#8 - The Wanted 18 - interview - Human Rights weekend 2015
Author De Balie
Live stream recording - 2015-01-31 - 20.13 -
Interview with filmmaker and Human Rights Watch researcher.
With humour and passion, this film captures the spirit of the first Palestinian uprising through the personal experiences of those who lived it. When we think of the intifada, we think of violence. However, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour were examples of peaceful protest. It’s 1987, and the first Palestinian popular movement in the West Bank is rising. Residents want local alternatives to Israeli goods, including milk, which they’ve been buying from an Israeli company. Activists in filmmaker Amer Shomali’s village of Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem, decide to create a co-operative dairy farm. They purchase 18 cows from an Israeli kibbutz and transport them to the West Bank. These are pacifist intellectuals and professionals. They know nothing about raising cattle or operating a dairy. After some trial and error, the newly minted “lactivists” succeed, and the population comes to depend on the “intifada milk.” But this act of defiance doesn’t go unnoticed. The dairy is raided, the cows photographed and declared “a threat to the State of Israel.” Despite the fact that there a numerous films on Israel and Palestine, The Wanted 18 succeeds to offer a refreshing view on this conflict.Acclaimed Palestinian artist Amer Shomali illustrated The Wanted 18 and co-directed it with veteran Canadian filmmaker Paul Cowan, combining stop-motion animation, interviews, drawings and archival material to bring to life one of the strangest chapters in the history.
Amer Shomali will join us through Skype to talk about this extraordinary story and the peaceful protest during this first Palestinian intifada. Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, will elaborate on the work of Human Rights Watch in Israel and Palestine.
Moderator: Anna Timmerman (Netherlands Senior Director Human Rights Watch)
debalie.nl/agenda/cinema/hrw+-the-wanted-18/uitgelicht/e_9758236/p_11695884
Human Rights Watch will present the third edition of the Amsterdam Human Rights Weekend from January 30 to February 1, 2015 at De Balie. The theme is “Reporting Change: Behind the Scenes in the Middle East and North Africa.”
The weekend will include films, a play, and panel discussions with Human Rights Watch experts, film directors, photographers, and journalists. Topics include “emergency cinema” in Syria, revolution and repression in the digital age, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Libya, front-line journalism, conflict and refugees, and Egypt’s forgotten revolution.
“The huge challenges facing the Middle East made this an obvious focus of this year’s Human Rights Weekend,” said Anna Timmerman, senior Netherlands director at Human Rights Watch. “We want to raise awareness and spark critical reflection with an interesting array of films, discussions, theatre, and photography about key human rights issues in the Middle East that also directly affect Europe.”
Partners of the Human Rights Weekend are: De Balie, ASN Bank, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, De Groene Amsterdammer, World Press Photo, and BKB.
hrw.org/news/2015/01/20/amsterdam-films-debates-middle-east-challenges
VIDEO #1: vimeo.com/debalie/1hrw2015
VIDEO #2: vimeo.com/debalie/2hrw2015
VIDEO #3: vimeo.com/debalie/3hrw2015
VIDEO #4: vimeo.com/debalie/4hrw2015
VIDEO #5: vimeo.com/debalie/5hrw2015
VIDEO #6: vimeo.com/debalie/6hrw2015
VIDEO #7: vimeo.com/debalie/7hrw2015
VIDEO #8: vimeo.com/debalie/8hrw2015
VIDEO #9: vimeo.com/debalie/9hrw2015
VIDEO #10: vimeo.com/debalie/10hrw2015
VIDEO #11: vimeo.com/debalie/10hrw2015
VIDEO #12: vimeo.com/debalie/10hrw2015
