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Gaza Surf Club at Hyde Park Picture House

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
The 2016 film Gaza Surf Club follows Club members as they escape the grind and hardship of living in the “world’s largest open-air prison” and find personal freedom in the waves of the Mediterranean.
Image supplied by Leeds Inspired

Gaza Surf Club at Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds 14 May 2024 Tickets from £5.00 — Book now

“When I’m in the sea I feel happy and free”.

At its core, surfing represents a connection to nature, an escape from the structures of modern life and a chance to attune the body to something more elemental. Nowhere has that been more true than in the case of the surfers riding the waves of the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza.

Filmed between 2012 and 2016, Gaza Surf Club was created when this kind of escape was still possible, following two surfers: a 23-year-old man who dreams of training in Hawaii and a teenage girl who must give up the sport as she progresses towards adulthood. The film delivers all of the rush and energy, salt-sprayed action shots and graceful motion we’ve come to expect of surf movies, contrasted with the bracing, intimate details of life in Gaza.

Gaza Surf Club at Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds 14 May 2024 Tickets from £5.00 Book now

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