Curfew
The first Palestinian feature from Gaza (1994) – depicts 24 hours in a refugee camp family’s life during an Israeli-imposed curfew in the First Intifada.
Curfew (1994) is a landmark drama – the first feature film by a Gazan director – that chronicles one day in the life of a Palestinian family confined under an Israeli curfew in a Gaza refugee camp. Set in 1993 during the First Intifada, the film confines us to the home of the Abu Raji family as Israeli soldiers announce a blanket curfew on their camp. For 24 hours, the family’s household becomes a microcosm of Gazan society under occupation. We see how they improvise normalcy: hanging laundry on an indoor “curfew clothesline” and trading necessities with neighbors through windows, small acts that symbolize Palestinian solidarity and resilience.
Tensions simmer as one son itches to resist the occupiers while his father and elder brother urge caution and family unity. Masharawi’s camera observes quietly, blurring fiction and reality such that Curfew at times feels like a documentary. Debuting at Cannes (where it won the 1994 UNESCO Prize), Curfew provides an extraordinarily authentic portrayal of life under siege – a portrait Masharawi crafted from his own experience of a 40-day Gaza lockdown – offering a “more accurate portrayal of the occupation” than any news report could.