Screening date: 22-11-2007 -- 20h30
Rafah: Chronicle of a City in the Gaza Strip

An intimate portrait of a Palestinian town during a year of upheaval (Sept. 12, 2005- Sept 12, 2006). Situated at the southern tip of the Gaza strip, Rafah is cut in two by the Philadelphia road, a corridor of security along the Egyptian border. The city's destiny encounters an about-face the night of September 12, 2005 when the Israeli army withdraws from the Gaza strip. The Israelis are gone from the Philadelphia road and the settlements that surrounded the town have vanished.

It could be the dawn of a new era. But Rafah never rose out of its chaos; it is the capital of arms trafficking which nurtures the bloody feuds between families. After Hamas won the legislative elections, the town sank into a major economic crisis. Then, on June 25, 2006, Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped through a tunnel dug out of Rafah. In reprisal, Israel bombed the arm dealers' houses along the Philadelphia Road.
By September 12, 2006, one year after the Israeli withdrawal, all hopes of renewal had vanished.


Country: France
Production: Playprod -  System TV
Year: 2006
Director: Stéphane Marchetti, Alexis Monchovet
Editing: Stéphane Marchetti
Cinematography: Alexis Monchovet
Sound: Alexis Monchovet
Music: Damien Traversaz
DigiBeta –  color  –  52 min



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biography

A camera, a stand, a microphone, a local interpreter and a mediator helped the journalist to become more than just a mere observer, but rather an active witness. Monchovet set off alone, stayed with the local people; he immersed himself as completely as possible amongst the inhabitants of Rafah. A 29 year old graduate of the Toulouse school of journalism, Monchovet started out as a photo-journalist for the regional press in Lyon, then joined the editorial staff of France 3 TV and worked for British TV stations. Frustrated by the short formats imposed by TV news, he teamed up with Stéphane Marchetti to create Playprod, a production company in Lyon. Rafah, chronique d'une ville dans la bande de Gaza is their first major production.


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