Clarification appended: This story has been updated to reflect additional information provided by a source after publication. The original version stated the festival selected the footage of a Palestinian boy for the teaser. Koenigsaecker clarified that two clips from the Voyage of the Handala documentary were used in the festival’s teaser, including one of a Palestinian boy.
The Israel-Hamas war has caused a death toll of 68,500 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press as of Oct. 28.
Despite the ceasefire signed Oct. 10, both Hamas and Israel have attacked since then, with Israel claiming Hamas killed two Israelis on Oct. 19 and retaliated by injuring over 40 Palestinians.
Along with the death toll, people in Gaza are enduring a famine, with 640,000 people having faced “catastrophic” levels of food scarcity by October of this year, according to the United Nations.
Tom Hayes, an associate professor of instruction in the School of Film, and Jim Koenigsaecker, an OU alumnus with a 1994 journalism degree and a 2024 master's in documentary filmmaking, have both seen firsthand what is occurring in Gaza and filmed it for their documentary “Voyage of the Handala.”
Their documentary premiered Oct. 27 at the 10-day Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival in Spain, with 5,000 in-person attendees and 13,000 online viewers during last year’s festival, according to Euro Weekly News.
Koenigsaecker said he met Hayes during one of Hayes’ capstone classes last year, The Art of Editing. He and Hayes had many talks over Turkish coffee in Hayes’ office during his time in his class, where he was given a “crash course” in documentary filmmaking.
At the end of Koenigsaecker’s time in his class, Koenigsaecker received a call from Hayes asking him to join him on a journey. Hayes wanted Koenigsaecker’s help with the documentary “Voyage of the Handala” and asked him to film some footage for the film Hayes has been working on for about 10 years.
“He's a serious guy, and he knows how to work,” Hayes said. “He showed talent, and he showed a really vested interest in the documentary form. That's really the thing, but also just that we're comfortable with each other.”
Koenigsaecker said Hayes is known in the community for his many anti-war feature films, in recent years, focusing on Gaza.
“He was able to get us access to this boat that was trying to make its way to Gaza, and the plan we came up with was he would use some of the footage for his film, and then I would make a short film as quickly as I could to get it out there while it's still very relevant,” Koenigsaecker said.
The boat’s name is Handala, named after a political cartoon by Naji al-Ali in 1969, which depicts a young Palestinian boy, a symbol of resilience and struggle for Palestine, according to NPR. Koenigsaecker said he felt lucky to be on a boat named after the cartoon and ended up taking a photo of a young Palestinian boy, in an almost exact image of the original cartoon.
Two clips from the documentary were used in the teaser for the festival including one of Palestinian boy, which Koenigsaecker said is symbolic of what is going on in Gaza.
“So many children have been killed, either directly by the bombings and things or indirectly by starvation, that it's just absolutely f--king heartbreaking,” Koenigsaecker said. “That's why they chose the name, to highlight the sort of subtitle for the mission of the Handala was for the children of Gaza.”
Hayes described the filming and editing of the documentary to be intense and hard work. Once their filming was over and they returned home, Koenigsaecker took charge of editing the film while Hayes got back to work teaching his classes.
“Teaching is pretty much a seven-days-a-week job,” Hayes said. “It's very consuming and mind-consuming, so he really grabbed the reins on that and beat his brains out to get this piece together in a really, really quick turnaround.”
The film itself is not sensitized, Koenigsaecker said. There are images of children being murdered, along with other horrific images that occurred in Gaza and on the boat. Koenigsaecker gave kudos to the festival for premiering it and said other people are already interested in screening it in other places.
Hayes and Koenigsaecker had a second unit working in Gaza, a filmmaker and an audio person, providing them with first-hand footage.
Koenigsaecker said he was asked by an OU alum if the film still mattered with the ceasefire. He responded saying it does, especially with the total blockade that prevents aid from getting to Palestinian citizens.
In response to this question, Hayes said the ceasefire is “irrelevant,” as Israel has destroyed Gaza and obliterated infrastructure, drinking water, schools and housing stock.
“This thing has a momentum of its own now,” Hayes said. “They don't need to fire a bullet. The continued restriction of aid is the killer now, and winter is closing in, and I really doubt that a single Palestinian infant will make it through this winter if the entire global community doesn't get up on its hind legs and put a stop to this.”
