< Back to main Festival page

A journalist in a helmet and protective vest gestures in a dusty street surronded by civilians. A smoke cloud billows in the back among damaged buildings.

Citizen Osama Al mowaten Osama

  Ahmed Hassouna  |  Palestine, France

In besieged northern Gaza, Osama lives with his parents, wife, and his newborn son, who was miraculously born in the eighth month of the war. Driven by duty and hope, the once aspiring artist transformed himself into a hardened conflict photographer, wearing a bulletproof press vest and helmet, and risking his life to bear witness to and provide visual evidence of the daily devastation surrounding him.

In this raw portrait of resilience and humanity, filmmaker Ahmed Hassouna follows his friend and colleague struggling for survival—scouring makeshift shops for basic necessities like flour and diapers—while he also documents death and destruction at every turn. With extraordinary access to the citizen journalists and Palestinian people living under the constant threat of missile attacks, Citizen Osama is a must-watch chronicle of the unflinching realities of life on the ground in Gaza as well as a sensitive and engrossing portrait of a father trying to protect his family.

 Arabic 

 69 minutes

Screenings & Events

Screening

Sun, Oct 18 @ 6:15pm

at Gene Siskel Film Center, Screen 1
Venue information...

Festival passes can be used for this screening.
Scheduled to Attend:
Producer Laura Nikolov

Screening

Mon, Oct 19 @ 2:30pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 14
Venue information...

Festival passes can be used for this screening.
Scheduled to Attend:
Producer Laura Nikolov

Media

Film Credits

  • Laura Nikolov
  • Ahmed Hassouna
  • Denis le Paven
  • Yousef Al Masharawi
  • Osama Al-Ashi
  • Rasmus Steen
  • Fonds Masharawi pour les Films & cinéastes, Coorigines Production, Filcam for Media Production

Sponsors

Documentary Competition Program Partner

Logo: WTTW (2019)

Cultural Support

Logo: Chicago Palestine Film Festival 164x100

You might also enjoy...

A young boy and a man lean against a wooden fence with sprawling farmland behind them. The man has a beard and wears a black tank top and smokes a cigarette. The teen wears a black tracksuit, they both stare contemplatively into the distance.

Tin Castle

Alexander Murphy | Ireland, France

Irish Travelers Paddy and Lisa O’Reilly and their 10 children find their traditional way of life under threat in this immersive and tender portrait.

A group of women in headscarves gather outside among misty mountains, one woman aims a rifle into the distance supported by another.

32 Meters

Morteza Atabaki | Turkey, Iran, Qatar

This witty observational film follows two Turkish women who set out to start the first-ever ladies-only sharp-shooting competition in their village.

A woman in army fatigues sits pensively on a dilapidated truck staring off into the distance at sunset, overgrown brush and metal fences surround her.

Mariinka

Pieter-Jan De Pue | Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden

Spanning a decade, this sprawling yet intimate war-time epic follows several youth as their world is upended and they adapt to the crushing reality of …

Tickets on sale now!

See your most-anticipated screenings at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.

GET YOUR TICKETS
close-link
Scroll to Top