By Miranda Pelletier
Earlier this week, Kansas City enjoyed a special screening of the film “Gaza Is Our Home” by Monear Shaer, a documentary about the filmmaker’s own experiences visiting family in Gaza and losing loved ones to the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation.
The Shaer family lost 27 members during the early days of this genocide, with the number sadly increasing even more since the film’s release. Direct correspondence with some of those family members and the stories of their steadfast faith, kindness, and resilience are featured in the film.
What began as an auto-generated slideshow on Monear’s iPhone of clips and images from his trip to Gaza in 2021 soon turned into a full-length documentary production. The film provides an intimate look into the life of Monear’s family, presented through a touching personal interview with his sister Nabeha where the two share childhood recollections of visiting their family under the threat of occupation. The interview is overlaid with news headlines and footage captured by Palestinian journalists on the ground, both during previous attacks as well as the current genocidal escalation beginning in October 2023.
Organized by local members of the Green Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and KC Tenants, and co-sponsored by PeaceWorks, the Nov. 3 screening was held at Stray Cat Film Center, a non-profit movie theater and community space beloved by KC organizers. After watching the film, audiences stayed for a live Q&A and personal discussion with Monear, where he explained that his main goal was to humanize his people to a world that sees them as just numbers.
“This film is not for you guys,” Monear explained. “It’s for all the people who aren’t here. You all cared enough to come out tonight, but the ones who really need to see it are all the people who don’t care. At least not yet.” Monear has been on a nationwide tour since completing his film in 2024, holding screenings at universities and other community spaces across the country, showing his film to any audience who will have him. His operation is entirely self-funded. With no agents or commercial distributors, Monear is relying on the strength of community to help him spread his message. His call to action for audience members was to go home and share the film with family members and friends, and with anyone who still denies the reality of the genocide that is unfolding before our eyes, funded by our own U.S. tax dollars.
The film is free to watch on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S3S_9fGNX8) and we encourage you to share it widely among everyone you know, especially large groups of students or faith congregations. If you know anyone who is interested in hosting a live screening, please visit gazaisourhome.com to contact Monear. We hope to see him back in the Kansas City metro area soon for an even bigger event!
For other ways to give your support, please go to linktr.ee/gazaisourhome to watch the film, leave a review, learn more, and donate to Monear to help fund his next film project as well as provide life-saving aid to his family members and loved ones still trapped in Gaza.
–Miranda Pelletier is a local activist and member of the Kansas Green Party. (c) 2025, Miranda Pelletier, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.
