In June, just weeks before the last war between Hamas and Israel started, in the midst of electricity cuts, and internet outages, 150 excited young Palestinians gathered in Gaza City hoping to change their future. They competed to get their startup ideas funded at the yearly competition — and over half of the participants were women. In the post-Arab Spring world, Middle Eastern youth are redefining their roles – events like the startup weekend are a way for the next Gazan generation, and in particular women, to create a new beginning and claim their place in the rapidly developing arab tech world.
The challenge for this story was to show a visually compelling narrative about a conference – even though the story was very interesting it was harder to find images that the viewers would feel a connection to.