A 15-year-old removes her phone password before the bombs drop. Her reason will wreck you.
When she heard the explosions around her, 15-year-old Sma Ahel immediately picked up her phone. 'I removed the password from my phone so that if we didn't make it out, and we were killed, people would know what happened to us. So they know we existed.' In their own words and images, this short documentary tells the story of a Palestinians trapped in deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas during an 11-day war in May 2021.
Direction
Collier steps back completely. No narration, just Sma's own footage and voice.
Editing
Brutal economy. Every second earned. Builds to a gut-punch final line.
Director
Neil Collier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'password removal' motif has since become recognized among Palestinian youth as a specific digital-age ritual of occupation—phones as potential grave markers.
Collier found Sma through her public TikToks during the war; the entire film is constructed from her existing personal archive, not new footage he shot.
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