One week ago, a documentary film literally from within the invasion of Gaza debuted at the 13th annual Newport Beach Film Festival in California. The Festival announced its award winners on Friday. The War Around Us proudly earned the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary.

This is amazing news for two main reasons. First, aside from the fact that this is a major achievement, the film brought one of humanity’s greatest injustices to the big screen, a feat much greater than any award a documentary can ever earn. It brought war and its associated chaos to an American public that is so unaccustomed to experiencing the day to day realities of foreign invasion. Second, the fact that the film won such a prestigious award indicates that it was received well, that it was produced with quality, that it ultimately got its point across.

The film documents the experiences of the only two foreign journalists who were able to cover Israel’s twenty-two day assault on the Gaza Strip. It hasn’t yet been released to the public but I encourage you to visit the website and sign up for updates. I know I’ll be looking forward to the day when the film is distributed through DVD. A trailer is provided below.

Sami Kishawi