Cannes Film Festival mourns Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna

The Cannes film community mourned Palestinian journalist Fatima Hassouna on Thursday evening, cramming into theatres to watch the documentary about her life in Gaza. 

She used to say this would pass, recalled director Sepideh Farsi ahead of a showing of Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk in the French Riviera resort town.

"And it will pass. She is not here, but yet she is present, they didn't manage to defeat her," Farsi said, her voice breaking. 

Hassouna, 25, had been determined to come to the Cannes Film Festival to see the documentary despite the difficulties posed by Israel's blockade, Farsi told Reuters ahead of the screenings. 

She was "glowing with joy" the day she learned the film had been selected, Farsi added. 

The next day, Hassouna was killed in an Israeli air strike on her home.

Her death prompted the usually apolitical festival to issue a statement mourning her as one of "the far too many victims of the violence" in the region.

- Reporting by Reuters