This often frustrating but increasingly compelling documentary packs a punch by the end. This was especially resonant after attending a huge rally outside the cinema to protest Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

It is frustrating because director Sepideh Farsi films most of it on a phone and what she is filming is a video conference between her and a woman in Palestine on another phone. Her camera is constantly moving, and this is compounded by the fact that the woman, Fatima, has terrible Internet connection because of increasing deprivation in Palestine and so every 10th word disappears.

Other irritations are that the subtitling is not a transcription but a paraphrasing of what is being said, an odd choice. And often Farsi’s phone screen or a laptop screen where we see intermittent news media clips is covered in dust. It is not a slick production.

Made almost entirely of these video conferences, it starts to become really fascinating as we feel like we get to know Fatima. She is progressively positive, with a huge smile and a real feeling that Allah will provide. That everything that happens is for a purpose.

With every phone call, we find out a little bit more about what has been happening. First it is bombings and the destruction of her family home so they must live elsewhere with 13 people in a single room. Then the starvation begins. She talks of having to tell a child that there is no food that day. She works with the community to provide food for others but doesn’t eat anything herself.

She is a photographer, the thing that is her greatest love, and one of the strongest things about this documentary is when we see her images. They are just of ordinary every day things in her life, but that means a backdrop in every image of bombed buildings, rubble and destruction.

She tries to show what is beautiful and hopeful, blankets hanging from balconies, children playing in the street, small pops of colour against the grey concrete and rubble.

We know where this is going, and we gradually see her spark diminish. The lack of food makes her tired, and you can see that the optimism is gone. When a good friend is killed, it is hard for her to summon any enthusiasm and her wide smile has gone.

The final title card is a gut punch.