The Seven Waves

Synopsis

The Seven Waves offers a lyrical portrait of Palestinian people’s relationships with the sea, and the complex layers of governance that shape these relations. Director Asma Bseiso shares the stories of Bisan, a young water sports athlete, and her cousin Muhammad, a fisherman and lifeguard working along the Gaza coast. The film follows Bisan’s training and advocacy as one of the few women competing in water sports, situating women’s access to the sea within the broader landscape of Palestinian freedom. Muhammad’s narrative introduces themes of labor and food sovereignty as he works in the sea amid heightened policing from Israeli boats and limited access to the resources needed to fish. As the last film made before the genocide began in 2023, The Seven Waves juxtaposes the daily struggles of coastal life under occupation with the beauty of the Gaza Sea as a spiritual and cultural home for Palestinian lives.

Director Bio

Asma Bseiso is an award-winning filmmaker, media consultant and trainer who lives and works between Amman and Gaza. In 2008, Asma was selected to join the Documentary Filmmaking Fellowship Program at George Washington University. She also participated in an advanced filmmaking training program by the University of Southern California in collaboration with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan. In 2009, Asma directed a film titled “I Am Gaza,” which was shot during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip in 2008. In 2013, she obtained a Higher Diploma in Film and Television Directing from the Film Institute of Madrid. In 2016, Asma released her film “Still Alive,” which won the Best Film Award at the Malmö Film Festival in Sweden. She has also worked with non-governmental organizations such as: The United Nations, the German Agency for International Cooperation, and has provided film training workshops in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, and Gaza.

Distribution

Asma Bseiso
Contact: asmabes@gmail.com

 

When films are made about Gaza – which rarely happens – they are made by either Western directors or people who have lived all their lives in the West, and tell stories about what they decide is important, from their point of view. So their narratives are shaped from the start by what they believe, regardless if they actually represent reality.