The tensions that have long plagued the Middle East could be put on hold Thursday night, even if it’s for barely more than an hour.
Thursday, the Fed Ex Global Education Center will play host to a showing of the award-winning film “Budrus.”
The film is set to be the first installment in the center’s Global Big Screen Series, which remains a work in progress.
“Budrus,” produced by a coalition of Palestinians, Israelis and North Americans preaching non-violent conflict solutions, follows the on-going struggle of a small Palestinian village.
In the film, the village attempts to preserve its land, identity and way of life when the Israeli military begins work on a barrier that restricts the village’s access to resources.
“We recognized a gap in perception and we wanted to bring a story to the process of a grassroots Palestinian-led movement,” said Nadav Greenberg, outreach and media associate of Just Vision, the company that produced the film.
Greenberg has been working as a member of Just Vision for eight months.
While working on other films in the region, members of Just Vision were told of the issues in Budrus, Greenberg said.
The organization headed to the area and began collecting footage 2003 through 2004.
In the film, both Palestinians and Israelis come together in efforts to halt the production of the detrimental barrier.
“We wanted to provide a more complex picture of what things look like on the ground when Palestinians and Israelis come together and non-violence is used,” Greenberg said.
UNC serves as the first stop on the film’s college tour. After being premiered in the village in which it was filmed, the documentary has shown in numerous places around the world, garnering plenty of recognition.
The film will run for approximately an hour and twenty minutes, and will be followed with a 40 minute question-and-answer session with Greenberg that will be moderated by Nadia Yaqub, associate professor in the University’s Asian studies department.
“[The film] provides a perspective on Palestinians and Israelis that the American people don’t get to see,” Yaqub said.
The film is remarkable for its ability to present a story without demonizing any side, Yaqub said. She also enjoyed the emphasis that women had through the film, she said.
“A stereotype we have in the West is that of the oppressed, veiled woman,” Yaqub said. “In the film, we see women articulate and exerting their power upon the situation.”
According to Shai Tamari, an associate director in in the The Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, the film helps propel non-violence and cooperation.
“The film is proof that things on the ground can be changed, especially without violence,” Tamari said.
“It’s about learning that more can be down without simply using weapons and stones.”
“Budrus” will be shown at 6 p.m. in the FedEx Global Education Center. Admission is free. See global.unc.edu for more information.
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