"Inside Gaza" Film Screening & Discussion

The Institute for Middle East Studies is proud to announce a screening of the award winning documentary Inside Gaza, followed by remarks from film director Hélène Lam Trong and featured journalist Mai Yaghi.

Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 and the Israeli reprisals that followed, international journalists and media have no access to the Gaza Strip. Agence France-Presse journalists, who were permanently stationed in Gaza, were among the last independent witnesses to the abuses committed in the hellscape that Gaza has become. Featuring previously unseen footage and testimony from reporters Mai Yaghi and Adel Zaanoun, as well as photojournalists Mahmud Hams and Mohammed Abed, Inside Gaza delivers a powerful account of conditions on the ground, underscoring the vital importance of a free and independent press.

All are invited to join the Institute for Middle East Studies for this film screening and discussion with film director Hélène Lam Trong and featured journalist Mai Yaghi. A trailer for the documentary can be found here.

Speakers:

Hélène Lam Trong is a French documentary filmmaker. Her 2023 documentary Daech, les enfants fantômes (ISIS, the Ghost Children) earned her the Albert Londres Prize for an audio-visual work. Independent since 2018, she worked for several years at Radio France then at France télévisions. In 2024, she directed Raqqa, l'ombre de Daech.

Mai Yaghi is an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist and one of the protagonists of Inside Gaza. Ms. Yaghi continued to report from the war zone long after free press access to the Gaza region was blocked. Thanks to her work, people and media outlets around the world received factual eye witness accounts of what was occurring on the ground. Ms. Yaghi is an extremely experienced war reporter. She has covered regional conflicts in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021 and 2023. She is also a mother.