State of Passion

We present State of Passion, a feature-length documentary film by Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi.

After 43 horrific days working round the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza’s Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals, British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.

With news footage of him pale and shell-shocked reverberating around the world, he spoke of a catalogue of horrors from lacerated bodies, to amputations without anesthetics, orphaned children with no surviving family, and the deliberate targeting of medics and hospital facilities.

This was Ghassan’s sixth and most horrific Gaza “war”.  Why does he do it?  Where does he find the strength to face it again and again? How does it impact his family? How do they process the risks he takes? The answer lies simply in their shared passion: Palestine, a passion they articulate through their support of his perilous humanitarian work.

Filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, close friends of the Abu Sittahs, share that same passion.  They were waiting anxiously for Ghassan to emerge from Gaza, following a long and terrifying journey through the night, to meet him in Amman.  Determined to capture his raw emotions, they began filming him the moment he arrived through the door.  Following him to Beirut, Amman, London, Kuwait and Dubai, they and he explore their common State of Passion.

Following the film, a discussion will be led by Michael Maria, Director of the Boston Palestinian  Film festival, and Nadine Bahour, a researcher at FXB Harvard School of Public Health.

The film will be shown in the Parish Hall of St. James Episcopal Church, three blocks north of Porter Square in Cambridge.  The location can be confusing.  If you have not been to the venue before, please review these directions and arrive a few minutes early to make sure you find us!