Life in fragments – ‘video Activism’ from the Israeli occupation
12 June – 14 June 2009, De Balie Amsterdam
Israel has been occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip for 42 years now. As a result, some 5 million Palestinians are deprived of their basic human rights Their movement is severely restricted; they often don’t have access to clean water, education and health facilities. They live with the threat of house demolitions, constant violence by Israeli settlers and a military presence that has cost the lives of thousands.
Life in Fragments will present critical views on theIsraeli military occupation by screening activist videos. These are short films without heroes, but with real people. With no narratives, just fragments of lived experiences. They have been made by human rights organizations and individual activists, both Israelis and Palestinians. This citizen journalism should be seen as fragments of reality, raw testimonies told from the ground level of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A mechanism for witnessing and “shooting back”, through the lens of a camera provides un-edited views of both people under occupation, and the activists resisting it.
Life in Fragments will screen videos shot by Israeli human rights organizations like B’tselem, Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence and Anarchist Against the Wall, as well as individual activists. All screenings will be followed by interviewsanddiscussions with human rights activists, some of whom made their videos, or appear in them.
Life in Fragments also features an exhibition of photos by Activestills, an independent collective of Israeli documentary photographers. Through their images they dedicate themselves to the struggle for social change in Israel and Palestine. These images will be displayed in De Balie Café.
The film festival is organized in cooperation with De Balie, Democratie en Media and Stichting de Initiatieven.
PROGRAMFriday 12 June 2009
20:00 – 22:00 Opening
- Compilation of activist videos
- Oren Yakobovich: “The B’Tselem Camera Distribution Projects”
Saturday 13 June 2009
20:00 – 22:30 Roads of Separation
- Film: Checkpoint Time: Beit Furik (Hadass Shuve & Merav Amir)
- Q&A with Merav Amir: A Counterview: Video Activism at the CheckpointsWatch
- Compilation of activist videos
- Q&A with Hilla Dayan on “The daily life under a regime of separation”.
Sunday 14 June 2009
17:00 – 18:30 Three short films
- A Guided Tour in Hebron (Breaking the Silence)
- In the Shadow of King David (Natasha Dudinski)
- To Build a Wall Reporting from Abu Dis (Neta Afroni)
20:00 – 22:30 Solidarity in Action
Compilation of activist videos
- Q&A with Lymor Goldstein: the use of video testimonies in court.
- Film: A Short History of the Struggle Against the Wall (Jonathan Massey)
- Q&A with Jonathan Massey: Activism through the lens
- Film: Bassem Abu Rahme: A friend to us all
COLOPHON
Concept and Project management
Galit Saporta
Concept development
Erella Grassiani
Compilation and editing footage
Ariel Zachor
Benny Brunner
Coordination
Noa Roei
Programming committee
Jair Straschnow
Jankees Boer
Michal Shabtay
Yael Singer
Programmer Cinema De Balie
Dirk van der Straaten
Graphic Design
Ayelet Yanai
Photographer
Ilya Rabinovich
Special thanks
Abraham Vega
Barak Kalir
Channa Zaccai
Jonathan Massey
Micha de Haas
Michael Katzberg
Shulamith Bamberger
Urit Luden
Yoad Winter