For decades, and clearly with the emergence of what Ella Shohat (1989/2010) termed “the Palestinian Wave” in Israeli Cinema, the Israeli film milieu—directors, producers, film critics and, to an extent, even fans of Israeli films—have taken a dovish stand vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue; often the Palestinian Wave films of the 1980s and 1990s amount to a strong damnation of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of members of the film milieu reside in Gush Dan with Tel Aviv as its demographic and cultural epicenter. Although the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, known in Hebrew as ʿOtef ʿAza is about an hour away from Tel Aviv, it has often been thought by Israel’s media and cultural center as a (non)place “at the end of the word.” This study of Israeli films on Gaza situates its investigation precisely in this otherwise marginalized border area. More specifically, “So Close, So Far” seeks to identify the unique thematics and modes of expression Israeli filmmakers who reside in ʿOtef ʿAza/the Western Negev employ in their cinematic explorations of the Israeli-Gazan warfare, co-existence across from the separating fences and walls, and the strained people’s collaborations. This paper pursues the following research questions: How can we situate the positions and subjectivities of those filmmakers who reside in ʿOtef ʿAza and have become directly impacted by the military-political situation across both sides of the border (e.g., being subjected to occasional rocket attacks and forced to spend time in shelters)? Likewise, what role do these filmmakers take as they live amidst communities in Israel’s periphery known for their hawkish views towards Arabs in general and Gazans (who lie under the rule of Hamas) in particular? And finally, in exploring the various documentaries, feature films, and shorts of this essay, can we discern a unique cinematic grammar that emerges out of the particular realities the filmmakers encounter in this border zone?