Gaza Herald – Two documentaries about the Israeli genocide in Gaza have won major awards at the 33rd edition of the FIGRA International Documentary Film Festival in France.
The French-Belgian documentary “Inside Gaza” received the festival’s Grand Prize, along with the Audience Award. Directed by Hélène Lam Trong and co-produced by Arte France, RTBF, and Factstory, the 76-minute film follows the daily lives of four journalists and contributors working with Agence France-Presse inside Gaza after October 7, 2023. It captures the extreme challenges of reporting from a war-torn territory that remains largely inaccessible to international media.
The Special Jury Prize was awarded to “Fragments de guerre” (“Fragments of War”) by director Solène Chalvon-Fioriti. The film presents testimonies from women living through the genocide, from Gaza to the occupied West Bank, offering a deeply personal perspective on war and its human toll.
A total of 57 films competed in the festival’s official selection. In the Human Rights category, “Politzek: Voices That Defy the Kremlin” by Manon Loizeau and Ekaterina Mamonova won top honors, focusing on Russian political prisoners who opposed the war in Ukraine.
In the short film category (under 40 minutes), the Grand Prize went to “Histoire de vie” (“Life Story”) by Florence Ilo. Meanwhile, the jury gave a special mention to “Gaza: Weapon of Hunger” (“Gaza l’arme de la faim”) by Fanny Morel and Jérémy Péron, which documents famine affecting more than 500,000 people in Gaza, according to United Nations reports.
Additional awards included the Terre d’Histoire INA-FIGRA prize, given to “Catherine Leroy: A French Woman in the Vietnam War” by Marie-Christine Gambart, and the Audience Award in the “Another Perspective” category, awarded to “Les 2 Gisèle” by Juliette Guérin.
Since October 7, 2023, the genocide on Gaza has resulted in over 244,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children, along with more than 11,000 missing civilians. The genocide has also caused widespread displacement, famine, and the destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure and urban areas.
