RESTRICTED (Rawan Mazzawi, 2024)
A still from Restricted, a Palestinian journalist on house arrest with her two children.
Yesterday we had the privilege of seeing Restricted, by Rawan Mazzawi, which screened as a double bill with The Cities I Live In, by Rabie Mustapha (winner of the 2023 Docs Ireland shorts programme). Both are Palestinian filmmakers, creating essential documentaries about their homeland, which now, they can currently not go back to. Rabie has never been able to visit his homeland of Palestine, after his grandfather was exiled in the 1940s, his family has lived in Lebanon, and after the bombings of 2020, Rabie was forced to flee to Belfast. Rabie’s wife was pregnant with their twins and living in Belfast at the time, and as the film tells us, he could’ve missed not only their birth, but their entire lives.
The film is a love letter to the children, and ends poignantly with their names, saying this film is for them when they want to know. In the Q&A after the two films, Rabie discussed the ethical conundrum he faced with putting his children in his film, as they were never meant to be in it at the start, as well as how he will answer their questions when the time comes. He spoke very personally, saying that he would have to show a vulnerability and a fragile side of himself to answer the questions to his children.
A still of from The Cities I Live In of Rabie’s two children.
Created as part of her PHD while studying at Queen’s, Rawan Mazzawi’s, Restricted focuses on a side of Palestine we don’t often see in the west, exploring women and girls, and how they are using social media. From fashion, comedy, acting and gym inspiration, the cast boasts a series of extremely strong and brave women of all ages. As Rawan described them in the Q&A, ‘strong characters’. The women face societal pressures, as posting on social media in the way that they do isn’t as common, or accepted in Palestinian society, but the film displays how each of the women have a support network from family and friends, despite perhaps initial hesitations to their work.
The film takes a stark turn as we see a Palestinian journalist arrested for a Facebook post by Israel officials. She is put in prison, and then under home arrest with no release date. She speaks of how her home has become her prison, and the separation she feels from her friends, her family and the outside world, a similar feeling to how many in Palestine are feeling today, as Israel has taken away their human right to have a home, or to be safe in a home. The film then touches on the death of a Palestinian journalist, someone who Rawan grew up watching on TV. She was murdered by Israelis. The film doesn't shy away from these heartbreaking moments, going on to show her funeral, with the Palestinian people carrying her coffin beaten senselessly by the IDF. Even in death, the people of Palestine can get no peace.
One of our main subjects of the film is a young girl who wants to become a social media star. She tells the camera how you can become famous online, and that, ‘with great fame comes great responsibility’. This line comes towards the start of the film, in a lighthearted tone, but by the end we see that this young girl does use her platform with great responsibility, using her social media to share news of bombings in the West Bank. She says she does it in case any of her followers aren’t aware of what’s happening in Palestine, to try and help inform people. She does not just share news of bombings, but videos, as well as news of children who have died. She isn’t alarmed by this fact, that people her age are dying in her country for no reason, and the moment is a devastating blow, that the children in Palestine are sharing the news of each others’ deaths, to try and help spread the message.
The film still has a message of hope, even if the news each day is bleak, that Palestine is changing and as the women of the film put it, it’s becoming more modern. The times have changed so that young girls can post in this way on social media as we see throughout the film, though by the end we have learnt that with the recent events in Palestine, social media is harsher on Palestinian voices than ever before. The girls no longer face restrictions on what they can post from just society and Israel, but from social media as a whole. Certain words and phrases are entirely censored, one of the women shares a story of how she tried to share videos from a martyr’s funeral, but it was not allowed to be posted, no matter how much back and forth she had with TikTok. Beyond phrases, it seems that now Palestinian voices are being completely silenced online, and further than Palestinian voices, people from around the world are finding themselves “shadowbanned” for talking about Palestine, notably, model Bella Hadid has repeatedly spoken out about social media restricting her posts about Palestine.
The event and the narrative are a serious reminder of the importance of social media in the movement, and the importance of speaking up for Palestine whenever we can. As Rawan said, Israel got away with their attacks from last October and on, and now feels as though they can get away with anything. It’s vital we do not let this happen, and that we continue to stand up and speak out.
Free Palestine.
