Palestinian Art: Finding Media

A group of Palestinian and Israeli women attend a video workshop at a small town community center run by Rona, a young filmmaker from Tel Aviv, who teaches them to document their lives. As each student shares footage from her home life with the others, their beliefs and preconceptions are challenged and barriers are broken down. The group comes together as mothers, daughters, wives, and women living in a world designed to keep them apart, forming an empowering and lasting bond as they learn more about each other... and themselves. Inspired by writer-director Orit Fouks Rotem’s own experiences as a teacher, CINEMA SABAYA presents a deft and heartfelt portrait of art’s capacity to unite disparate communities, moving effortlessly between the gravity of their conversations and the genuine joy of this unlikely group of friends.

In the shadow of a wall stands a new generation of Palestinian. With defiant creativity they prove that no matter the height of the obstacle, one can always climb. HURDLE reveals an important and intimate story emerging from the hearts and actions of Palestinian youth as the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories reached its 50th year.

In the spirit of Michael Apted's "7 Up" series, the award-winning "My So-Called Enemy" has been praised as "moving, powerful, intelligent and brave‚" (The Nation) and "a mesmerizing, eye-opening film that shows the true power of friendship and empathy to conquer political boundaries." (Teen Voices). Spanning seven years, "My So-Called Enemy" follows six Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls committed to justice and mutual understanding after participating in a women's leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. This heart and mind-opening film, from Emmy Award-winning director Lisa Gossels (The Children of Chabannes), documents how the young women's transformative experience of knowing their "enemies" as human beings in the United States meets with the realities of their lives back home in the Middle East. Through the coming-of-age narratives of Adi, Gal, Hanin, Inas, Rawan and Rezan, audiences see how creating relationships across emotional, political, religious and geographic borders are first steps towards resolving conflict. "My So-Called Enemy" presents the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through a human lens, and the possibility and hope that come from listening to each others stories. A film about building bridges of understanding in our own communities, "My So-Called Enemy" offers audiences profound messages about tolerance, inclusion and respect, conflict prevention and resolution, and the vital role of women in peacemaking