There is the kind of cinema that sneaks up on you, making you feel like both an uninvited guest and an unwilling witness. Streaming platforms promise comfort, but some stories refuse to be swiped away. Nicolas Wadimoff, the Swiss provocateur who once chronicled Olympic boxers and Marseille street chaos, brings Who Is Still Alive to Venice, a documentary that whispers, shouts, and politely refuses to let anyone leave the theater feeling unbothered.

While most entertainment lulls you into swipes and scrolls, Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive refuses to fit into neat boxes, forcing viewers to stare humanity in the face.

Here is the thing. Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive is not a dramatized blockbuster with explosions and CGI heartbreak. It is rooted in the raw pulse of reality. The stories of nine Palestinians surviving Gaza’s humanitarian chaos are not invented. Each memory, chalked streets, and narrow escapes are tethered to lived experience. If cinema is meant to show life in its unvarnished form, Wadimoff is not just telling it; he is daring us to survive it alongside them.

Imagine watching life’s fragility mapped in chalk, friends lost to rubble, and a soul moving mechanically through a world stripped of predictability. Nicolas Wadimoff does not offer melodrama or neat narrative arcs; he presents life in its glitchy, unfiltered essence. Viewers meet musicians, influencers, and everyday citizens who hover between existence and memory. The film is less about war headlines and more about the quiet, human moments that scream louder than any explosion.

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While Wadimoff maps survival in rubble and memory, Venice glimmers with sequins and moral fireworks, proving that cinema can shock, provoke, and spark debate in wildly different ways.

While one story traced survival in Gaza, another unfolded under Venice’s glittering chandeliers. Julia Roberts, armed with charisma sharper than a guillotine, defended After the Hunt, transforming whispers about #MeToo themes into verbal fireworks. Her presence turned subtle controversy into performance art, proving that debate can be as contagious as sequins on a red carpet. In a room where glamour collided with provocation, even silence felt dangerously performative.

As Venice glamor collided with provocation and Gaza whispered stories of survival, it became clear that cinema no longer offers comfort alone. Controversy and conflict now sit side by side in theaters and festival halls, demanding attention, reflection, and discomfort. Whether it is a documentary exposing humanity under fire or a star-studded debate about art and morality, the audience is forced to confront a world that refuses to be ignored.

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What are your thoughts on Nicolas Wadimoff’s approach to blending personal narrative and political reality in cinema? Let us know in the comments below.