Citizen Osama

Ahmed Hassouna’s striking documentary follows Osama Al-Ashi, a photographer who becomes a war reporter while navigating the first year of his newborn son’s life in northern Gaza. Osama’s work takes him into the devastation surrounding his home, while his responsibilities as a husband and father pull him toward the everyday necessities of keeping his family safe. Hassouna moves fluidly between these two realities, revealing the man behind Osama’s war coverage and the profound personal cost of bearing witness. Selected as Palestine’s official submission to the 2027 Oscars, the filmmaker’s intimate access and restrained approach create an unusually personal portrait of life amid catastrophe, where ordinary acts of care become expressions of perseverance. Citizen Osama is a powerful meditation on the tension between documenting history and maintaining one’s humanity. —Jessie Fairbanks