Life in Fragments
‘video activism’ from the Israeli occupation
12-14 June 2009, De Balie, Amsterdam

Screenings Discussions Exhibitions

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 and they often do not 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 the Israeli military occupation by screening activist videos. These are short films without heroes, but with real people. With no narratives, just fragments of lived experiences. Made by human rights organizations and individual activists, both Israelis and Palestinians, these collections of 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 Anarchists Against the Wall, as well as individual activists. All screenings will be followed by interviews and discussions with human rights activists, some of whom made the 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 & Studio K

Life in Fragments is organized by gate48 – Platform for Critical Israelis in the Netherlands – in co-operation with Cinema de Balie. Supported among others by Stichting Democratie en Media and Stichting de Initiatieven.

Program

Friday 12th June 2009
20:00 – 22:00 Opening
Compilation of activist videos
Oren Yakobovich: “The B’Tselem Camera Distribution Projects”

Saturday 13th 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 Checkpoints
Compilation of activist videos
Q&A with Hilla Dayan on The daily life under a regime of separation.

Sunday 14th 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 Efrony)

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.

12-14 June|de Balie, Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam