EXCLUSIVE: Kino Lorber today announced the theatrical release plan for its documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, one of the year’s top Oscar contenders.
Sepideh Farsi’s film, about the young Gaza-based Palestinian photojournalist and poet Fatma Hassona, will open at IFC Center in New York on November 5. Audiences in the L.A. area will get to see it Nov. 14 when the documentary opens at the Laemmle Monica and Laemmle Glendale. It opens in Chicago on Nov. 21 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, with a national rollout to continue in the following weeks.
We have your exclusive first look at the documentary in the trailer above.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk provides “an intimate, first-hand perspective on life under siege in Gaza,” captured through video calls between the director and 25-year-old Hassona.
“Combining raw immediacy with deep humanity, the film captures daily life during the conflict through the eyes and unwaveringly optimistic presence of Fatma, a talented photographer whose generation is trapped in an endless cycle of war, famine and resistance,” notes a release. “The conversation between these two journalists brings us into the heart of the conflict, even while their physical distance underscores the dire situation inside Gaza.”
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival in the ACID sidebar. ACID announced its program on April 15. A day later, Hassona and several members of her family were killed in an Israeli missile attack on their home in Northern Gaza.
After her death was announced, the Cannes Film Festival issued a statement expressing “dread and profound sadness at this tragedy that has moved and shocked the whole world… Fatma Hassona is one of the far too many victims of the violence that has engulfed the region for months.”
Kino Lorber calls the film “an essential document that now stands as a heartfelt memorial and final testament for this vibrant and optimistic young woman.”
In addition to Cannes, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Karlovy Vary, Melbourne, Busan, Athens, Rome, Reykjavik, and more. It screens Friday, October 17 at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is directed by Sepideh Farsi, a Palestine and France co-production produced by Rêves D’eau Productions in coproduction with 24IMAGES producers Djavad Djavahery and Annie Ohayon-Dekel. Images of Gaza seen in the film were photographed by Fatma Hassona. Music is by Cinna Peygahmy; cinematography and editing is by Sepideh Farsi.
Where does the film’s distinctive title come from? Watch the trailer to find out.
Kino Lorber, which released the Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat last year, fields another strong slate of Oscar-contending documentary features this year. In addition to Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, KL is behind Riefenstahl, directed by Andres Veiel; Monk in Pieces, directed by David C. Roberts and Billy Shebar; and Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, directed by Shoshannah Stern.
The post Kino Lorber Announces Theatrical Dates, Drops Trailer For Gaza-Themed Oscar Contender ‘Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk’ appeared first on Deadline.
