perspective: more films to know about: No Other Land

No Other Land, a review in the Guardian:

[This] powerful Israel-Palestine documentary is essential viewing....A Palestinian-Israeli collective have documented violence and displacement in a damning new film that offers a stark insider’s look at the conflict.

See the conversation in Democracy Now!
“No Other Land”: Israeli Director Slams Claims of Antisemitism for Apartheid Comment at Berlinale

or watch the interview here:

perspective: films to know about: Israelism

 from the marketing kit: 

When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns.

They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

Directed by two first-time Jewish filmmakers who share a similar story to the film’s protagonists, ISRAELISM is produced by Peabody-winner & 6-time Emmy-nominee Daniel J. Chalfen (Loudmouth, Boycott) along with activist and filmmaker Nadia Saah (Mo, Omar, 5 Broken Cameras), executive produced by two-time Emmy-winner Brian A. Kates (Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Succession, The Plot Against America) and edited by Emmy-winner Tony Hale (The Story of Plastic).

ISRAELISM uniquely explores how Jewish attitudes towards Israel are changing dramatically, with massive consequences for the region and for Judaism itself.

Coming soon to a theatre near us.... for more information: https://www.israelismfilm.com/

Watch ISRAELISM FREE with Ads on Tubi and Roku

BUT.......As the film faces opposition from groups trying to cancel its screenings, its main protagonist, Simone Zimmerman, and its co-director and producer, Erin Axelman, spoke to Al Jazeera.

..and Simone Zimmerman discusses Israelism on MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan Show, remarking also upon the sudden cancellation, then eventual screening, of the film in Hamilton, ON. 

“To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves.”

 .....difficult times for artists and intellectuals in a world gripped by fear.

The Lebanese poster for "Wedding Day at Cro Magnons."

Wajdi Mouawad’s “Controversial” Wedding Day

.... Lebanese intellectuals’ defense of expat director warns of state chokehold on freedom of expression. published 7 June, 2024 • Elie Chalala

an excerpt:

Mouawad elaborated on his position in a recent television interview on LBCI Lebanon with Albert Kostanian: “If there is a place where I want to choose my side, it’s not between Palestinians or Israelis, between Lebanese Shiites or Lebanese Sunnis; it’s not between identities.” He quotes Sophocles’ Antigone, which he says forms the basis of his approach: “I was born to share in love, not to hate…If I want to choose my camp radically, it’s between these two words.” Mouawad’s choice is “love.”

The ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which he refers to as a “fratricidal war,” has alternated “assassins.” At the moment, the Israeli government is a government of assassins, just as Hamas’ doing on October 7 was an assassin’s attack, he says. Mouawad recognizes that many Lebanese would disagree with his position but firmly stands by “nuance”: “The moment you try to be nuanced, they will come upon you. The nuance is complicated to maintain, and even if it hurts very much, it is in the nuance that you must position yourself.” Mouawad believes in a humanist solution, stating there is no justice born out of the destruction of one nation or the elimination of a people.

https://themarkaz.org/wajdi-mouawads-controversial-wedding-day/