 and 2018 the Gaza Surf Club screened in Egypt, Cairo and Darb. In Los Angeles it was shown at the Arab Film Festival in october 2017.

The journalist Andy Martin, described for The Independent the film as a documentary showing the reality of everyday life in Gaza without using stereotypes. Not just that, he offers a new insight by suggesting that there is a semblance between Palestine and Hawaii, the two scenarios of the film. He explains that Hawaii had been colonized by the United States the same way as Palestine is by Israel. [5]

Context

Surfing in Gaza

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. [6]

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-stopping Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The territory is under Israeli military occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967[7], and although in 2005 Israel withdrew settlers from the Gaza Strip, it established a security ring around it.[8] Due to the closing of the borders each time an attack from Gaza is launched on Israel, there is a lack of electricity, drinking water, medication and goods. [9]Also unemploymentfigures, poverty and foodinsecurity are high. [6]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.[10]

The ocean however, is among the last things that people in the Gaza Strip can enjoy, and a public space all the citizens have to share.[11] 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 lives and their culture. Surfing takes a very important role for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, has been transmitted generationally and has an important meaning in the relation to their homeland.[4][12]

The political conflict and turmoil, the scarce supplies, and the losing of right over their lands, makes it difficult for Gazans to surf.[4] Previus to the Gaza Surf Club, since 2005, the Surfing 4 Peace cooperation has been trying to donate sufboards. It took a lot of effors and difficulties to donate, as the security ring and checkpoints were not allowing them to cross. [11] In 2010 Surfing 4 Peace donated 30 surfboards to the local surfers in Gaza. [13]

Apart from being the name of the 2016 documentary film, Gaza Surf Club is aswell an actual sports club founded in 2008 in Gaza by the Explore Corps non-for-profit organization. It is responsible of educational programs and communitiy empowerment for the surfers in the Gaza Strip.[3][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ "TIFF: Meet the Young Middle Eastern Hopefuls of 'Gaza Surf Club'". The Hollywood Reporter. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Oscar bait? Twelve films set to make a splash at Toronto". BBC News. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Gaza Surf Club". TIFF. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d Spiker, Rabia (15 April 2022). "Gaza Surf Club: Catching Waves in a War Zone". Alchemiya. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  5. ^ Martin, Andy (7 September 2018). "In a place where surfboards are illegal, a surf club in Gaza has had to improvise". https://www.independent.co.uk/. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b "Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee 3 May 2023" (PDF). https://unsco.unmissions.org/. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Anderson, Betty S. (2016). A history of the modern Middle East. Rulers, rebels, and rogues. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 282–289.
  8. ^ Akbarzadeh, Shahram (2022). Middle East politics and international relations. Crisis zone (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 70.
  9. ^ Anderson, Betty S. (2016). A history of the modern Middle East. Rulers, rebels, and rogues. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 439.
  10. ^ Gaza in 2020: A liveable place?', UNRWA, August 2012
  11. ^ a b 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)
  12. ^ "Gaza Surf Club". Revista Periferias. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  13. ^ Gartside, Luke (12 December 2019). "Between struggle & rubble; The besieged surfers of Gaza". Wavelength volume 255.
  14. ^ Corps, Explore. "Explore Corps - Gaza Surf Club, Monterey Surf Camp". Explore Corps. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
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