Switzerland refused visas to Gaza survivors. Now their film is its Oscar choice

Résumé détaillé

Who Is Still Alive, a documentary in which nine survivors of the assault on Gaza tell their stories was supposed to be filmed in director Nicolas Wadimoff’s home country of…

Who Is Still Alive, a documentary in which nine survivors of the assault on Gaza tell their stories was supposed to be filmed in director Nicolas Wadimoff’s home country of Switzerland. But when the participants were refused Swiss visas, Wadimoff and his team were left scrambling to get the film made.

They found a solution in South Africa, where they had only 10 days to prepare a new shoot. There, on a black sound stage, nine Palestinians traced the outlines of their homes on the floor and spoke about the lives they had left behind.

Now, Switzerland has chosen Who Is Still Alive as its official submission for the Academy Award for best international feature film. That has left Wadimoff with another challenge: how to build an Oscar campaign around a film that asks its audience to listen to nine people recount what they have lost – and to stay with them through the silences when they cannot find the words.

Who Is Still Alive review: Gaza’s unfathomable loss told one story at a time

“We have no stars, we have no actors or actresses,” Wadimoff tells The National. “So we are going to run this campaign with the tools that we have and the tool that we have is humanity.”

Earlier this month, the director held a private screening in Dubai for potential supporters. He is also preparing to travel to Los Angeles, where he hopes to raise more money and introduce the film to Academy members.

Switzerland offered some financial support after selecting Who Is Still Alive, he says, but the filmmakers were told they would need to find additional funding. It is the first Oscar campaign for Wadimoff, who has made documentaries for more than three decades, and he is still learning what it will take to reach voters.

For the director, the campaign is particularly significant because it will take the film to the US, whose government has played a central role in the war.

“Anything that can help to raise the voices of the protagonists of the film, but also of the Palestinians from Gaza, I think is…

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