Ahmad Alive (2024)
Origin: Palestine | Documentary | Director: Xan Oser & Ahmad Ghunaim | 37 minutes
Ahmad Alive
Ahmad Alive, a 37-minute documentary featured by the Seen Palestine Film Festival in the Bay Area, showcases the stories of Palestine. Ahmad tells his story of destruction, fear, and famine but also resilience, hope, and friendship, weaving between vertical video from inside Gaza and interviews (after he escapes from Gaza) as he reflects on his 126 days of covering a genocide.
About the Film
Ahmad never aspired to be a war correspondent, but after October 7th, with foreign journalists banned from Gaza, he needed to show the world what was happening.
With only his phone, Ahmad captured Israel’s vicious war on Gaza. He films only seconds after missiles strike his family home. He films bodies retrieved from rubble and injured children rushed to hospital. He becomes homeless overnight and relocates again and again, trying to find a safe place, moving south as the Occupation has instructed. He burns books to bake bread and struggles to find clean water. In a makeshift tent, he sleeps on the streets in a car. Nowhere is safe.
This is his new terrifying reality, but he keeps filming, trying to stay alive, starting each video with, “Hi, it’s Ahmad. I’m alive.”
Ahmad tells his story of destruction, fear, and famine but also resilience, hope, and friendship, weaving between vertical video from inside Gaza and interviews (after he escapes from Gaza) as he reflects on his 126 days of covering a genocide.
Today, Ahmad is based in Johannesburg, where he leads Seen Palestine. The publication is entirely crowdfunded and empowers storytellers in Gaza and the West Bank to publish viral videos about life under Occupation.
About the Filmmakers
Xan Oser, COO Seen. Palestine
Xan is the COO of Seen TV, a media technology company that creates a more understanding and empathetic world through storytelling. Xan helped build augmented reality startup Metaio, acquired by Apple, spent 7 years at Apple focused on Apple Vision Pro and most recently spent 2 years at Snap leading AR Platform Partnerships.
Ahmad Ghunaim, Palestinian Content Creator
Hi, it’s Ahmad and i’m alive.
I’m a content creator from Gaza. I have nearly a million followers on social media platforms. I’ve always tried to document and showcase the beauty of my Gaza because all we see in the media is destruction. I wanted the world to see Gaza’s beauty so they might visit. However, after October 7th, due to the ban on international journalists entering Gaza, I decided to document everything around me and share it with the world. If I didn’t do this, the world wouldn’t know what was happening in my homeland.
Unfortunately, I lost everything—my work, my home, and I became homeless. Our house was bombed while we were inside without any warning, and nothing was left. This wasn’t the first time; in 2014, our house was also bombed without warning, and miraculously, we survived.
My life was in danger every moment, moving from one area to another to document what was happening around me. Every day felt like it could be my last, so I created a series called “Ahmad Alive” to show people what was happening in my life.
After 126 days of war, I had to leave Gaza due to my health and the need for surgery. Sadly, my family is still trapped in Gaza, homeless. Most of them are children and women.
I am in South Africa, where I created a documentary called “Ahmad Alive,” which details my journey and what happened to me in Gaza. It’s currently being shown in several countries and has been nominated for multiple awards.
Full version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df0qQSz6_Qc
View trailer