Khalil al-Mozain (1965)
خليل المزين
Lives and works in London, ON
Born in Gaza, Khalil al-Mozain studied film directing in Saint-Petersburg (Russia). al-Mozain has directed several documentaries for television broadcast, as well as short fiction films, including Mashoo Matook (2010), and a feature Sara (2014). He is also known for his role as Director of the Red Carpet Film Festival where the red carpet event made headlines as it ran between rows of destroyed buildings in Gaza City.
RED CARPET HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL, 2015
Khalil al-Mozain founded the Red Carpet Human Rights Film Festival in Gaza. Amidst the bombed-out ruins of Gaza City’s Shijaiyah district, a result of the 2014 Israeli attack on the Strip, a long red carpet is rolled out over the rubble leading to an outdoor screen setup with plastic chairs for the audience. The video shown here mimics the smoothly edited promotional videos of American Film Festivals yet the use of drones for filming highlights both the physical inaccessibility of this event, as well as the constant surveillance of Gaza itself by the Israeli military. Gaza has repeatedly been called the world’s largest open-air prison.