Life Is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza / الحياة حلوة

Mohamed Jabaly

2023 / 96 minutes
Palestine, Norway
Arabic, English, Norwegian with English subtitles

Jean Rouch Award — Honorable Mention

Told in the form of a film letter, Life is Beautiful by Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly (Ambulance, Gaza Online) meditates on correspondence and the power of film to secure participation in global conversations about family, intimacy, and belonging in Palestine. The film also comments on the act of documenting one’s life, the passage of time, and the contradictions of living in a country that has trouble recognizing an immigrant’s right to belong through legal means.
Stranded in the Arctic north of Norway, Jabaly refuses to accept the boundaries imposed by international politics and rigid bureaucracy. Instead, he insists on telling heartfelt stories from his hometown Gaza. With only limited contact with his family and relying on the support of friends, he channels his creativity and lives by his motto: “Life is Beautiful.”Friends back home urge Jabaly to seek asylum, but having grown up in the coastal city of Gaza, he refuses to give up his Palestinian identity. In Norway, he is considered stateless, and his application for an artist’s visa is rejected as he does not meet the qualification criteria as a self-taught filmmaker.