Drawing On Disaster

Drawing on Disaster is a documentary film that explores the intersection of art-making and activism in the context of the current and historical Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The film’s central subject is Fadi Zmorrod, a Palestinian circus performer and teacher from East Jerusalem, currently raising his young family in Ireland. Fadi and his wife Juliet teach circus skills to young people from a diversity of backgrounds. He shares with us the role that circus played in helping him cope with the brutality of life in the occupied West Bank, and the meaning he derives from passing on his creative skills to the next generation.

We also meet the Irish woman and Palestinian man behind the HeArt of Gaza visual art project, a poignant insight into the ravages of war from the unique perspective of some of its most vulnerable victims, its children.

Interwoven with these stories we hear from Jacqui Kelleher, a stay-at-home mother and crochet artist from Waterford. Putting her anger and frustration to work, she is using her creative skills to be a voice of solidarity and support for the Palestinian people.

Drawing on Disaster is a celebration of resilience, resistance and creativity blossoming in the most dire of circumstances.