<p><strong>By: Yomna Walid</strong></p>
<p>What does it mean to make people laugh, especially children, when destruction surrounds you? This is the central question explored by the Egyptian Palestinian documentary Daayel Aana Ard (One More Show), which unfolds amid the devastation of Gaza.</p>
<p>The film follows the Free Gaza Circus team after their forced displacement from northern Gaza to the south. With limited resources and constant danger, the troupe transforms circus performances into an act of resistance, using creativity, humor, and human connection to offer moments of joy to children in shelters and on the streets.</p>
<p>Rather than presenting spectacle, One More Show focuses on resilience. Each performance becomes a small but powerful assertion of life, reminding audiences that art can endure even in the harshest conditions. The documentary delivers a deeply human message about the role of creativity as both survival and hope in times of war.</p>
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<p>Co-directed by Egyptian filmmaker Mai Saad and Palestinian director and journalist Ahmed Al-Danaf, the film has received significant international recognition. It won both the Audience Award and Best Production Award at the Rome International Documentary Festival, where it competed in the official World-Doc section against nine films from around the globe.</p>
<p>The documentary also made its international premiere at the 46th Cairo International Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award (the Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Award) and shared the Best Directing Award as part of the &ldquo;Next Generation&rdquo; honors, in collaboration with The Film Verdict.</p>
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<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DRZ6TI6jYTY/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Cairo International Film Festival (@cairofilms)</a></p>
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<p>NileFM spoke with Ahmed Al-Danaf, whose role as both filmmaker and eyewitness lends the documentary its emotional authenticity. Having lived the experiences he documents, Al-Danaf brings a rare immediacy to the film&mdash;one that blurs the line between journalism and lived reality and reinforces the enduring power of storytelling in the face of loss.</p>
<p><strong>Before we dive into the details of the film, tell me about your beginnings as a photographer and journalist in Gaza. How did working in conflict zones shape your cinematic eye?</strong><br />I started with photography, focusing on faces and characters. Later, I moved toward documenting the history of Palestine, its heritage, archaeological sites, and the beauty of Gaza, as well as artists and the everyday heroes of Gaza who carry powerful human stories.<br />Over time, I naturally found myself immersed in journalism and field reporting from the heart of Gaza. I worked under very difficult conditions and was always close to the people and to the events themselves, not observing from a distance. That taught me to focus on small details, not just the big picture or breaking news.<br />With the years, my camera became more than a tool for documentation; it became a way to understand the human being inside the frame, their feelings, and their story. Working in conflict zones taught me to value honesty and simplicity more than any visual beauty or perfectly staged shot.</p>
<p><a href="https://ibb.co/5h5hGFw1"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/CKnKm2Dw/1.png" alt="1" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Your short film, A School Day, won the Youssef Chahine Award. How did that experience help you enter the world of feature-length documentaries for the first time?</strong><br />A School Day was a very important step for me. The award gave me confidence and made me feel that the stories we live every day in Gaza can reach the world.<br />The experience taught me patience, how to build a narrative, and how to tell a complete story through small details. All of that helped prepare me, both psychologically and artistically, for my first feature-length documentary.</p>
<p><br /><strong>&ldquo;Free Gaza Circus&rdquo; is an unconventional idea in the midst of war. What drew you specifically to the circus performers, and why did you feel their story needed to be documented?</strong><br />What drew me to the idea, when Mai first contacted me, was that they are ordinary people who chose an unconventional way to face reality.<br />The importance of their performances and their persistence, despite living under the same conditions of destruction, and their ability to affect the people around them were the main reasons that made me excited to document their story.</p>
<p><br /><strong>The film presents a different kind of resistance, resistance through laughter and color. Was this your intention from the beginning, or did it emerge naturally during filming?</strong><br />From the beginning, there was a general feeling that we wanted to talk about life, not death.<br />Every day, as we watched them rehearse and perform, we felt that what they were doing was, in itself, a stance. The film allowed this idea to emerge naturally, without forcing it.</p>
<p><br /><strong>The performances take place amid destruction. What was the most impactful moment for you as a director during the filming?</strong><br />The most impactful moment for me was seeing children laugh wholeheartedly during a performance, despite everything surrounding them.<br />It was a simple moment, but a powerful one. I felt that this laughter was greater than any political speech.</p>
<p><a href="https://ibb.co/99GdfWsh"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/qMx24pkC/2.png" alt="2" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Filming in Gaza during the genocide is not just difficult; it&rsquo;s almost impossible. What was the hardest situation you faced during production?</strong><br />The hardest part was the constant tension, filming while not knowing what could happen the next minute.<br />There were moments when we had to suddenly postpone filming, and the biggest challenge was continuing the work without putting anyone at risk.</p>
<p><br /><strong>How did you manage to protect the safety of the crew and the film&rsquo;s characters amid such harsh conditions and displacement?</strong><br />Safety was always the top priority.<br />We never filmed if we felt the location was unsafe. Every filming decision went through one question: Is it worth the risk? If the answer was no, we didn&rsquo;t shoot.</p>
<p><br /><strong>From a production standpoint, how was coordination managed between an Egyptian and a Palestinian team to make a film of this scale under such extraordinary circumstances?</strong><br />The coordination was built on a great deal of trust.<br />I conveyed the reality from the inside, while Mai and the team in Egypt worked on the overall vision and organization. Despite frequent internet outages, communication continued as much as possible, and each of us complemented the other&rsquo;s role.</p>
<p><a href="https://ibb.co/vCppmL6f"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/7xPPVrdB/3.png" alt="3" border="0" /></a><br /><strong>Winning both the Audience Award and Best Production at the Rome Festival is a major milestone. How did you feel after this great achievement?</strong><br />It was an overwhelming feeling, hard to put into words.<br />For the audience to choose the film again was the most important thing to me. I felt that the story had truly reached people and that they saw themselves in the characters.<br />The award is not just a personal achievement; it is a tribute to the entire circus team and to every person in Gaza who is still holding on to life despite everything.</p>

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