Monday, October 10, 2016, 6:30 p.m.
St. John Fisher College, Basil Hall, Room 135 >> Campus map
3690 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14618
Israel’s Wall: Security Or Apartheid? ~ When I See Them, I See Us ~ Batman at the Checkpoint ~ Jerusalem in Exile ~ My Neighbourhood
No charge ~ Open to the community
Israel’s Wall: Security or Apartheid?
Israel says it built the separation wall for security reasons to keep Palestinians from the occupied West Bank out of Israel. So why does 85% of the wall run inside the West Bank, rather than on the border with Israel? And how has it affected Palestinian communities?
A 4 min. documentary, this film was produced by AJPlus and is available on YouTube.
When I See Them, I See Us
More than 60 leading Black and Palestinian artists and activists are featured in this video highlighting challenges that both Black and Palestinian communities are confronting, including militarized policing and the prison industry.
“‘When I see them, I see us,’” has been an important theme for the legacy of Black-Palestinian solidarity,” explained Mari Morales-Williams, a Black scholar and youth organizer based in Philadelphia who co-wrote the script. “This line in the script recognizes the shared state agenda to demonize, police and annihilate Black and Brown bodies for its own imperialistic desires. It is also an invitation to create our own counter-narrative and to recommit to seeing the humanity and divinity within each of our resilient communities.”
Batman at the Checkpoint
An Israeli car and a Palestinian car are stuck in traffic in front of a barricade at the entrance of Jerusalem, coming from the Dead Sea. Yuval and Mahmoud, both seven-year-old boys, find its much more fun to pass the time playing with one another. But when Mahmoud’s father tries to cut into the other’s lane, Yuval’s father bumps into his car in an attempt to prevent him, and things start to get complicated. What began as a game becomes an outright battle over a plastic Batman doll. – Source: Imdb.com
A 10 min. narrative, this film was directed by Rafael Balulu and is available on Vimeo.
Jerusalem in Exile
Jerusalem in Exile is a film that explores and searches for the visual images of Jerusalem in the nostalgic minds of Palestinians globally. In this film photographer Steve Sabella and poet Najwan Darwish explain how Jerusalem currently exists as a city in ‘exile’, where Palestinians are forbidden from accessing it.
An 9 min. documentary, Jerusalem in Exile is directed, produced and edited by Eyes Infinite Films and is available on Vimeo.
My Neighbourhood
My Neighbourhood chronicles the story of Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian teenager forced to give up half of his home to Israeli settlers. Mohammed comes-of-age in the midst of unrelenting tension with his neighbours and unexpected cooperation with Israeli allies in his backyard.
A 26 min. documentary, My Neighbourhood was directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi. It is available at JustVision.org.
Panelist
Emma Alpert
Emma Alpert is the Public Engagement Manager for Just Vision, an organization dedicated to increasing media coverage and support for Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity, and equality. In this role, Emma oversees Just Vision’s programming and outreach to university students, policymakers, faith leaders, educators, and other communities across the U.S.
Previously, Emma worked as a Program Manager at Students of the World, a nonprofit media company that equips young filmmakers to document social issues in their communities and around the globe, where she produced and co-edited a range of short documentaries.
She has an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from New York University, where she completed a thesis project on Palestinian cinema production, including in-depth fieldwork with filmmakers working in the West Bank, Jordan, and East Jerusalem. She graduated with a B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin with degrees in photojournalism and peace and conflict studies.
Emma has spent time living in Jordan, Egypt, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Emma will join us in person at St. John Fisher College.