10/03/2026

LYFE TUESDAY | MAR 10, 2026

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Oscar hopefuls spotlight human stories of Palestinians

A MID a Gaza war marked by vast Palestinian losses, three Oscar-nominated films spotlight human stories often eclipsed by the devastation Israel unleashed in response to the Hamas attacks on Oct 7, 2023. The filmmakers aim to recover individual stories behind the more than 72,000 Palestinians said by Gaza health authorities to have been killed along with many still uncounted beneath buildings Israel destroyed during 28 months of war. Israel disputes the figures. A senior Israeli military officer recently told local media the numbers were “broadly accurate”, a comment the army later said did not reflect official data. The UN has long deemed the figures reliable. The Voice of Hind Rajab Tunisian writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania’s docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab , nominated for best international feature film, centres on a six-year-old girl trapped in a car in Gaza as Israeli tank fire surrounds her. The film incorporates real audio from Rajab’s call to Red Crescent emergency workers. “Palestinian voices are not heard, especially in the West. They are always depicted either as victim or maybe as terrorist, but often as numbers, not single stories. When you watch The Voice of Hind Rajab , you are with those first aid workers who want to save this little girl, and you understand their struggle. “You understand their humanity and this is very important for us as human beings to connect and understand each other and not see the other as lesser or as not human,” Ben Hania told Reuters. Israelis bearing witness Children No More: Were and Are Gone , nominated for best documentary short, shows Israeli citizens holding silent vigils with “I knew this was good. The emotion is real, the drama is not forced. It is very organic. So I just thought: ‘I want this’,” she told AFP of the Oscar-nominated short film A Friend of Dorothy . The 20-minute piece, which also stars Stephen Fry, is a delightful meditation on the importance of connecting with another human being – across generations and races. Dorothy – like Margolyes still razor sharp, but with a body that she says is failing her – lives alone in a rambling London house. One afternoon, the young J.J. rings her doorbell to ask for his ball back after kicking it into her garden. The ball is quickly forgotten when J.J. discovers her vast collection of plays, from which she encourages him to read aloud. Their unlikely friendship is cast when she divines his – presumably unacknowledged – queerness, along with his obvious talent for acting.

Levinson-Blount, who was born in the US and now resides in Israel, the film follows Samir – a butcher and the only Arab working in an Israeli supermarket – falsely accused of tearing down posters in an employee common room of hostages held in Gaza. Already a student Academy Award winner in 2025, the film is competing in the live-action short film category. While Levinson-Blount is clear eyed about cinema’s limits, he stresses its power to provoke public engagement. The film explores discrimination and the fractures in Israeli society where 21% of the population is Arab. “I don’t believe that cinema alone can change the world, but it catalyses vital conversations. I think we need to be out there voting and protesting when we need to, and this is a film that sparks dialogue to fuel that change,” he said.

o Filmmakers offer unique, thought-provoking perspectives on Gaza war

A scene from The Voice of Hind Rajab .

commitment of some Israelis to speaking up against the violence that our own government is responsible for and the children who are being killed as a result of this war.” Confronting suspicion at home Butcher’s Stain explores the daily tensions faced by Arab citizens of Israel. Written and directed by Meyer

photos of Palestinian children killed in the conflict. Executive producer Libby Lenkinski, an Israeli-American activist, said: “The way that our region of Israel-Palestine is portrayed in the world is very flat. There’s a sense that there’s an ‘us’ and ‘them’ – that we don’t believe is true. What Children No More shows is that traditional media, can’t show, is the depth of

Ben Hania is a Tunisian writer-director.

Miriam Margolyes tackles ageing, loneliness in 20-minute short In what become daily visits, the friendship blossoms and the two tearfully understand that they finally feel “seen”. Simple story AT 84 years old, Miriam Margolyes knows what it is like to be elderly. So when she was offered a script by a first-time, writer-director that tackles ageing and loneliness, she jumped at it.

Dorothy’s life – her husband long dead, her son living on the other side of the world and a grandson absorbed by making money – is sadly nothing unusual, the actress said. “The predicament of an old lady alone is not unique. “Unfortunately, so many millions of old people are shipwrecked alone, and we are cut off by a technology that doesn’t help us to reach each other – such technology divides us,” said Margolyes, a Bafta winner for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence . Writer-director Lee Knight has the pair forge their connection through the very analog practice of reading aloud from playscripts. “Some people come to each other in a time where they need each other, and they’re lonely in their own way. He’s lonely, he hasn’t found his people and she’s lonely too. Some of these are simple stories, but we need these stories now more than ever,” Knight said. For Knight, getting Margolyes –

Margolyes poses during a photo session ahead of the 98th Oscars Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel. – PICS FROM AFP

Writer-director Knight (left) and Margolyes form something of an affectionate parallel with the characters of A Friend of Dorothy .

The pair – generations apart – form something of an affectionate parallel with the characters of A Friend of Dorothy . During an interview in Beverly Hills, they frequently clasp hands and talk over each other. At one point, she good

a fixture on British television, a stalwart of the theatre for decades and Professor Sprout in Harry Potter movies – was non-negotiable. “I just knew there was someone to play it. I wrote it very much for her, and then I never, ever dreamt that I’d get her to do it,” he said.

humouredly tells him off for his imprecise language as he responds to journalist’s questions. “Listen, this is the person you want to lift your text off the page,” chuckled Knight. The Oscars happens on March 15 in Hollywood.