Akka Films

"From Ground Zero" is a compelling project that brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by Rashid Masharawi, a notable Palestinian filmmaker, the initiative emerged amid the backdrop of conflict, aiming to provide a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft. Each film, ranging from 3 to 7 minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. With a mix of genres such as fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, "From Ground Zero" showcases a rich tapestry of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.

A map of Gaza, its towns, camps and neighbourhoods. White paint on a black ground. Within the crudely drawn outlines, nine refugees who escaped the inferno tell their stories.

A teenager unwittingly reveals a terrible family secret to her new neighbors.

In the dead of night, Renuka escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death. She takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika, a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution. Their bond develops into a forbidden romance. Together, they embark on a perilous journey to escape the law and forge their path to freedom.

Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections.

Filmmaker Alyssa Bolsey stumbles on a treasure trove of vintage cameras, old film reels, fading photos, technical drawings and boxes of documents that belonged to her great-grandfather Jacques Bolsey. Among the many boxes, she spots an old movie camera with the word "Bolex" embossed on its side and a dangling tag with the date, "1927." Entranced, she embarks on a journey to reveal how Jacques aimed to disrupt the early film industry with a motion picture camera for the masses.

A set-up for an experiment in an empty room. Former inmates reconstruct an Israeli secret service interrogation centre. These Palestinian men use role play to come to terms with their memories and the humiliation they have experienced.

Johannesburg, 1968. Khuthala hates his father's laundry and doesn't want to take over the family business. But the apartheid government is cracking down on black business ownership. Khuthala is torn between pursuing his own dreams of becoming a musician and fighting against the injustice that threatens the business.

On the order of their spiritual leader, three young Islamists kidnap a group of actors who are about to go on tour with their latest show.

In April 1978, members of the Groupe Autonome Révolutionnaire (GAR) rob a bank in Zurich with the aim of bringing to light the covert ties between the Swiss financial system and dictatorships in Latin America. Wanting to secure concrete evidence, they film the entire operation.

Mexico, March 2015. Carmen Aristegui, incorruptible journalist, has been fired from the radio station where she has worked for years. Supported by more than 18 million listeners, Carmen continues her fight. Her goal: raising awareness and fighting against misinformation. The film tells the story of this quest: difficult and dangerous, but essential to the health of democracy. A story in which resistance becomes a form of survival.

The fascinating story behind the Geneva Initiative, a peace plan for the Middle East. Set up by a group of seven very different individuals – three Israelis, three Palestinians and one Swiss – united by their dedication to achieve peace in the Middle East, the Geneva Initiative was officially launched in December 2003 on the shores of Lake Geneva.

In 2013, a 2,000-year-old statue of Apollo was found near Gaza, only to disappear all of a sudden. Apollo, god of art, beauty and divinations, incites all sorts of rumors, even the craziest ones. The Apollo of Gaza is at once an inquiry and a meditation on history, plunging us into the barely known reality of a territory that is still paying the price of wars and a merciless blockade, but where life also subsists, undefeated. By bringing a little light to the sky of Gaza, the statue and its stupefying story could return some dignity and hope to all people.

In 1967, in the middle of the Cold War, Joseph Stalin's only daughter goes to the American embassy in New Delhi and asks for asylum. Svetlana leaves behind her country and her two children. Hunted by the press, the KGB, and many admirers, the woman, nicknamed the Kremlin princess, will never cease to flee. From the summit of the Soviet empire to the solitude and poverty of her last years in a Wisconsin home, Gabriel Tejedor traces the destiny of a resolutely free woman, at the very heart of the century and its geopolitical challenges.

Living in the West Bank of Palestine, a filmmaker suffering from chronic headaches consults a psychologist in pursuit of a cure. After being treated, Raed Andoni is inspired to apply the same cure to his entire war-torn homeland. Andoni's quirky personality and the cast of characters around him lend immediacy and poignancy to the life experiences of everyday Palestinians struggling to endure endless military occupation and economic isolation.

On a road trip, Ahmed a train conductor is torn between his loyalty to the old Tunisian railway company and his personal aspirations, while Fitati, his colleague, chooses to become a whistleblower on train accidents.

Didier works on a cattle farm. Deaf from birth, he lives alone in an isolated house in the countryside. Since the death of his brother and only companion, Claude, he has taken refuge in his work. While the farm experiences a health crisis, Didier is driven by a critical need: to reinvent his language, to make himself understood and to transform his disability into a strength.

Samir hardly knows his father. Hoping to become closer with him, he decides to accompany a hunter on a expedition in the mountains.

Using their bare hands, married couple Htwe Tin and Thein Shwe draw oil from a pit they drilled themselves on the land next to their house. There are lots of these “artisanal” oilfields dotted around Myanmar, where people have swapped crop cultivation for selling the oil they pump from the ground by hand.

Over a dozen students at this school in Quebec were radicalised. To tackle the issue, a pilot project was launched to heal divides within the student body. It's a hybrid cultural model, made up of the many cultures of its students.