I Am You Are

, 1999-2010

The cinematic-cultural project I Am You Are, run by Gili Mendel and Dror Swartz from the Media and Film Education Department at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, deals with coexistence issues between Israeli and Palestinian adolescents in and around Jerusalem.

The project brought together some thirty Israeli and Palestinian youngsters between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, in order to make films reflecting the way they define their identity, experiences, dreams, hopes and fears.

The films produced are an honest representation of personal, communal, national and religious identity. Each individual story reflects the problems and dilemmas that Israeli and Palestinian youth face, and the films demonstrate a striking awareness of the long road towards real coexistence.

The goal of I Am You Are project was to bring the teenagers together and to help break down the walls of misunderstanding, fear and hate, created by politics, history, cultural differences and language, and reinforced by physical separation. Working together towards a common goal, they were given the most real and effective way of learning about themselves and about one another.

A collection of the best films made by young Israeli and Palestinian girls during the project´s decade of activity will be screened at the festival.

Teenage Love / 2007, 11 min

Sapir and Intisar tell the love stories of their youth, the delightful happiness and the inevitable pain. The parallel stories, which have so much in common and are so different at the same time, remind us of what love is.

A film by: Entisar Nasser Al Den, Sapir Ela, Oz Yona, Narmeen Abu Hudeied, Yoash Palmor, Mohamed Abu Gosh

Instruction: Yuval Ben Yehuda

 

May / 1999, 13 min

Who is May? Jewish or Muslim? Sixteen year old May was born to a Muslim father and a Jewish mother. Questions about identity and coexistence are the heart of this film that follows a girl growing up in Jewish environment and looking for her Arab roots.

A film by: May Zidani, Ann Schtreichman, Wasim Mujahad, Muaiad Badran

Instruction: Rony Ganor

 

 

An Early Wedding / 2000, 12 min

Thoughts about early engagement and marriage. The workshop participants ask the women around them fundamental questions about obligation, love and the custom of marrying as a teenager.

A film by: Tagreed Ahmed, Tamar Drozd, Samah Saleh, Aviva Ratchkovsky

Instruction: Alice Hanna

 

 

Close to the Wind / 2003, 7 min

Lihi, the director and leader of the film, takes the crew to meet Ira, who lost her father in a terrorist act. It is an intimate look at the world of daughters who lost their father.

A film by: Lihi Shay, Amar Hatib, Na’ama Yisraely, Aya Jabarin, Ahmed Halawani

Instruction: Yuval Ben Yehuda

 

Being Black / 2008, 10 min

Seventeen year old Diala tells a story about racist discrimination against the black community of East Jerusalem through personal conversations with her uncle and the strong women in her family.

A film by: Diala Shahin, Tamar Odenheimer, Ido Benbaji, Hibba Abu Hadid, Majdal Ubidat

Instruction: Alice Hanna

 

 

Festivals: Rome, Tribeca, Sarajevo, Melbourne, Jewish Film Festivals in London, Boston, San Francisco, Paris and Copenhagen, International conventions in Italy, USA, Norway, Belgium and more.

 

Documentary  | Video  |  54   Minutes  |  Color  | 

Director: Gili Mendel

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