In May, Israel celebrates sixty years of independence.
At the same time, the Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the flight and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians which resulted from the founding of Israel in 1948.

Yet Israel seems to be a state in which the Nakba did not occur. The Nakba is missing from the Israeli narrative, its traces are nearly absent from the landscape.

60 years after its founding, Israel is a state that refuses to come to terms with its past. It has developed into a militarized society, in which the rights of non-Jewish minorities are severely under pressure. Since 1967, millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live under Israeli military occupation.

Critical film makers from Israel shed light on these dark sides, which continue to exact a heavy human toll. The film festival Witnessed from Within provides them with a platform to exhibit their work. Their films portray Israeli and Palestinian civilians, who do not resign themselves to separation, intimidation and injustice. As a result,  some of them are forced to pay a heavy   price.

The festival opens with the Dutch premiere of “Flipping Out”, the new film of Yoav Shamir and a sequel to his award-winning film “Checkpoint”. “Flipping Out” follows the Odyssey of many young Israelis who after their military service travel to India, use large quantities of drugs, and in many cases, flip out. The director will be in attendance and will answer questions.

A number of films are followed by interviews and discussions with the directors and/or main participants in the films.