'Iran to make first-ever film Gaza attack'

Iran will make "the first-ever movie" made about the Palestinian plight after the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians living in Gaza use the tunnels, which link the south of the impoverished strip to Egypt, to bring in basic supplies like food, medicine and fuel.

Speaking to Fars news agency on Tuesday, Producer Ezatollah Jamei-Nadoshen said the shooting of Philadelphi -- which is a joint project by two Iranian filmmakers Esmail Rahimzadeh and Mojtaba Asadipour -- will begin by the end of August.

The film will be screened at the annual International Fajr Film Festival in Tehran in February 2011.

Jamei-Nadoshen expressed hope that the production will turn out to be an 'attention-grabbing movie', which would appeal to both audience and critics.

"This will be the first-ever movie made about the Gaza siege and the War on Gaza," he said.

"The screenplay was written following six months of research into Israel’s attack and its siege on Gaza," Rahimzadeh noted.

Israel has imposed a three-year land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has taken its toll on the 1.5 million people living in the impoverished coastal sliver.

"The film depicts efforts by a group [of Palestinians] to bring food into Gaza from Egypt through a tunnel," the filmmaker added.

Israel launched an all-out land, sea and aerial strike on the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008 and continued pounding the costal sliver until January 18, 2009.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and thousands of others were wounded in the attack, which also inflicted heavy damages upon Gaza’s infrastructure.