As the world prays for a breakthrough at the latest round of Middle-East peace talks, a film that shows the conflict from the inside, and why the talks will fail.
Filmed during the 2009 Gaza War, three conflicted, Jewish-Israelis, navigate toward their differing visions of Israel’s future: and thereby the future of the conflict itself.
The Teacher: Erez, an ideological settler, founded two of the largest youth movements in Israel – he plans to train a generation of hyper-nationalist, pro-military leaders to shape Israeli society in the decades to come.
The Peace Activist: Mihal runs a Jewish/Arab peace group planning to bridge the ethnic divide when at it’s most pronounced – Israeli Independence Day. To Israel’s Jews a day of great celebration but to Palestinians known simply, as The Nakba: The Catastrophe. The group must hold together as the war rages on and find a way to accept each other’s frank confessions of mutual suspicion and a thirst for revenge.
The Photographer: At 23 years old, Mor finds herself straddling the fault lines of Israeli society. Recently atheist but raised religious orthodox and ultra-nationalistic, her love for Israel is all that’s left of her traditional upbringing, but as she begins to see what life can be like for Israel’s Arab population, her faith is tested once again.
Instead of the endlessly rehearsed contestable facts, this film focuses on the atmosphere in which they are created. From mortars raining down in Southern Israel to the collision of pro and anti-war marches in Tel Aviv, this is the story of five months in the life of the Arab/Israeli conflict as seen from the streets. And the lives of three unique individuals reacting to the history unfolding around: of lives lived in exceptional conditions, and the beliefs that crystallise under the intense pressure of life at the centre of our geo-political world.