The Dawn Will Break is available to stream via the links below from August 15th through August 29th, 2025, as a donation initiative for the people of Gaza.
We are collecting donations for The Sameer Project, a mutual aid organization inside Gaza, via the button below. 100% of the donations we receive will be sent to the organization.
Additionally, all money from new sign-ups to the Ultra Dogme Patreon until the end of the month will be donated in full to The Sameer Project.
Intro by Ruairí McCann
A viewer of this program might find the optimism suggested by its title jarring against the overwhelming onslaught of images coming out of Gaza and the genocide over these past two years.
It’s an optimism which I don’t feel every waking moment, but I’m compelled, in my heart of hearts, to hold it when I can. It’s because I try to live by Gramsci’s adage, ‘pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will’, but also, as a very good friend once reminded me, for those of us privileged enough to live outside the blast zone of empire, despair is unacceptable. This determined positive belief that the carnage will end and a brighter future will unfold, and putting belief into action, is the bare minimum of what we owe to those directly facing the Zionist Entity’s land grabs, bombs and blockades.
These two films are expressions of the will to persist and resist. One is a modest but powerful intonement. The other a dialogue between friends and an act of documentation as a rejection of the occupier’s tyranny. Neither film is a plea but an assertion of the humanity of their makers and the people of Gaza whose freedom, to draw from Georges Abdallah, is a condition of the freedom of the entire world.
Special thanks to N. Batuhan Pınarcıoğlu for the poster.
PROGRAM:
If I forget thee, Gaza (2024)
3 min 28 sec, 16mm, color, 1.37:1
Directed by Vincent Guilbert
GAZA.MP4 (2024)
18 min 30 sec, digital, color, 16:9
Directed by Diaa Lagan, Mohannad El-Masria & Fuad Halwani
If I forget thee, Gaza (2024)
“It suits me to be with the people who die, I pity you for being with the kings who kill.” —Victor Hugo
Guilbert: “On December 10th 2023, I discovered on social networks a video of Hanin Siam reading an extract from Ali Abu Yassin’s The Gaza Monologues, during a pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place in Tokyo on November 29th. A few days later, without having any clear idea in mind yet, I wrote to her to suggest making a film because, to paraphrase Deleuze, there was a necessity.”
This film is part of the some strings program.
Vincent Guilbert was born in 1976 in Saint-Denis, France. The themes developed through his films and photos are mainly related to time, memory and the fragment. You can view his website here.
GAZA.MP4 (2024)
This project began when Diaa Lagan, a Syrian visual artist residing in Dublin, asked Mohannad El-Masria, a Palestinian filmmaker residing in Gaza, to send him videos that showcase his day-to-day life in Gaza under Israel’s ongoing genocide on its people. Diaa then gathered the footage and went to Fuad Halwani, media artist residing in Lisbon and asked him if they could edit the video together, via video call. This unplanned collaboration between the three artists culminated in an 18-minute essay video titled GAZA.MP4.
Synopsis:
GAZA.MP4 is a meditation on the mundanity of hope in the aftermath of the war on Gaza post-7th October 2023. The video portrays scenes of daily life in Gaza through the lens of a disrupted communication between two friends, Diaa and Mohannad. Diaa requests filmmaker Mohannad to use his phone to capture raw visual materials during his displacement journey from Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Rafah since October. Mohammad’s compliance cements a bond forged during their student days and addresses the phenomenon of data clouding and transferring through alternative channels like Telegram. Using the chat window as a visual element to evoke a sense of our modern anxiety and the relentless pace induced by ADHD, the footage is received and processed by Diaa.
GAZA.MP4 presents footage from Gaza, Mohannad’s artworks, his graduation film, and the Telegram chats between him and Diaa. The footage recorded by Mohannad since November 2023 is compiled and assembled in a way that presents a certain progression; from crowded makeshift street markets to vast spaces of a scorched city reduced to rubble. From claustrophobia to desolation. The video addresses the cognitive and psychological impact of witnessing war crimes through screens and social media, while maintaining a personal connection to someone experiencing it firsthand through Mohannad’s shaky handheld footage and voiceover. In addition to underscoring the contradictions between the virtual and physical worlds, the assemblage of image and sound offers a commentary on modern conflict and communication.
Diaa Lagan is an artist based in Dublin, known for working across a diverse range of mediums, including painting, print, video, and sculpture. His artistic practice draws inspiration from different metaphorical narratives rooted in mythology and history. Alongside these traditional themes, Lagan also engages with contemporary socio-political issues, making his work relevant and thought-provoking in today’s global context. Lagan’s practice is deeply attuned to the present moment, reflecting the ongoing upheaval of social and cultural norms and the resulting unrest on a global scale.
Throughout his career, Lagan has held both solo and group exhibitions, showcasing his work in Ireland and internationally. Notable exhibitions include the “Expanded Memories” exhibition in Antwerp in 2023, “Shahid- شاهد” at The LAB Gallery in 2023, “Uprooted Visions” at Edinburgh Printmakers in 2023, and “Point of Perspective” at Artlink Gallery, Donegal in 2022. His work was also featured in “Dialectic Visions” at The Horse Gallery in 2022. This year he has been awarded a studio residency in incubation space, and 1-year residency in Firestation art studios.
