Alana Hadid, the older sister of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, has helped set up a new film streaming platform to bring Palestinian perspectives to a global audience, its founders confirmed Thursday.
Watermelon+ was launched at the Cannes film festival as more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Thursday. At least 80 died on Wednesday.
“Unless we get (Palestinian) voices out there, nothing’s going to change,” said Badie Ali, one of two US-born Palestinian brothers who founded the website, where Hadid is creative director.
A model and activist, her father, property developer Mohamed Anwar Hadid, is Palestinian.
Showing “neglected or silenced” Palestinian perspectives was particularly important in the United States, an ally of Israel, Ali insisted.
The platform offers around 60 films, including several set in Gaza.
They span from Emmy-awarded documentary “Five Broken Cameras” to “The Wanted 18”, a comic true story about West Bank villagers hiding cows inside their houses from Israeli troops during the First Intifada.
Co-founder Hamza Ali said the aim was to humanise Palestinians.
“It’s dehumanisation and erasure that contribute to the politics,” he said.
“We’re more than our suffering. We’re a warm, hospitable, creative, funny people.”
Israeli bombardment has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, according to the besieged territory’s health ministry, and an aid blockade also threatens famine.
