Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (2025) – Review

Quick Thoughts

1. It’s been lingering in my memory and is very hard to forget (which is a good thing)
2. Director Sepideh Farsi’s decision to film the conversations vertically on cell phones was wise. Cell phone conversations make things much more comfortable and natural than a camera setup
3. I love Kino Lorber-distributed documentaries
4. It features the best doc cat of 2025.
5. Fatima Hassona was a fantastic photographer.

My favorite thing about documentaries is how they’re able to showcase and illuminate the stories of extraordinary people. Whether it’s Steve Wiebe in The King of Kong, or Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man, I love learning about people who spend years trying to break video game records or “protecting” grizzly bears in Alaska. In Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, director Sepideh Farsi introduces the world to Fatima Hassona, a 24-year-old photographer who lived in Northern Gaza. Over the course of a year, the two talked over WhatsApp video chats, and Farsi edited their conversations into a compelling documentary. 

Between 2025’s The Alabama Solution and Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk, cell phones have become an important tool for documentary filmmakers who can’t interview their subjects face to face. The cell phones are handy filmmaking tools because in the case of The Alabama Solution, the footage humanizes the subjects who risk solitary confinement in an Alabama prison to make sure viewers can see their faces. The vertical cell phone conversations make things more intimate, which allows the subjects to feel comfortable in their surroundings. The WhatsApp video chats between Farsi and Hassona give Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk a welcome dose of reality and authenticity that make it an excellent watch. Farsi filmed her mobile phone with another mobile phone (interesting idea), and once you’re able to get into the rhythm of the doc, the vertical framing makes you feel like you’ve joined the call, and it also highlights Fatma’s indefatigable smile. 

The conversations are in English because Farsi can’t speak Arabic (but she can understand it), and the two talk about religion, photography, food, dreams, and the pride that comes from living in Gaza. The service and wi-fi in the area were never constant, so the two talked whenever they could. Interspersed throughout the documentary are the photos Hassona took during the bombings, which showcase the humanity of the Gaza residents amidst mass destruction. Whether it’s a child sitting in a chair in front of a leveled building, or an empty street lined with rubble, Hassona’s photography isn’t trying to desensitize people with violent images. 

The saddest aspect of the documentary is watching an optimistic person start drifting away. There are moments in the doc when Fatma admits that she can’t focus anymore and her ever-present smile becomes a shadow of its former self. Throughout the first conversations, she talks about traveling to Rome and Paris, but after a year she just wants a piece of chocolate. The original ending was a long tracking shot through the streets of Gaza that capture widespread destruction, but Farsi chose to include their final conversation in which Hassona learns that the documentary has been accepted into the Cannes Film Festival. It’s a sad moment because the hope created by the film festival quickly dissipates as Hassona died shortly after when a bomb landed on her home.

Final Thoughts – You should watch Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk.