Nearly all access to the outside world is blocked for the people of Gaza. Students are denied exit to study abroad.
Youssef Nateel, 28.

I started my professional career based on a hobby of producing films. I made my brothers heroes in my imaginary films and used to film them with my father's home video camera.

I gradually improved and tried to get out of the bottleneck of Gaza. My ambition was to be one of the unique names in the world of documentary and cinema production.

During the last 10 years, which represent half of my life almost, I lived in Gaza under siege. I used to hear the late President Yasser Arafat talk about transforming Gaza into Singapore. I thought of finding a city that produces movies such as the ones in other parts of the world, for example, Egypt. Unfortunately, I did not see any movie industry and did not find any cinema experience. I could not even obtain training in Gaza due to the lack of experts and could not travel abroad due to the situation at the borders and crossings.

My experience was based mainly on trial and error. I do not see any horizons in this field. The cinematography culture is not up to standards and the people are introverts. I feel this and fear that the next generations will be even more introvert and extreme.

The average income for people in Gaza is 31% lower than it was in 1994.