Marco feeding a baby animal with a bottle

Eighty-four minutes in the life of Palestine’s only zoo: Marco De Stefanis brings latest doco to Sydney

From June 7 to 18, the Sydney Film Festival will showcase the latest and greatest films from across the globe in an international celebration of cinema.

Now in its 64th year, the festival will feature 288 films from 59 countries across 12 days.

Italian filmmaker Marco De Stefanis will bring his latest documentary, ‘Waiting for Giraffes’, to Sydney screens in the first week of the festival.

Released in 2016, the documentary provides a poignant insight into life in Palestine’s only zoo, and the tireless efforts of its workers to maintain its survival in an environment where politics is everything.

Fourteen times smaller than Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, Qalqilya Zoo covers an area of 4.9 acres in the city of Qalqilya.

Sitting on the western side of the West Bank and straddling the border with Israel, it’s also the world’s only zoo in occupied territory.

Due to its location and the tense political climate surrounding it, Qalqilya Zoo struggles to operate efficiently, and every day presents a new challenge.

Read the full article by Laura Egan at Il Globo.