Hope for a better future is undeniably a distant dream for Palestinians living in the refugee camp of the Gaza strip. Yet hope is just what drives twenty-two-year-old Mohammad Assaf, who sings at weddings and cobbles together rehearsal sessions with his makeshift band, who have managed to become contestants in a live-televised amateur band competition taking place in Tel Aviv. Unable to compete in person since they are not allowed to leave the camp, the program allows the band to Skype-in their performance—partly in protest of their confinement, Alas, just before going on the air, the electricity goes out. A generator is quickly found to get the signal back just in the nick of time—but the noise of the generator is so loud, the audience in Tel Aviv can barely hear the music.

In an era when the cumulative weight of obstacles threatens to crush even the most tenacious soul, the perseverance required to carry on despite incredible obstacles must come from somewhere. In the case of Mohammad, it is simply that to stop struggling for a chance to sing is to stop living. And as he traverses various checkpoints en route to realizing his dream, you will gasp at what awaits him and his countrymen.