ISTANBUL

A documentary built from long-forgotten footage shot in the Gaza Strip more than two decades ago has received two nominations at Europe’s most prestigious film awards, according to Euronews.

The film brings renewed attention to images of life during the second intifada.

“With Hassan in Gaza,” directed by Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari, is nominated for Best European Documentary and Best European Film at the European Film Awards, to be held Jan. 17 in Berlin.

The film is drawn from material Aljafari shot in 2001 while traveling through Gaza in search of a former political prisoner he had known in the late 1980s. Accompanied by a local guide named Hassan, the filmmaker journeyed from northern to southern Gaza, recording scenes on the streets, markets, seaside encounters and conversations with residents.

Aljafari said he had no intention of making a film. After returning to his studies in Cologne, Germany, the footage, stored on three MiniDV tapes, remained unwatched for years. The tapes were accidentally rediscovered last July.

Aljafari decided to assemble the material into a documentary without cutting or reshaping the original recordings. He has described the film as a record of people and places that, in many cases, no longer exist.

The documentary offers an unfiltered look at life in Gaza in 2001, portraying severe restrictions on movement and the effects of Israeli bombardment and violence during the uprising. The footage records everyday moments of work, travel and conversation under military occupation.

“With Hassan in Gaza” premiered in August at the Locarno Film Festival, where it received the Europa Cinemas Label Award. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 14th Athens Innovative Film Festival.

Aljafari, who divides his time between Berlin and Paris, has made 12 short and feature-length documentaries. He said the recovered images have taken on new meaning in light of the extensive destruction and loss of life in Gaza in recent years, serving as a visual record of a past era.

The European Film Awards ceremony will take place Saturday in Berlin, where winners will be announced in multiple categories.