United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Education Resources
Where Olive Trees Weep (2024, 1hr 43 min)
Where Olive Trees Weep offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. We follow, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. We also witness Dr. Gabor Maté offer trauma-healing work to a group of women who were tortured in Israeli prisons.
Ancient landscapes bear deep scars, having witnessed the brutal reality of ancestral land confiscation, expulsions, imprisonment, home demolitions, water deprivation, and denial of basic human rights. Yet, through the veil of oppression, we catch a glimpse of resilience—deep roots that have carried the Palestinian people through decades of darkness and shattered lives. This emotional journey bares the humanity of the oppressed while grappling with the question: what makes the oppressor so ruthlessly blind to its own cruelty?
Visit the film's website: https://whereolivetreesweep.com/
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VectWsWc1Q&t=1s
Arrange for a screening: https://whereolivetreesweep.com/screenings/
Licensing fees start at $50 for up to 50 guests, for non-profit and faith-based organizations.
It might also be found online with a search on Vimeo.
No Other Land (2024, 1hr 36 min)
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary of 2024
Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting his community's mass expulsion by the Israeli occupation since childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta, as soldiers destroy the homes of families - the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle, and for over half a decade they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. Their complex bond is haunted by the extreme inequality between them: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free. This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during the darkest, most terrifying times in the region, as an act of creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.
"Powerful Israel-Palestine documentary is essential viewing" - The Guardian
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pI2IXKtlew
For those in the U.S., it can be difficult to find a way to see the full film. It was possible to arrange for a screening previously and that availability may return.
Check this website for places it may be streaming online:
https://releasing.dogwoof.com/no-other-land.
The Law and the Prophets (2022, 1hr 54min)
The Law and the Prophets is a compellingly filmed, fast-paced, and thorough look at the daily threats and challenges that Palestinians face, "a master class on Israel’s control of Palestinians."
Since June 1967, Israel has controlled, in one way or another, the lives of the Palestinians living in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the law is whatever Israel deems to be in the best interest of Jewish Israelis and to the detriment of Palestinians. Israel violates the civil and human rights of Palestinians as a matter of standard, accepted policy.
Over time, Israel's control has become more sophisticated, more systematic, and harder to recognize. However, there are brave, determined individuals who are trying to expose the destructive, unjust, and sometimes invisible ways in which Israel exploits and oppresses Palestinians. The Law and the Prophets amplifies the voices of the brave, determined individuals who are trying to expose the destructive, unjust, and sometimes invisible ways in which Israel exploits and oppresses Palestinians.
This film succeeds well as an introduction for those who know very little about what is happening in Palestine/Israel, while also adding to the knowledge of those who have been following the devolving situation for years.
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xEU5bqM8dE
Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_kF35lgF40
Farha (2021, 92 min)
Audio Language: Arabic. Subtitles: English
In this internationally acclaimed historical drama, the story of Farha centers on a Palestinian girl's coming-of-age experience during the Nakba, which is the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948. Desperate to continue her education, a young girl convinces her father to let her pursue her schooling in the city. However, her dreams are shattered when violence erupts in her village and she finds herself fighting to survive an unfolding catastrophe. Inspired by true events, Farha is a powerful historical dramatization (100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) of the the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, the foundation of all that is happening today.
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3STq43E2HcU
Watch the film for free on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/100029486/farha
Available on Netflix with a subscription:
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81612982?source=35
Available on Youtube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and other places for a small fee
1948: Creation and Catastrophe (2017, 1hr 25min)
Through riveting and moving personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe reveals the shocking events of the most pivotal year in the most controversial conflict in the world. It tells the story of the establishment of Israel as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it. It is not possible to make sense of what is happening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today without an understanding of 1948. This acclaimed documentary was the last chance for many of its Israeli and Palestinian characters to narrate their first-hand accounts of the creation of a state and the expulsion of a nation.
The film includes interviews with veterans, refugees, survivors and historians of the war collected in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Those who lived through the war are the centerpiece of the story, but respected historians, including Charles D. Smith, Avi Shlaim, Nur Masalha, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Rashid Khalidi and Sharif Kanaaneh provide context for the events.
See the Screening and Discussion Guide
Visit the film's website: https://www.1948movie.com/
See the trailer on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/240251712?fl=pl&fe=vl
Watch the film:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwy-Rf15UIs&t=1s
The Occupation of the American Mind
(2016, 1hr 14min or 49min)
Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and its repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world — except the United States. The Occupation of the American Mind takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S.
Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel’s favor.
The Occupation of the American Mind provides a sweeping analysis of Israel’s decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people — a battle that has only intensified over the past few years in the face of widening international condemnation of Israel’s increasingly right-wing policies.
See the Discussion Guide
Visit the film's website: https://www.occupationmovie.org/
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9hpyHbLxbE
From the producers:
To help provide context that’s too often been missing in U.S. corporate media since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, we’re streaming a newly abridged 49-minute cut of our film for free. This new edit places special emphasis on propaganda efforts that have helped conceal Israel’s brutal and illegal decades-long occupation of Palestinian land, while dehumanizing Palestinians and vilifying those who speak up for Palestinian human rights as either anti-Semitic or terrorist-sympathizers.
Watch the abridged version of the film (49 min):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jKRwdsq-As
Watch the original version of the film (84 min):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0-YohJR-g
The Stones Cry Out (2013, 56 min)
Christianity was born in Palestine two thousand years ago. From there it spread throughout the Middle East and to the rest of the world. Yet many are unaware Christians still live in the land. For more than 60 years the Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, have suffered displacement, expulsion, wars, occupation and oppression. The voices of Palestinian Christians have all too often been drowned out in the turmoil of events. This is their story, in their voices, from the Nakba of 1948 until today.
In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinian villagers were driven from their homes in what was officially dubbed “Operation Broom." After the Galilee came the expropriation of the West Bank in 1967, the settlements, the wall. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, is now hemmed in by the wall, cut off from Jerusalem, and robbed of much of its agricultural land.
All too often media coverage of the conflict in Palestine has framed it as a fight between Muslims and Jews, largely ignoring the fact that Palestine was the birthplace of Christianity, that Palestinians are both Muslims and Christians, and that Palestinian Christians have played a critical role in their land’s history and the struggle to maintain its identity.
From 1948 up to today, through wars and uprisings, leading Palestinian Christians, including the late President of Beir Zeit University Gabi Baramki, Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi, civil society activist Ghassan Andoni, Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah and others recount the unwavering and sometimes desperate struggle of all Palestinians to resist Israel’s occupation and stay on their land.
[Every person who appears in this film is a Palestinian Christian.]
Visit the film's website: http://www.thestonescryoutmovie.com/
See resources to accompany the film:
https://thestonescryoutmovie.com/useful-information/
Available to watch for a small fee on Amazon Prime and Apple TV
5 Broken Cameras (2011, 1hr 34min)
The first-ever Palestinians film to be nominated for best documentary film at the Oscars, 5 Broken Cameras is a first-hand account of protests in Bil'in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli Apartheid Wall. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son. In 2009, Israeli co-director Guy Davidi joined the project. Structured around the destruction of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of turmoil.
Structured in chapters around the destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over six years of village upheaval. As the years pass in front of the camera, we witness Gibreel grow from a newborn baby into a young boy who observes the world unfolding around him with the astute powers of perception that only children possess. Burnat watches from behind the lens as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify and lives are lost in this cinematic diary and unparalleled record of life in the West Bank.
See the Discussion guide
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZivwbaUsnI
Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTN3g-b0iA
Budrus (2010, 1hr 22min)
Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites Palestinian political factions and invites Israeli supporters to join an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolent strategies to confront a threat. While this film is about one Palestinian village, it tells a much bigger story about what is possible in the Middle East. Ayed succeeded in doing what many people believe to be impossible: he united feuding Palestinian political groups, including Fatah and Hamas; he brought women to the heart of the struggle, and welcomed hundreds of Israelis to cross into Palestinian territory for the first time and join this nonviolent effort. Many of the activists who joined the villagers of Budrus are now continuing to support nonviolence efforts in villages from Bil’in to Nabi Saleh to Hebron to Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. While many documentaries about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict either romanticize the notion of peace, or dwell entirely on the suffering of victims to the conflict, this film focuses on the success of a Palestinian-led unarmed struggle.
See the Discussion Guide
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hqYR7OkqL4
Watch the film on JustVision: https://justvision.org/budrus
Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority (2006, 1hr 30min)
A thought-provoking and gripping film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film produced on Palestine/Israel, Occupation 101 presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never-ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions. The film details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.
This widely acclaimed film covers a wide range of topics, which include: the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880’s, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.
Occupation 101 features some of the most credible Middle East scholars, historians, peace activists, journalists, and humanitarian workers, including Bishop Allen Bartlett Jr, Phyllis Bennis, Father Drew Christiansen, Noam Chomsky, Cindy and Craig Corrie, Richard Falk, Amira Hass, Jeff Halper, Rashid Khalidi, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Ilan Pappe, and more.
“Reflects mastery of the filmmaking arts…storytelling and humanity.” International Beverly Hills Film Festival
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Occupation 101 is worth a thousand books!” INFOCUS
“Not a false note in the entire film.” Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur, Scholar of International Law
One of the best documentaries! Los Angeles Journal
“One of the most important films of the century.” Amazon Reviews
See the Discussion Guide from Palestine Teaching Trunk
See the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWdEjGrbcPQ
Watch the film here: http://www.occupation101.tv/
At that site you can also download the film (Scroll to the bottom of the page) for whatever donation amount you choose, to support the continued availability of the film.
Watch it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwLfpTBgqF4&rco=1
Also available on Amazon Prime for a small fee
The DVD can be purchased on Amazon and elsewhere.
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FOR MORE FILMS
https://medium.com/ummah-wide/30-films-for-palestine-and-where-to-stream-them-0a3b65e99faa
An extensive database of films about Palestine can be found at the Palestine Film Institute which features new films every week and has a screening room right now for films about Gaza: https://palestinecinema.com/
Another collection to check, with descriptions of the films:
https://www.palestineportal.org/resource-directory/by-medium/films/
See an excellent list of films (just titles and links) at the website for the film Where Olive Trees Weep: https://whereolivetreesweep.com/resources/
Click on "Films, Videos, Podcasts, News"
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Recommended Films
Besides the learning value for individuals, hosting a screening and discussion of a film can be one of the most appealing and successful ways to inform, inspire, and mobilize a congregation or community.
Dozens of excellent films about Palestine/Israel have been produced. We have selected a small number to recommend, which can provide useful introductions to key issues as well moving experiences for viewers. Several of these films have a discussion guide that we have included for downloading.
There are many other films related to Palestine that are well worth a screening and discussion, and below this list you will find sources for larger collections.
Return to the Education Home Page
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