Sunday, September 8, 2013, 2:00 p.m.
Location: The Little Theatre, 240 East Avenue Rochester NY ~ Tickets $8 from The Little box office
Film run time: 1:30 ~ Style: documentary ~ Languages: Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles ~ Year released: 2011 ~ Format: video projection
5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal, first-hand account of life and non-violent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village located next to Israeli settlements (Google map). Filmed by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, Gibreel, the film was co-directed by Burnat and Guy Davidi, an Israeli filmmaker.
Structured in chapters around the destruction of each one of Burnat’s 5 cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of village upheaval. As the years pass in front of the camera, we witness Gibreel grow from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him with the astute powers of perception that only children possess. Burnat watches from behind the lens as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify, and lives are lost in this cinematic diary and unparalleled record of life in the West Bank.
Nominated for an Academy Award® in 2013.
Panelist
Pamela Olson
Pamela Olson lived in Ramallah for two years, during which she served as head writer and editor for the Palestine Monitor and as foreign press coordinator for Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi’s 2005 presidential campaign. She’s published stories and articles in CounterPunch, Electronic Intifada, Israel’s Occupation Magazine, The Stanford Magazine, and Mondoweiss.
In January of 2006 she moved to Washington, DC and worked at a Defense Department think tank to try to bring what she had learned to the halls of power — an educational but disillusioning experience. In 2007 she left DC and wrote Fast Times in Palestine: A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland.