REFİF İSLİM

Gaza- Women couldn’t be film directors ten years ago in Gaza Strip since this sector was dominated by men it was limited to men who contributed to the production of several works that reflected the Palestinian reality. But Itimad Washah’s perspective in her films has been distinguishable to reflect the Palestinian reality, particularly to reflect the women's issues and reality. She followed her passion for photography and cinema and she attended a course to be a professional director. After completing the course, she decided to shoot films about women.

Palestinian female director Itimad Washah spoke to JINHA about her story.  “Women always have different perspectives and ability to reflect the reality of their own issues such as gender inequality,” she said. The university students stared at one of her films and then this film becomes one of her best-known films.

After directing a number of her films, her name became known, and then she was nominated for a course in Switzerland to take training about directing films. But it was almost impossible for her to attend that course because their society thinks that women couldn’t travel abroad alone and be a director. She visited her mother to ask for her support to convince her brothers. After receiving her mother’s support, she went to Switzerland.

Speaking about her travel from Gaza in 1999, Itimad Washah said, “I boarded the plane to Switzerland, but there was a surprise waiting for me in Switzerland; the course was not in English but in French. I didn’t know French so I had to return to Gaza.”

Itimad Washah wanted to study in the film department at a university. After graduating from the university in five months, she began to shoot films about women. She draws attention in her films to the issues such as the veil (hijab), virginity, women’s rights, and other issues concern women.  Before shooting her films, she discussed these issues with other women film directors from different countries such as Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. She also received training courses from many organizations and press outlets such as the UN, BBC, and Reuters.

Itimad Washah is now the video program coordinator at the Women’s Affairs Center in the Gaza Strip. She has organized a women’s film festival called “Through Women's Eyes” in Gaza together with the Women’s Affairs Center. Furthermore, she is in touch with female directors in several Arab countries to invite them to the film festival in order to display their films that reflect the political and social circumstances that women have faced in those countries. Washah told us that the many female directors from Arab countries and some European countries such as France, the UK, and Spain participated in the festival. “One of the featured films was “The Pink Saris". It tells violence against women in India,” she said.

Underlining that female filmmakers still face obstacles in some parts of Gaza, Itimad Washah said, “Despite the obstacles, women filmmakers still shoot films about the problems faced by them and how they can overcome these problems. Noting that there is still discrimination between men and women in the cinema sector, Itimad Washah said that in one of her films she drew attention to this discrimination and the experiences of Palestinian women journalists.

Stating that some of her films have been screened in many international film festivals, Itimad Washah said her films have been translated into many languages.