To Request DVD Screeners, Photos, and for Interviews with Filmmaker

OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION OFFICIAL SELECTION San Francisco Jewish Chicago Palestinian Hot Docs 2009 Film Festival 2009 Film Festival 2009

An Israeli filmmaker. An American activist. A tragedy in Gaza.

Whatever side you’re on: This is the film you have to see.

Drawing by Joe Carr © Ciné-Sud Promotion /Arte France Cinema/ Novak Prod / RTBF - France- Belgium , 2008

To request DVD screeners, photos, and for interviews with filmmaker Simone Bitton, please contact the film’s publicist Isil Bagdadi, CAVU PR at (917) 375-7615 or [email protected]

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Synopsis

RACHEL is a startlingly rigorous, fascinating and deeply moving investigatory documentary that examines the death of peace activist and International Solidarity Movement (ISM) member Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003. A few weeks after her little-reported death, an inquiry by Israeli military police concluded that Corrie died in an accident. Simone Bitton (WALL), an award-winning documentary filmmaker who is a citizen of both France and Israel, has crafted a dispassionate but devastating essay investigating the circumstances of Rachel Corrie’s death—including astounding eyewitness testimony from activists, soldiers, Israeli Defense Force army spokespersons and physicians, as well as insights from Corrie’s parents, mentors and diaries. In assembling a thorough and candid account of the event, using both visual and narrative evidence, Bitton’s quietly persistent questioning manages to accomplish what the inadequate legal proceedings and the overheated press coverage did not: an unflinching examination that refuses to exculpate or equivocate. By aligning her filmmaking methodology with the ISM’s guidelines to state only objective and concrete details without placing judgment, Bitton examines the circumstances surrounding the unresolved case of Corrie’s death. The film begins like a classic documentary, but soon develops, transcending its subject and establishing a candid new visual approach for bearing witness. With understated cinematic techniques, Bitton captures the spirit of Rachel’s youth, idealism, and political commitment amidst sweeping landscapes of Gaza and a portrait of daily life under ever-present military aggression.

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Credits

2009, 100 Minutes, Color France/Belgium Subtitled (Hebrew, Arabic)

Director Simone Bitton Production Thierry Lenouvel/Ciné-Sud Promotion, France Co-Producers Arte France Cinéma; Novak Prod (Belgium), RTBF Screenplay Simone Bitton Camera Jacques Bouquin Sound Cosmas Antoniadis Editors Catherine Poitevin & Jean-Michel Perez

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Director’s Bio

Simone Bitton was born in Morocco in 1955. She is both an Israeli and a French citizen and also considers herself as a Moroccan national and an Arab Jew. She graduated from the French Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques (IDHEC) in 1981 and directed more than 15 documentary films.

Her work varies in style from historical inquiries to first-hand reportages and intimate portraits of cutting-edge authors, artists, and political figures. All of her films attest to her deep personal and professional commitment to better representing the complex histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa.

Several of her works have been broadcast simultaneously on European, Arab, and Israeli television and engendered passionate debate on all sides of the Mid-East conflict.

Simone Bitton’s films have won numerous awards, including the Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize and the Cesear Award for WALL, among many others.

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com What People are Saying about Simone Bitton and Rachel

“A powerful documentary about the death in Palestine of a young American idealist.” —The Hollywood Reporter “RACHEL finds human surprises and philosophical depth within a symbol of that intractable conflict.” —Salon “Simone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. In RACHEL, she applies a light, almost lyrical touch to a socially-charged issue.” —Cineaste “Instead of a sensationalist front-page story about a hapless girl trapped overseas, we get to see the truth...an impressive balance between both sides of the argument.” —Entertainment at AOL.com Canada “An insightful and provocative exploration into the complexities of political solidarity.” —Tribeca Film Festival “Simone Bitton rigorously investigates the circumstances that led to Corrie’s death.” —Seattle Times Festivals n Berlin International Film Festival, Forum 2009 n Sarajevo International Film Festival, 2009 n Tribeca Film Festival, 2009 n Traverse City Film Festival, 2009 n Hot Docs 2009 n San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2009 n Cinema du Réel, 2009 n Haïfa International Film Festival, 2009 n Buenos Aires , BAFICI 2009 n Ramallah International Film Festival, 2009 n Rio De Janeiro International Film Festival, 2009 n Oslo, Films of the South Festival, 2009 n New Zealand International Film Festival, 2009 n Chicago Palestinian Film Festival, 2009 n Mostra de Nuevo Cinema , 2009

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com More Info

Hi-res photos are available for download on this film’s web catalog page at www.wmm.com.

To request DVD screeners, photos, and for interviews with filmmaker Simone Bitton, please contact the film’s publicistIsil Bagdadi, CAVU PR at (917) 375-7615 or [email protected]

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Synopsissynopsis n March 16, 2003, in the almost uninterrupted tide of Middle Easten current affairs and just before the war in Iraq, a small tragic event was reported by some press agencies, just a few lines in the newspaper, or a 45 -second report on television: A young American with Simone bitton peace activist was killed in the Gaza Strip, crushed by an Israeli bulldozer while she was Otrying to prevent the destruction of a Palestinian house. Interview A few weeks later, some media reports mentionned that the Israeli military police How would you tell the story of your of itself, without commentary. This type of conducted an inquiry, concluding that Rachel Corrie’s death was accidental. Despite many movie? rigor is essential, because it allows me to eyewitnesses claims that she was intentionnaly murdered by the bulldozer driver, there It is a cinematographic inquiry into the go further, to transcend the subject. was no independant inquiry, and the case was classified and forgotten. death of a young girl who was crushed In a movie, the result of an investigation by a military vehicle in a diseased country. counts for less than the investigation itself. Five years later, director Simone Bitton is somehow doing what a court should have done. This young girl was American, the vehicle The point is to film and to observe places, RACHEL is a cinematic inquiry into the death of a young unknown girl, made with a rigour was an Israeli bulldozer, and the country people and objects; to gather words, ges- and scope normally reserved for first-rate historical characters. It gives word to all the is Palestine and Israel - a region whose tures or silences. To arouse emotions from people involved in Rachel’s story, from Palestinian and international witnesses to Israeli misfortune and occasional beauty I have the coldest and hardest materials, like the military spokespersons and investigators, doctors, activists and soldiers linked to the affair. not ceased to document, film after film. images from a surveillance camera or the Rachel was killed in 2003 in Rafah, at the smooth metal of an autopsy table. The film begins like a classical documentary, but very soon it develops and transcends its southern end of the Gaza strip. At the time, The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish subject, transforming into a cinematographic meditation on youth, war, idealism and political the Israeli army was destroying hundreds often said: “The way home is more im- commitment. Palestine is a reality , but also a metaphor: a tomb for a child of today. of houses and buildings in order to create a portant than home itself.” It is a very good no man’s land and erect a wall at the bor- definition for any artistic endeavor. How In the beginning, there is this: She was called Rachel Corrie. She was 23. She was convinced der with Egypt. Rachel was part of an inter- one searches and what one comes upon that her American nationality would be enough to make her an effective human shield, national group of pacifists who interposed in the process counts for much more than that her simple presence would save lives, olive trees, wells and houses. Like many young themselves between the houses and the what one finds in the end. In this movie, I people of her generation, she kept a travel log in the form of e-mails, which she sent to bulldozers. One of those bulldozers simply tried to inquire poetically. her family and friends in the United States. didn’t stop, and the Israeli army declined all responsibility. Some of the images you show are har- During the eight weeks that she had left to live, Rachel Corrie was to discover that which, My inquiry is rigorous. Since the matter was dly bearable. Was it necessary to show in her own words, no documentary film could have taught her. never brought to trial, I play the role of an Rachel’s corpse? investigating judge: I interrogate witnesses, Yes. It was necessary to show it, even be- I scrutinize their testimonies, I examine the fore the opening credits and several times incriminating evidence, etc. I unravel a during the movie so that everything refers mountain of lies and let the truth emerge back to that image, to the broken body of

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com if they are killed, the image of their body petent journalists had misquoted or misre- is a little obscene to dwell on them. The will be given media attention around the presented them. In addition, they found constraints placed on a filmmaker’s mo- world; not only are they not opposed to it, politically suspect the fact of focusing on vement are quite annoying, but they are but it is part of their approach. So I believe, the death of an American woman rather nothing compared to the sequestering of very sincerely, that Rachel would have al- than on one of the countless anonymous an entire population. And also, in the end, lowed me to use her image; her family, at Palestinian victims. This gave rise to long the film exists and it is full as an egg. So any rate, did not have any objection. conversations that ended up establishing there is no need to overdo it. For me, in fact, the most unbearable mo- relationships based on trust. Rachel’s pa- ments are the ones when Rachel is alive: rents, on the other hand, cooperated with In addition to photographs, you draw on when she dances with a Palestinian scarf, me as soon as we met, but they took a number of surprising documents, like or when she writes sentences like: “Coming a very long time to accept to see me! As the implicated soldiers’ depositions or here is one of the best things I’ve ever for the Palestinian witnesses in Rafah, the the video shot by a military surveillance a young person who will never grow old. done.” I watch those images with a lump problem was not to locate them but to find camera. How did you obtain these? My work would not have had any meaning in my throat and a wrenching in my gut. a way to meet with them; for more than The army gave me the military video, if I had averted my eyes from that image. two years, the Israeli army had been turning which had been carefully sanitized, after But it was also important for me to share How long did you work on the investi- back all Israeli citizens at the Erez crossing, many negotiations whose details I will my difficulty in appropriating it and ex- gation and on the movie itself? Was it even those carrying a foreign passport and spare you. It does not show the moment press the thought process that eventually difficult to locate the witnesses and get a press card, even those residing and wor- of Rachel’s death. As such, it probably allowed me to do so. The young man who access to Israeli military officials? king abroad, which is my case. Since I could wasn’t worth much, but the impact of the took one of these photographs says that It took approximately three years of re- not consider giving up this part of the shoot, sequence comes from the fact that one of he felt guilty about it and that he is aware search, with travel back and forth between the film was in danger of not being made the witnesses recognizes himself on the of the element of obscenity it contained. the USA, the UK and Israel. Nothing was at all. At that point, my faithful director of footage because he happened to be wea- But he took it because evidence was nee- easy, but I’m relentless. The press office of photography Jacques Bouquin, and my ring a white t-shirt and this creates a little ded. He also says that he regretted not the Israeli army was extremely reticent. sound engineer Cosmas Antoniadis, saved white dot floating about in the frame. As having a video camera, that the presence These army people are quite helpful and the day. They decided to go to Gaza without for the depositions, let’s say that I got ac- of a camera might have prevented his efficient when you’re interested in some- me, in the company of Alexis Monchovet, cess to them because it is a small country friend’s death. I showed excerpts of the thing they want to talk about, but when who knows Rafah very well. Not without where I know a lot of people… I had them movie recently in Belfast, where I was you bring up a topic they dislike, they’re difficulty, I managed to obtain the necessary invited to talk about my work in a class very good at making things difficult for you safe-conducts and I directed the segments with film students. One of the seminar at every step. I harassed them so much that over the phone. From Tel-Aviv, I spoke to participants, a woman of my generation, finally, in order to get rid of me, they gran- witnesses, guided the camera from afar, said that the images brought her back ted me a 30-minute interview with Maj. asked Jacques to take shots of this or that to her youth, when she was confronting Avital Leibovitch, who is the Israeli army’s ruin, this or that place. This experience was the British army with her bare hands. She chief propaganda officer for the foreign doubtless the strangest and saddest I ever added that if she had been killed during press. Not too bad… and she even brought went through on a film shoot. these clashes, she would have wanted the some ad hoc documents, with computer image of her blood-drenched body to be renderings she showed on screen. Why don’t you talk about it in the movie? shown around the world. Today, there are Rachel’s friends were quite suspicious too, I don’t like to discuss problems encounte- cameras almost everywhere. Protesters in the beginning, because at the time of red during the shooting of the movie on and militants in conflict zones know that the tragedy, a few malicious or incom- screen. They are real but remain trivial; it

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com read aloud by some friends, like my fellow human life was a very likely factor. If he filmmaker Avi Mograbi, whose voice pas- truly didn’t see her, it is probably because ses very well for that of an officer! he didn’t want to. At any rate, the excuse Generally, the material available to docu- that she was hidden behind a mound of mentary filmmakers today is much richer dirt doesn’t hold up: all the photos prove than in the past. Just a few years ago, we the opposite, and the testimonies are very had to content ourselves with television clear on that account. archives and press agency photographs, A young tank artillery soldier who was which meant we had to treat subjects that posted in Rafah at the time of Rachel’s had already received media attention. death describes in the movie, in detail and Nowadays, the smallest events leave tra- quite candidly, the extent to which this ces in a profusion of sources. Rachel’s story kind of indifference was the norm. He and is recorded in dozens of amateur videos his comrades spent their time shooting at There are many young people in the the young anarchist, told me with a smile and photographs, in the emails she sent to inhabited buildings, they gave a hand to movie, like Rachel’s friends, the witnes- that one could struggle without hope, that multiple correspondents, and in the hard the bulldozers destroying homes whose ses of her death, and that young Israeli resistance is life, that truth is in rebellion. drives of surveillance cameras. It was a lot inhabitants didn’t always have enough anarchist, towards the end, who talks He doesn’t realize the boundless hope his of work to gather all these sources, but at time to leave. about his struggle against occupation. words, his beauty and his commitment the time of editing it was thrilling to have I don’t mean to point the finger at these Do you recognize yourself in them? give rise to! so many documents at my disposal. soldiers in particular; it is obviously the Yes, without a doubt. I am fifty-three years I come from the Middle East where these Israeli army and the occupation system old; Rachel could have been my daugh- things are perhaps more obvious than The driver of the bulldozer and his com- that are to blame outright. The intentional ter. At her age, I was already protesting elsewhere, but this is true for the entire mandant briefly appear in the movie, in an crime my movie addresses is not Rachel against the Israeli occupation, but my world. To quote Mahmoud Darwish again, Israeli television archive. You didn’t inter- Corrie’s death. It is the willful destruction generation failed and today, the situation I would say that Palestine always becomes view them yourself. Was this deliberate? of entire neighborhoods, carried out with is even more atrocious. I also feel much a metaphor for the world when one takes No. I did not manage to meet with them. the knowledge that people who stay in sympathy with those who transgress bor- a closer look. Once again, I see bombs The army fiercely protects their identity. The their homes or attempt to defend them ders, who do not automatically espouse being dropped on TV and I tell myself that driver let me know, through a third person, will be killed in the process. One clearly the prejudices of their tribe and who re- Gaza is not only the grave of Rachel Corrie that he refused to talk to me, and I only sees where this leads us: six years later, in fuse that someone exert oppression in and of the hundreds of civilians who are film people who accept to be filmed. That the same spot, the same army kills hun- their name. regularly assassinated there: it is a univer- archive was produced by a private network dreds of innocent victims in supposedly Beyond the unraveling of a tragic episo- sal grave, where humanism as a whole is for an investigative news show. It was one targeted bombings. Today the end result de – which in itself harks back to a much in the process of foundering. week after Rachel’s death, at a time when has been reached: all Palestinian civilians, larger tragedy – I made this movie for all I am a pacifist who has known many wars, Israeli journalists could still enter Gaza and as well as anyone seeking to give them the young people who inherit this twisted and I am aware that I have made this mo- were welcomed in military bases. assistance, are potential collateral victims; world we leave them and who decide to vie to protect myself from despair. Rachel their lives are strictly speaking not worth resist. They are more numerous than we and her friends have been my human Do you think the driver killed Rachel anything anymore. Talking about war cri- generally think. Rather than growing old shields. intentionally? mes or bringing up the Geneva Convention and senile, I wanted to go towards them. I Interview realized by Ciné-Sud Promotion Yes and no. Not in the sense that he coldly makes you look naïve, archaic. discovered that they are braver and more January 2009 decided to crush her or that he received clear-headed than we were, probably be- the order to do so. But indifference to cause they don’t have a choice. Yonatan,

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Rachel Corrie's Memory, Israel's Image 9/6/10 11:11 AM

Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)

Rachel Corrie's Memory, Israel's Image

Neve Gordon | March 16, 2010

Seven years ago today, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9R Israeli bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other members of the International Solidarity Movement [1] (ISM). Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death.

The State's attorneys have decided to use any and all ammunition to undermine Corrie's suit. They claim that there is no evidence that Rachel's parents and siblings are indeed her rightful inheritors; they argue that she "helped attack Israeli soldiers," "took part in belligerent activities" and accompanied armed men who attacked Israeli soldiers. In defense of the soldiers, the lawyers even write that the state "denies the deceased's pain and suffering, the loss of pleasures and the loss of longevity."

The Israeli state attorneys demonstrate yet again that when winning is everything, shame becomes superfluous.

As Corrie's civil suit is being heard in a Haifa court, Simone Bitton's movie Rachel [2] is being shown at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Rendering, as it were, the trial public, Bitton's subtle and nuanced movie also presents two narratives, one offered by the state of Israel and the other by the ISM activists and the Palestinian eyewitnesses who were with Rachel on that tragic day.

In a self-reflective moment, the film reveals that about an hour after Rachel was crushed to death, Salim Najar, a Palestinian street cleaner, was killed by an Israeli sniper in Rafah. The incident is important because it emphasizes that Palestinian blood is cheap--no media outlet bothered to cover the killing, and, as Bitton herself notes, no one will likely be making a movie about Najar. This incident also helps underscore that Rachel has become an iconic "Palestinian" of sorts as well as a symbol of the struggle for social justice. She dedicated the last part of her short life to the Palestinian cause, and, after she was killed, the memory of her human rights work in Rafah has helped internationalize the struggle. Rachel's memory has thus itself become a site where several struggles continue to be played out. [3]

http://www.thenation.com/print/article/rachel-corries-memory-israels-image Page 1 of 3

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Rachel Corrie's Memory, Israel's Image 9/6/10 11:11 AM

PublishedRachel on Corrie's The Nation Memory, (http://www.thenation.com) Israel's Image 9/6/10 11:11 AM

Rachel Corrie's Memory, Israel's Image

Neve GordonThe | March Israeli 16, 2010 government has always recognized the importance of the fight over narrative; it is particularly Seven yearssensitive ago today, Rachel to Corrie stories--like was crushed to death by aRachel Caterpillar D9R Corrie'sIsraeli bulldozer while death--that take on global proportions and therefore influence nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other membersIsrael's of the International international Solidarity Movement [1] (ISM).image. Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death.

The suit's objective, according to Rachel's mother, Cindy, "is to illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by [Israel's] occupation.... We hope the trial will bring attentionThese to the assault struggles on nonviolent human arerights activists considered (Palestinian, Israeli so and international) important and we that in 2004 the Israeli Foreign Ministry introduced the hope it will underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours or more, cannot "Brandaccess Israeli courts." Israel" [4] campaign, whose objective was to alter the country's image by rebranding Israel as a The State's attorneys have decided to use any and all ammunition to undermine Corrie's suit. They claim [5] that thereland is no evidence of medical,that Rachel's parents scientificand siblings are indeed and her rightful technological inheritors; they argue innovations. Over the years millions of dollars have been that she "helped attack Israeli soldiers," "took part in belligerent activities" and accompanied armed men who attackedchanneled Israeli soldiers. In into defense ofinternational the soldiers, the lawyers even PR write thatfirms; the state "denies these the firms advised the ministry to draw attention to Israeli deceased'sscientists pain and suffering, doing the loss of pleasures stem-cell and the loss of longevity."research or to the young computer experts who have given the world Instant The Israeli state attorneys demonstrate yet again that when winning is everything, shame becomes superfluous.Messaging, while trying to de-emphasize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by loosening the link between As Corrie's civil suit is being heard in a Haifa court, Simone Bitton's movie Rachel [2] is being shown at the TelIsrael Aviv Cinematheque. and Rendering, concrete as it were, thewalls, trial public, torture,Bitton's subtle and terrorism, nuanced movie also house demolitions and extrajudicial executions. presents two narratives, one offered by the state of Israel and the other by the ISM activists and the Palestinian eyewitnesses who were with Rachel on that tragic day. In a self-reflective moment, the film reveals that about an hour after Rachel was crushed to death, Salim [5] Najar, aYet Palestinian following street cleaner, was killed last by an year's Israeli sniper assaultin Rafah. The incident on isGaza important and the subsequent publication of the Goldstone Report , because it emphasizes that Palestinian blood is cheap--no media outlet bothered to cover the killing, and, as BittonBrand herself notes, Israel no one will likelyproponents be making a movie about realized Najar. This incident that also helpsdrawing attention away from conflict-related issues just wasn't underscore that Rachel has become an iconic "Palestinian" of sorts as well as a symbol of the struggle for social justice.working. She dedicated theTurning last part of her shortthe life towheels the Palestinian back,cause, and, after they she was argued that "winning the battle of narratives" [6] had to remain a killed, the memory of her human rights work in Rafah has helped internationalize the struggle. Rachel's memoryprime has thus itself objective. become a site where several struggles continue to be played out. [3] http://www.thenation.com/print/article/rachel-corries-memory-israels-image Page 1 of 3 Cutting-edge technology--such as Twitter [7], YouTube [8] and a newly devised "Internet megaphone" [9]-- was immediately utilized by the Israeli military and Foreign Ministry to counter the images of mass destruction coming out of Gaza. Simultaneously, the strategy of branding anyone critical of Israeli policies as an anti-Semite became even more pervasive, and a variety of methods developed by Bar Ilan University's Gerald Steinberg [10] were deployed to delegitimize human rights organizations documenting Israel's occupation while condemning the organizations' donors.

But this, apparently, was not enough. The attack now is directed not only against the messengers-- namely, human rights groups and people like Rachel Corrie who refer to international law in order to protest the abusive nature of Israeli policies--but also against the very legitimacy of international human rights law. International law is now considered a major problem, because it is used to criticize Israel's violation [11] of human rights in the occupied territories and obstructs certain strategies employed in the war on terrorism, like torture. The well-known trope that Israel is merely defending itself is at the heart of this complaint too.

When social justice activists like Rachel Corrie are branded terrorists and international human rights law becomes the enemy of the state--all in the name of winning the narrative battle--then it becomes absolutely clear that something is terribly wrong. As Jews around the world come together to celebrate Passover, the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery and the beginning of a life of freedom, they should keep in mind Rachel's last words to her mother [12]: "I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world. I think it could also be an incredible inspiration to Arab people in the Middle East, who are struggling under undemocratic regimes which the US supports...." As Jews sit at the Passover table this year, they should take Rachel Corrie's words to heart.

Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/article/rachel-corries-memory-israels-image

Links: [1] http://palsolidarity.org/ [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRIySvLjKk Rachel[3] Corrie's http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060403/weiss Memory, Israel's Image 9/6/10 11:11 AM [4] http://www.israel21c.org/opinion/jewish-week-marketing-a-new-image [5] http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11093.shtml [6] http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/3051winning.pdf http://www.thenation.com/print/article/rachel-corries-memory-israels-image[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/weekinreview/04cohen.html?_r=2 Page 2 of 3 [8] http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk [9] http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=42902 [10] http://www.ngo-monitor.org/index.php [11] http://www.thelawfareproject.org/about/program [12] http://orscp.org/olympia/?p=34

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com

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10 Films To Watch at the '09 Tribeca Fest - indieWIRE 9/6/10 11:20 AM Get Email Alerts | Mobile Subscribe Follow Like Search indieWIRE indieWIRE Network: Find

Get Email Alerts | Mobile Subscribe Follow Like Search indieWIRE Find indieWIRE Network: THOMPSON ON HOLLYWOOD »

VeniceTHOMPSON Press Conference: ON HOLLYWOOD Coppola, Dorff» and Fanning Talk Somewhere Venice Press Conference: Coppola, Dorff Video of the Venice Somewhere press conference withand (a Fanning soft-spoken) Talk Sofia Somewhere … more » News Reviews Features Photos Festivals Video of the Venice Somewhere press conference with (a soft-spoken) Sofia … more » News Reviews Features Photos Festivals Telluride Review: Errol Morris Goes for Laughs with Tabloid Telluride Review: Errol Morris Goes for Laughs Oscarwith Tabloid Talk: Venice and Telluride Film Festival Features Oscar Talk: Venice and Features Telluride Film Festival 10 Films To Watch at the !09 Tribeca Fest10 Films To Watch at the !09 Tribeca Like | Like | by HowardFest Feinstein (April 21, 2009) by Howard Feinstein (April 21, 2009) In Romance languages, the word for “foreign” is a relative of the EnglishIn Romance term for languages, “strange”: the extranjero, word for “foreign”etranger, is a relative straniero.of the English term for “strange”: extranjero, etranger, straniero. Foreign-language features, with looser scripts, less conventionalForeign-language form, and more features, penetrating with looser character scripts, less conventional form, and more penetrating character development, are more often than not “strange” by the development, are more often than not “strange” by the standards of both Hollywood and American indie films. standards of both Hollywood and American indie films. And the strongest documentaries, be they from here or And the strongest documentaries, be they from here or abroad, offer the viewer effective critical distance from the abroad, offer the viewer effective critical distance from the subject matter—what academics call etrangement. subject matter—what academics call etrangement.

Here are Tribeca!s 10 best from these two categories, Here are Tribeca!s 10 best from these two categories, A scene from Simone Bitton's "Rachel." Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival. Related Articles A scene from Simone Bitton's "Rachel." Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival. Related Articles arrangedarranged alphabetically. alphabetically. One Tribeca One Tribeca topper toppertold the told the 1 FallFall Fest Fest Daily Daily | | '127'127 Hours' & 'King's Speech' Speech' Times lastTimes week last that week this that year this!s selection year!s selection is “deliberately is “deliberately 1 SlaySlay Telluride Telluride Auds; Auds; 'Meek's Cutoff' ImpressesImpresses light” on light”account on accountof the economic of the economic crisis. Nowcrisis. that Now IS that “strange”—and IS “strange”—and inaccurate. inaccurate. The directorsThe directors of the of thefilms films below below refuse refuse to towhitewash. whitewash. LidoLido Their workTheir is, likework much is, like of much life itself, of life dark, itself, refreshingly dark, refreshingly dark. dark. 22 FallFall Fest Fest Daily Daily | | TellurideTelluride Takes OffOff withwith 'Never 'Never Foreign LanguageForeign Language Fiction Fiction LetLet Me Me Go,' Go,' 'Tabloid' 'Tabloid'

About EllyAbout A group Elly A of group relatives of relatives and pals and rents pals a rents seaside a seaside villa in villa this in beautifully this beautifully choreographed choreographed Iranian Iranian film film by Asgharby Asghar Farhadi. Farhadi. At Atfirst first 33 It'sIt's a a Nice Nice Day Day forfor JannJann Turner's 'White'White the camerathe trailscamera the trails excited the excitedcharacters characters as they as move they movearound around the house the house and oneand another.one another. Suddenly, Suddenly, it is itthought is thought that that a child a child and and a a Wedding'Wedding' guest mayguest have may drowned. have drowned. The search, The search, both above both aboveand below and below the water, the water, is filmmaking is filmmaking at its at most its most glorious glorious and and suspenseful. suspenseful. The The Fall Fest Daily | 'Somewhere' Premieres, accidentsaccidents are a catalyst are a catalystfor suppressed for suppressed tensions tensions to surface, to surface, and the and film the!s film tone!s tonebecomes becomes abruptly abruptly somber. somber. 44 Fall Fest Daily | 'Somewhere' Premieres, McCarthyMcCarthy Takes Takes FlightFlight Fear Me Not Among Danish director Kristian Levring!s considerable assets in this rich psychological thriller is the great actor Ulrich Fear Me Not Among Danish director Kristian Levring!s considerable assets in this rich psychological thriller is the great actor Ulrich FUTURES | iW's 16 to Watch Thomsen. Ingenuously withholding energy, he portrays Mikael, a bourgeois whose psyche begins to unravel, possibly from new 5 FUTURES | iW's 16 to Watch Thomsen. Ingenuously withholding energy, he portrays Mikael, a bourgeois whose psyche begins to unravel, possibly from new 5 antidepressants, and who lives, ironically, in an open glass house. He is a descendant of James Mason!s character in Nicolas Ray!s antidepressants, and who lives, ironically, in an open glass house. He is a descendant of James Mason!s character in Nicolas Ray!s mid-"50s Bigger Than Life, who OD!ed on cortisone and nearly sacrificed his son. Mikael!s unpredictable actions, especially against his mid-"50s Bigger Than Life, who OD!ed on cortisone and nearly sacrificed his son. Mikael!s unpredictable actions, especially against his wife and daughter, defy codes of civilized behavior. This is classic return of the repressed, the product of some childhood trauma. wife and daughter, defy codes of civilized behavior. This is classic return of the repressed, the product of some childhood trauma.

Here and There An excellent tale of two cities, New York and Belgrade. The American protagonist, a quiet, debt-ridden downtown Here andmusician There An named excellent Robert, tale flies of totwo Belgrade cities, New in exchange York and for Belgrade. cash from The the AmericanSerb, Branko, protagonist, a high-energy a quiet, survivor debt-ridden who lives downtown in New York. musicianWorking named Robert,illegally, fliesBranko to Belgradeis unable toin returnexchange home for to cash retrieve from his the fiancee; Serb, Branko,the plan isa high-energyfor Robert to survivormarry her, who then lives bring in herNew over. York. Working Serbianillegally, filmmaker Branko is Darko unable Lungulov to return has home lived toin retrieveboth urban his locales fiancee; and, the without plan is romanticizing, for Robert to beautifullymarry her, captures then bring their her textures, over. Serbian filmmakerintercutting Darko the footage Lungulov so gracefully has lived that in boththe cities urban almost locales meld and, into without one. He romanticizing,!s also right on beautifully with the oddballs captures he their films textures, in both places. intercuttingThe the more footage affecting so gracefullylove affair thatturns the out cities to be almostRobert !melds, a slowly into one. simmering He!s also one rightwith Brankoon with!s the lonely oddballs middle-aged he films mother. in both places. The more affecting love affair turns out to be Robert!s, a slowly simmering one with Branko!s lonely middle-aged mother. My Dear Enemy South Korean director Lee Yoon-ki!s fine film is combo chamber play and road movie. A resentful young woman My Deardrives Enemy her South ex-boyfriend Korean all director over Seoul Lee Yoon-kito collect!s from fine hisfilm pals, is combo relatives, chamber and assorted play and girlfriends road movie. money A resentful he never youngpaid back. woman She is drives herserious, ex-boyfriend uptight, all a little over plain; Seoul he to is collect a handsome, from his playful pals, manipulator. relatives, and The assorted Seoul of girlfriends the movie moneyis one of he overpasses, never paid tallback. buildings, She is fast- serious, fooduptight, chains, a little all plain;nicely herendered—OKAY, is a handsome, architectonic!—which playful manipulator. oftenThe Seoul register of forthe just movie as long is one as itof takes overpasses, to whiz past. tall buildings, During the fast- brief food chains,encounters all nicely we rendered—OKAY, meet some unforgettable architectonic!—which residents, ranging often from register a needy for older just female as long executive as it takes to toa biker whiz cousin past. Duringto a wealthy the brief encountersprostitute. we meet some unforgettable residents, ranging from a needy older female executive to a biker cousin to a wealthy prostitute. (1 of 2) Next Page › (1 of 2) Next Page › posted on April 21, 2009

posted on April 21, 2009

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THOMPSON ON HOLLYWOOD » THOMPSON ON HOLLYWOOD » Venice Press Conference: Coppola, Dorff and Fanning Talk Somewhere Venice Press Conference: Coppola, Dorff Video of the Venice Somewhere press conference with (a soft-spoken) Sofia … more » and Fanning Talk Somewhere News Reviews Features Photos Festivals Video of the Venice Somewhere press conference Telluride Review: Errol Morris Goes for Laughs with (a soft-spoken) Sofia … more » with Tabloid News Reviews Features Photos Festivals Oscar Talk: Venice and Telluride Film Festival Features Telluride Review: Errol Morris Goes for Laughs with Tabloid 10 Films To Watch at the !09 Tribeca Fest Like | Oscar Talk: Venice and by Howard FeinsteinFeatures (April 21, 2009) Telluride Film Festival In Romance languages, the word for “foreign” is a relative of the English term for “strange”: extranjero, etranger, straniero. 10 Films To Watch at the !09 Tribeca Foreign-language features, with looser scripts, less Like | conventional form,Fest and more penetrating character development, are more often than not “strange” by the standards of bothby Hollywood Howard and American Feinstein indie films. (April 21, 2009) And the strongest(Page documentaries, 2) be they from here or abroad, offer the viewer effective critical distance from the subject matter—what academics call etrangement. Pandora"s Box Arguably the best of all. Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu!s splendid, vivid movie focuses on three generations of one Here are Tribeca!s 10 best from these two categories, Related Articles family. Grandma is a mountainA villagerscene from Simone with Bitton's Alzheimer "Rachel." Image!s courtesy who of thetends Tribeca toFilm Festival.get lost. Her two self-absorbed middle-aged daughters and arranged alphabetically. One Tribeca topper told the Fall Fest Daily | '127 Hours' & 'King's Speech' Times last week that this year!s selection is “deliberately 1 unreformed hippie son are urbanites who squabble while driving from Istanbul to “rescue”Slay her,Telluride and Auds; battle 'Meek's even Cutoff' more Impresses once they take her light” on account of the economic crisis. Now that IS “strange”—and inaccurate. The directors of the films below refuse to whitewash. to the city and cage her in. Only the old woman!s unmotivated, pot-smoking teen grandsonLido shows the old woman unconditional love. Their work is, like much of life itself, dark, refreshingly dark. Ustaoglu has gifts for shooting magnificent natural and city landscapes and unflinchingly2 Fall tackling Fest Daily |interpersonal Telluride Takes Off tensions. with 'Never Foreign Language Fiction Let Me Go,' 'Tabloid'

About Elly A groupStill of relatives Walking and pals Japanese rents a seaside filmmaker villa in this beautifullyKore-eda choreographed Horokazu Iranian!s movie film by Asghar is revisionist Farhadi. At first 3 It's a Nice Day for Jann Turner's 'White the camera trails Ozu,the excited a reference characters as to they that move late around director the house!s and quiet, one another. deceptively Suddenly, simpleit is thought family that a child and a Wedding' guest may have drowned. The search, both above and below the water, is filmmaking at its most glorious and suspenseful. The accidents are a catalyststudies. for suppressed Kore-eda tensions observes to surface, one and theextended film!s tone becomes family abruptly for 24 somber. hours on a hot 4 Fall Fest Daily | 'Somewhere' Premieres, McCarthy Takes Flight summer day while they are gathered at the oceanside home of the oldest Fear Me Not Among Danish director Kristian Levring!s considerable assets in this rich psychological thriller is the great actor Ulrich FUTURES | iW's 16 to Watch Thomsen. Ingenuouslygeneration withholding for energy, the heannual portrays commemorationMikael, a bourgeois whose of psyche the drowning begins to unravel, death possibly 15 yearsfrom new 5 Related Articles antidepressants, earlierand who lives,of a ironically, son, their in an openfavorite glass house.child. He Not is a descendanta lot happens: of James MasonGrandma!s character cooks, in Nicolas Ray!s mid-"50s Bigger Than Life, who OD!ed on cortisone and nearly sacrificed his son. Mikael!s unpredictable actions, especially against his In Search Of That 'Only in Telluride' Moment wife and daughter,Grandpa defy codes complains,of civilized behavior. their This adult is classic children return of thetry repressed, to please, the product the grandkids of some childhood play, trauma. 1 but fissures among them become exposed, with a subtlety rare in the West. Here and There An excellent tale of two cities, New York and Belgrade. The American protagonist, a quiet, debt-ridden downtown 2 Fall Fest Daily | '127 Hours' & 'King's Speech' musician named Robert, flies to Belgrade in exchange for cash from the Serb, Branko, a high-energy survivor who lives in New York. Slay Telluride Auds; 'Meek's Cutoff' Impresses Working illegally,Documentaries Branko is unable to return (American home to retrieve and his Foreign fiancee; the plan is for Robert to marry her, then bring her over. Serbian filmmaker Darko Lungulov has lived in both urban locales and, without romanticizing, beautifully captures their textures, A scene from Yesim Ustaoglu!s “Pandora!s Box.” Image courtesy of Lido intercutting the footage so gracefully that the cities almost meld into one. He!s also right on with the oddballs he films in both places. the Tribeca Film Festival. The more affecting love affair turns out to be Robert!s, a slowly simmering one with Branko!s lonely middle-aged mother. Defamation Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir adopts an intentionally glib 3 Fall Fest Daily | Telluride Takes Off with 'Never My Dear Enemy approachSouth Korean directorin Defamation, Lee Yoon-ki!s afine well-researched, film is combo chamber playunapologetically and road movie. A resentful subjective young woman doc on contemporary anti-Semitism. Of the proponents of what Let Me Go,' 'Tabloid' drives her ex-boyfriendhe maintains all over Seoul is to a collect phobia from his about pals, relatives, anti-Jewish and assorted sentiment girlfriends moneyworldwide, he never paidAbe back. Foxman She is occupies center stage. A concentration-camp survivor serious, uptight, a little plain; he is a handsome, playful manipulator. The Seoul of the movie is one of overpasses, tall buildings, fast- and the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), whose purpose is to fight and prevent anti-Semitism, he functions as comic relief. It's a Nice Day for Jann Turner's 'White food chains, all nicely rendered—OKAY, architectonic!—which often register for just as long as it takes to whiz past. During the brief 4 encounters we meetShamir some unforgettable visits several residents, countries ranging from and a needy talks older to female rabbis, executive community to a biker cousin leaders, to a wealthy his own grandmother, and men and women on the street. The Wedding' prostitute. shadow of the Holocaust still hovers. Shamir makes a case for that explaining Jews! fear of the Other as well as Israel!s behavior Fall Fest Daily | 'Somewhere' Premieres, toward Palestinians. (1 of 2) Next Page › 5 McCarthy Takes Flight posted on April 21, 2009Rachel Buzz has it that American distributors are balking at acquiring this masterpiece of a documentary because it DARES to find fault with Israeli government policy—even though its Moroccan-born director, Simone Bitton (Wall), is an Israeli citizen. The point of http://www.indiewire.com/article/ten_to_watch_at_tribeca/departure is the 2003 death of 22-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was run over by an Israeli armyPage 1 bulldozer of 3 while participating in a nonviolent protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza—material mined differently in the one-woman play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Bitton interviews Corrie!s fellow International Solidarity Movement members as well as official spokespeople in order to present varying accounts of the incident, but she makes her own position against the government!s account apparent from the get-go. Bitton is a rarity, a documentarian of strong conviction with a moving, lyrical style.

Soul Power American director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte edits the unused footage from the music concert that preceded “Rumble in the Jungle,” the 1974 fight between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. The purpose of the event, held at the tail end of the Black Power era, was to bring African-American and African musicians together. Levy-Hinte inserts the musings of its participants and the sometimes dubious backstage arrangements. The doc opens and closes with the phenomenal James Brown performing. Other musicians include the Spinners, Celia Cruz, BB King, Bill Withers, and the late, great South African singer, Miriam Makeba.

Which Way Home One of the most powerful American docs in quite a while. Tenacious, New York-based Rebecca Cammisa (Sister Helen) spent several years in Mexico riding a freight train, called “The Beast,” interviewing and photographing teens and pre-teens from Central American and Mexico who were travelling for free to the U.S. to earn dollars to send home. Amazingly, she gained their confidence: They speak openly about such horrors of the journey as robbery, rape, bribery, and lost limbs. Like trains themselves, her style is poetic and kinetic. Some organizations and detention centers tend to the children!s needs, offering them, and us, a flicker of hope.

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Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

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Home ChoosingArchives between Justice and Oppression: An InterviewShop with Simone Bitton (WEB ChoosingEXCLUSIVE) between Justice and Oppression: An Interviewby Howard Feinstein with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) by Howard Feinstein

Simone Bitton

Simone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. As she had done in Wall (2004), which probed the ramifications of the concrete barrier the Israeli government erected between its citizens and West Bank Palestinians, in Rachel (2009) she applies a light, almost lyrical touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who used her body as an obstacle in a nonviolent protest by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer ran her over.Simone Though Bitton she thoroughly examines the case, Bitton uses it http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusiveSimone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. AsPage 1 of 11 she had done in Wall (2004), which probed the ramifications of the concrete barrier the Israeli government erected between its citizens and West Bank Palestinians, in Rachel (2009) she applies a light, almost lyrical touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who used her body as an obstacle in a nonviolent protest by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer ran her over. Though she thoroughly examines the case, Bitton uses it

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Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interviewin part to withanalyze Simone the larger Bitton conflict. (WEB EXCLUSIVE)The film begins and ends with the reading of Rachel’s e-mails to friends and family back home in byWashington Howard Feinstein State. In between we learn about her expanding social consciousness and her commitment to justice for the Palestinians. Bitton, whose questions we hear but who remains off-camera, occasionally deploys graceful tracking shots, as if to suggest a search for truth. These work in tandem with the necessarily more static talking heads, which are sometimes shot straight-on, symmetrically. The latter speak for both the official Israeli government position and the opposing one of teachers in Washington, witnesses, and friends, as well as fellow members of the ISM. Although Bitton, a fifty-five-year-old Israeli citizen and ex-soldier who grew up in Morocco and divides her time between Israel and France, doesn’t attempt to mask her own antigovernment stance, she is never intrusive: she lets the evidence speak for itself. One example: the long gap in an official videotape of the incident just at the point the driver hits Rachel.

An Israeli Defense Force (IDF) spokeswoman calls the incident an accident, claiming that the young woman suffocated from the sand the bulldozer dug up, while the Palestinian doctor who treated her at the scene and the local pharmacist maintainSimone Bitton that she was killed, deliberately, by the vehicle’s sharp blade. The head of the Simone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. As shemilitary had done in Wall police (2004), which investigation probed the ramifications reports of the concrete that barrier soldiers the Israeli government “covered for each other,” and that, ultimately, it becomes erecteda matter between its citizensof choosing and West Bank Palestinians,which inside Rachel to(2009) believe. she applies a light,The almost official lyrical government report states that the death was a result touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist Rachelof Corrie,“the who protesters’ used her body as an recklessobstacle in a nonviolent behavior.” protest by the InternationalThe U.S. Solidarity Embassy refused Rachel’s parents’ request to have a Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillarrepresentative D9R armored bulldozer present ran her over. at Though the she autopsy. thoroughly examines the case, Bitton uses it http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusiveIn one poignant scene at the end of the film, IsraeliPage 1activist of 11 Jonathan Pollack, whose home served as a refuge for ISM members who followed her body to Tel Aviv, tells Bitton, “In revolt there is great truth, whether or not it succeeds,” citing the doomed Jews of the Warsaw ghetto as a model. This could be the director’s epitaph for an idealistic woman who died, unnecessarily, far too young.

The first section of the following interview was conducted in person in New York in April 2009. (The film had premiered in Berlin that February.) We did the follow-up interview session via e-mail in July 2010. In the interval, Women Make Movies acquired the rights to distribute Rachel in the U.S., where it will open in October at the Anthology Film Archives in New York.

The WMM pickup was courageous in light of the events surrounding a screening of the film at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in the summer of 2009. Bitton could not attend, but Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie, attended in her stead and addressed the capacity audience afterward. Although the film, along with Cindy Corrie, were roundly applauded, the event was anticlimactic in light of the lead-up to it. Citing objections to the projection by some in the Jewish community, in particular the Koret and Taube Foundations, which contribute funds to the festival, the SFJFF decided to screen Rachel anyway, yet made an absurd concession: It would be preceded by an introduction by Dr. Michael Harris, a founder of the grass-roots pro-Israel advocacy group SF Voice for Israel, to provide “perspective”—no matter that Dr. Harris had not seen the film.

The Koret Foundation released a statement condemning the festival for the screening, for partnering with two peace organizations, Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee, both of which it considers “anti-Israel and anti-Semitic,” and for inviting “bereaved mother” Cindy Corrie to address the audience; it also threatened to withhold future funding. The controversy resulted in the replacement of the festival’s executive director. Bitton was appalled at the strong reaction of some powerful American Jews and Jewish organizations to her investigative film, and she talks about the fiasco in part two of the interview.

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Simone Bitton

Part One:

Cineaste: How did you become involved in the subject of Rachel Corrie?

Simone Bitton: It’s very complex, the motivation. When you choose a subject, it means that you are going to live with it for two to three years. Some of the motives are cultural, and some I discovered only after I finished the film. She was twenty-three when she died, and I am fifty-three. Then you have reasons of moral conscience. I wanted to make a film about Gaza. For Wall I couldn’t go to Gaza. They don’t want films to be done there. They don’t want the media there—so we have to go! [Laughs]

Plus I wanted the challenge of how to make a cinematic documentary. I wanted to find a new way to deal with people talking, so that it wouldn’t be just talking heads. I love the talk. I wanted to address the situation of interviews, the situation of concentration, in documentaries. I wanted to work on that: I don’t want people to say, “It’s only talking heads.”

Cineaste: Some documentarians are going to the other extreme and making manic films, because they think talking heads are too boring.

Bitton: I wanted to do a real investigation, to go on the ground and find things that people don’t know. The whole investigation done by the Israeli army: any time they are accused of violating human rights, they say, OK, there will be an inquiry, but nobody is ever punished. I wanted to do an investigation into the case, but I wanted also to make an investigation of the investigation. I was not at all aware that it had been so controversial in the U.S. I was just choosing a subject that talked to me. I was not aware of all the behind- the-scenes news.

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Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An InterviewCineaste: withI like Simone the formal Bitton components (WEB of your work, especially the camera movement. Do you use a EXCLUSIVE)Steadicam, or are they tracking shots? byBitton: Howard Oh, Feinstein no, we don’t have Steadicam shots, just a good cameraman.

Cineaste: Like in Jonathan Pollack’s house [where Rachel’s friends go after her death, taking her backpack]. There are several other examples of that, the formal analog of a search.

Bitton: Somebody died, and she has been in those places. What do you have for such a thing? You have talking heads, you have some photos, you have some very bad-quality images, and you have the places where it happened, from the house that she was protecting, which is now ruined, but you go there anyway, and the house where this rucksack arrived, which is now empty. In cinema, you go to a place, even if it’s ugly, like this apartment where she had her training. It’s nothing. There’s nothing to see there, but this was her life.

Simone Bitton

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Corrie with a Palestinian family

Cineaste: It also makes her more of a person. Your position on the issue seems to be clear. What is your attitude toward balance in a documentary?

Bitton: Let’s talk about balance. A film should not be neutral. If you try to be neutral, you make a very bad film. It can’t emerge from emotion. Being exact has nothing to do with being neutral. When I film somebody, I respect him or her. They trust me, that what they have to say will be said. This is not balance. I try to bring in as many different points of view as I can. My job is to look for contradictions.

Cineaste: You give time to the IDF spokesperson and the autopsy forensics expert. You let them speak for themselves, and you let the evidence speak for itself.

Bitton: I just want the chance. If they have convincing arguments, I will not cut them out. You have to be honest in your investigation. But people in power get completely hooked when you give them the floor.

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Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An InterviewThey bury with themselves. Simone ThisBitton is not(WEB balance. EXCLUSIVE)Cineaste: I’ve heard a couple of other American Jews say that your film is not balanced. We have CNN for bythat! Howard Feinstein

Bitton: Someone has been killed. There is no balance in this story. I cannot adapt myself to people like that. I adapt to traumas, to peoples’ suffering. I don’t respect this kind of stupidity. They say you are not balanced when what they really want to say is, “You don’t think like me.”

Cineaste: In both Wall and Rachel, you maintain an off-screen presence. Just your voice is heard.

Bitton: First of all, I think being present with the voice is really being there. You feel the person when the voice is there. In my earlier work, I was quite free, but there were some rules around which I had to work. One was to cut the questions. [Laughs] I always found that very frustrating. It’s more honest to include the questions. It’s a conversation, not a monolog. Something real and strange is happening, so why cut out the questions? Some peopleSimone say Bitton that when you have the questions, it’s like television. I include the questions Simonebecause Bitton is that it’s rare documentarian,the reality a political of activistthe situation,with the eye and ear of of athe gifted director.interview, As of the conversation. Although I am really asking she had done in Wall (2004), which probed the ramifications of the concrete barrier the Israeli government erectedquestions, between its citizens it’s and not West Bank that Palestinians, I’m saying in Rachel (2009) what she applies I feel. a light, It’salmost lyricalnot a voice-over. I’m asking. touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who used her body as an obstacle in a nonviolent protest by the International Solidarity MovementCineaste: (ISM) to prevent You’re the destruction a purist. of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer ran her over. Though she thoroughly examines the case, Bitton uses it http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusiveBitton: [Laughs] Exactly. Page 1 of 11

Cineaste: Another thing I like is that you go off on tangents. Your filmmaking is not linear. For example, you include the history of the ISM for background for those of us who don’t know so much about the organization. The film is not just about the tragic story of this young woman. Not to belittle her, but she’s also a point of departure for you to talk about some other things, including the history of the ISM, even an interview with its Palestinian founder.

Bitton: I always want to know why others don’t help these people. He is in a situation that is so hard, so violent. To launch a group of nonviolent resisters is very meaningful. What he says about responsibility is very noble. He says that they all signed papers in a court, that he is not responsible for her death, but in his heart he feels it. The IDF spokesperson does not feel responsible. The soldiers don’t feel responsible. But this one, who didn’t kill her, he does feel responsible. And there is the question: Who is this group? Who are these Palestinians who send them out there?

Cineaste: The film traces the evolution of Rachel’s political consciousness, but isn’t she a bit naïve?

Bitton: In the beginning, she writes, No documentary could have prepared me for the reality. She learns a lot.

Cineaste: Except for the rap song, you end the film with Rachel saying, “This was one of the best things I’ve done in my life.” It’s heartbreaking. Another moment that is quite moving is after the autopsy, when they bring in a Palestinian who was killed, and you say, “Nobody’s going to make a documentary about him.”

Bitton: Sometimes you have to open up. It would have been obscene to make a film only about Rachel Corrie and not the others. One of the girls wanted to say that, but she was too polite. I felt I had to finish her sentence. It had to be said, because it’s part of the complexity. One must think about the nonwhite

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Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interviewcivilians. with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE)Cineaste: You can see how bored these young soldiers are. They talk about having fun at night, and letting byout Howard the Palestinians’ Feinstein stored water. They are just killing time.

Bitton: I like the interview with the young soldier very much. He even says, which is horrible, “I might do it again.” He touched me a lot. Maybe it’s because I’m Israeli. He could be my brother.

Cineaste: It’s like complaining about the policemen instead of the people in power.

Bitton: He is traumatized. He is tortured about it all the time.

Cineaste: Why is Rafah such a dangerous town?

Bitton: The soldiers are told it’s a jungle, that there are no rules. The population of Gaza is ninety-nine percent very poor. MoreSimone than Bitton sixty percent are refugees. It’s not like Ramallah or other parts of the West SimoneBank. Bitton isEverything that rare documentarian, is aallowed, political activist includingwith the eye and ear shooting of a gifted director. at As houses all night. she had done in Wall (2004), which probed the ramifications of the concrete barrier the Israeli government erected between its citizens and West Bank Palestinians, in Rachel (2009) she applies a light, almost lyrical touchAlso, to a socially the charged settlers issue. Here in it isGaza the 2003 deathwere of twenty-three-year-old very, very Americantough. peace It activist has not been easy to be there for twenty years. This is Rachel Corrie, who used her body as an obstacle in a nonviolent protest by the International Solidarity Movementwhy (ISM) the to Israeliprevent the destructiongovernment of Palestinian ishomes more in Gaza byviolent the Israeli military.about A human rights and the laws of war in Gaza. There is Caterpillarnowhere D9R armored for bulldozer the Gazans ran her over. Thoughto go. she thoroughlyYou cannot examines the runcase, Bitton away. uses it It’s an encircled population. Their lives don’t count. http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusive Page 1 of 11 Cineaste: In spite of the cuts in that official videotape, do you think that the killing of Rachel was intentional?

Bitton: Yes and no. I don’t think that there was an order to kill her. I’m pretty sure of that. I also don’t think the driver thought, “I’m going to kill her in cold blood.” It could have happened two hours, or two days, before. I think it’s more that he was not supposed to pay attention. Nobody expected him to be careful. It just happened. It’s a miracle that it hadn’t happened before. But when you see what such an action looks like [the videotape], it is so dangerous. The only way that nobody would have been killed is if they had stopped the mission.

If there are hostages in a school, does that mean you have the right to kill the whole school? That’s exactly the point: The lives of the Palestinian civilians are worth nothing, and the lives of the people who protect the Palestinian civilians are worth nothing. It’s very sad.

Cineaste: They tear the houses down whether people are inside them or not?

Bitton: The spokesperson [for the IDF] still says, five years later, “We will not destroy these houses,” which is a lie.

Cineaste: Why did the U.S. Embassy refuse Rachel’s parents’ request to have someone present at the autopsy?

Bitton: I asked the embassy, and they never responded. I tried so much to get a reaction from them. They didn’t want to talk to me. They would say, “It’s not the same officer, it was five years ago,” nobody would talk to me. The whole U.S. Embassy thing: something went wrong there.

Cineaste: Now you’re dealing with a situation where your sales agent has not been able to make a sale.

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Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An InterviewBitton: For with Wall, Simone it took Bitton more than(WEB a year to find a distributor. It had won awards, it was in Cannes. I EXCLUSIVE)wouldn’t be so paranoid on political grounds. It is very hard to find a distributor for a documentary. by Howard Feinstein Cineaste: But your sales agent told me distributors are afraid of it.

Bitton: OK, I won’t say no, but it’s not only that. I think that if a distributor felt he could make good money, he would take the film. All I can say is that I hope there will be a brave distributor. I think that he will not lose money, because I think that the film will talk to a lot of people in the U.S., especially to the young. It is an important film about youth, it is important about the commitment of young people.

Regarding these people who pretend they are speaking in the name of all Jews, I think we will not be intimidated, because this is simply not true. I think it is better for American citizens to hear the Middle Eastern story from us.

Simone Bitton

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Facing down a bulldozer in Gaza

Cineaste: Isn’t there a tradition within Judaism of self-criticism? In Israel, people criticize the government. It seems that the thinking is, as soon as you do it in front of the non-Jews, it’s wrong.

Bitton: In Israel, when you are a Jew you can say anything. But you have to be a Jew. [Laughs] I think I’m a better Jew than those Jews who work through intimidation. If this is true, that my film will not be distributed in the U.S. for this reason, it’s a really ugly thing about the Jewish community in the U.S. I hope it is not so monolithic. I don’t know, here we are talking, you are a Jew, I’m a Jew, I’ve been talking to Jewish journalists, half of the audience is Jewish.

Cineaste: I’m not sure about the mentality of the average American Jewish viewer.

Bitton: I’m not working for spectators.

Cineaste: What’s happened with the film in Israel?

Bitton: Nothing yet. But the film will be shown in Israel. I will take it to the Haifa Film Festival. In Israel http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusive Page 7 of 11

Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interviewall of my filmswith Simonehave been Bitton shown (WEB in cinematheques and in festivals, and sometimes TV will take them. The EXCLUSIVE)problem is economic. It’s a very small market. by Howard Feinstein

Part Two:

Cineaste: What are your thoughts about what happened in San Francisco, at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and how some American Jews responded?

Bitton: Although I have a long experience with irrational reactions when it comes to Middle Eastern issues, and although this was not the first time I was attacked in the U.S. for daring to address the topic of the Israeli Army’s violation of human rights, I must confess that I didn't expect that it could happen at the SFJFF. Not only becauseSimone the Bitton SFJFF has always been—and still is—a great space of freedom, pluralism, Simoneand Bitton dialog is that rare among documentarian, Jews, a political but activist mainly with the eye becauseand ear of a gifted Rachel director. As is a very rigorous and well-documented film inquiry. It she had done in Wall (2004), which probed the ramifications of the concrete barrier the Israeli government erectedis simply between its citizens an unattackableand West Bank Palestinians, film, in Rachel because (2009) she applies it brings a light, almost out lyrical all the versions of the story, including the official Israeli touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist Rachelversion, Corrie, who and used her it body brings as an obstacle it out in a nonviolent at length. protest by Ithe have International shown Solidarity other films at the SFJFF—Wall and Mahmoud Darwish Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillar(1998)—and D9R armored bulldozer nothing ran her ofover. thisThough shekind thoroughly happened examines the case,either Bitton usestime. it After thinking about it, I reached the conclusion that all this fuss had nothing to do with the film itself, as the whole controversy was initiated and led by http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusivepeople who hadn’t seen it. Page 1 of 11

It was really ridiculous. These people were against the very fact that the SFJFF selected a film inquiring about Rachel Corrie's death, and against the very fact that Rachel's mother was invited to meet the audience as a participant in the film. Their anger came out of political frustration, because since Obama's election, the pro-Israeli lobbies in the U.S. are afraid of losing their monopoly on Jewish public opinion, and on American public opinion in general. There is a will to silence what Rachel symbolizes in the U.S., and that is the very notion of solidarity with Palestinians. The pro-Occupation lobbies are very unhappy with the fact that more and more young Americans, Jews and non-Jews, engage in solidarity actions with Palestinian civilians. There is also, probably, a kind of desperation in these conservative groups, because they feel threatened by the hints that the new administration is determined to change things in the Middle East. So they decided to do all that they can—and they can do a lot, they are very powerful—to cut people like me away from my Jewish audience, just as they are working to silence so many Jewish artists, scholars, and peace activists all over the world, but especially in the U.S.

These lobbies are a real threat to Jewish intelligence, pluralism, and humanism.I feel that it is very important, especially now, not to be intimidated by this aggressiveness. American Jews have a great responsibility these days: they have to help Obama in his efforts to bring peace and justice to the Middle East.There is a slight hope now that things will move in the right direction, but this hope is fragile. Jews have to be the first ones to criticize what has to be criticized in Israel’s politics, and the best way for them to do it is by supporting the Israeli voices that stand against the Occupation. If they surrender themselves to the pressure, like the pressure being put upon the SFJFF, how can they expect President Obama to resist the much heavier pressure he is confronting from the military and industrial lobbies, which need the continuation of war and the Occupation for their own interests?

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Women Make Movies n www.wmm.com Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM

Simone Bitton

Simone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. As she had done in Wall (2004), which probed theCorrie's ramifications of parentsthe concrete barrier at thea Israelimemorial government wall dedicated to their daughter erected between its citizens and West Bank Palestinians, in Rachel (2009) she applies a light, almost lyrical touch to a socially charged issue. Here it is the 2003 death of twenty-three-year-old American peace activist RachelIt’s Corrie, time who usedthat her Americanbody as an obstacle inJews a nonviolent make protest aby theclear International choice, Solidarity and stop letting these ignorant censors dictate what is Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillargood D9R and armored what bulldozer is ran bad her over. for Though Jews. she thoroughly Because examines itthe iscase, the Bitton choice uses it between life and death. Between justice and oppression. Between pride and shame. I know that many feel the right way. But they have to say it out loud http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusive Page 1 of 11 more strongly than they already do. This is what happened at the SFJFF: the Festival didn't surrender, the screenings of Rachel were packed, and, for the first time, many hundreds of American Jews said no to Jewish censorship. My only sadness is that Cindy Corrie, who is a wonderful and very noble person, had to go through this awful event. I couldn't be with her to face the ugliness of the attacks on her and on her daughter's memory. I was naïve enough to assume that Jews would not sink so low as to insult a mother who lost a child and seeks the truth.1

Cineaste: What about the accusations that Rachel and her friends were helping to hide tunnels to Egypt, not protect homes?

Bitton: That’s so silly that even the Israeli Army's spokesperson never used such an argument. Rachel was protecting the house of a pharmacist. I filmed the ruins of the house, and there was no tunnel there. The Israelis destroyed thousands of houses in Rafah in 2002-2003. They created a no-man's land where there had been lively civilian neighborhoods. Most of the tunnels were dug years after, when the blockade on the Gaza Strip forced the population to find ways to smuggle goods inside. That was after the Israeli Army and the Israeli settlers left Gaza, and after the election of Hamas. People have short memories, and documentary films can help them put some order in all the propaganda they are fed.

Cineaste: How has the international distribution of the film gone? I heard a commercial film was bumped from a Paris theater recently so they could show Rachel instead.

Bitton: It was selected by many prestigious festivals and had good reviews, but it didn't sell well internationally. Feature-length documentaries of this kind don’t sell well. But I can’t complain. It worked OK in the European countries where it has been distributed theatrically. The DVD was released last week, and it began well. In France, where I live and where my work is known and generally respected, it did well

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Home Archives Shop Cineaste Magazine - Articles - Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interview with Simone Bitton (WEB EXCLUSIVE) 9/6/10 10:35 AM Choosing between Justice and Oppression: An Interviewwhen in was with released Simone last Bitton October. (WEB Recently, some cinemas EXCLUSIVE)decided to show it again after the assault on the peace flotilla, because suddenly people started to ask, “Who are these international peace activists who try to help the people in Gaza and get killed by the Israeli army?” byThe Howard film Feinstein was a premonition of what was to come, so it might have a second life now. It will open in the U.S. soon, thanks to Women Make Movies. WMM’s Debbie Zimmerman is one of those brave Jews who are fed up with Jewish censorship. But I live these things from afar. When a film is done, I go on with my life and with my projects. I don’t reply to stupid attacks. I make films, I see films, I teach filmmaking. These days I am in Morroco, my native land, teaching in a wonderful film school in Marrakech. I love my students. I have things to transmit. The people who try to silence me cannot even imagine how meaningful and wonderful it is to make films out of love for cinema, for human beings, and for truth. We don’t live on the same planet. My favorite quotation is Godard’s saying, “Cinema is a country apart, another territory on the world's map.”

Cineaste: Are you working on a new project? If so, can you tell me a little about it?

Bitton: I am currently doingSimone Bitton research for a three-part historical documentary about my origins: Moroccan Simone Bitton is that rare documentarian, a political activist with the eye and ear of a gifted director. As sheJews. had done in It’s Wall (2004),not whichgoing probed to the ramificationsbe a schmaltzy of the concrete barrier nostalgic the Israeli government film. I suppose it will cause a lot of controversy as well. erected between its citizens and West Bank Palestinians, in Rachel (2009) she applies a light, almost lyrical touchThat’s to a socially all charged I can issue. Heresay it isabout the 2003 deathit for of twenty-three-year-old now! American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who used her body as an obstacle in a nonviolent protest by the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza by the Israeli military. A Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer ran her over. Though she thoroughly examines the case, Bitton uses it 1 http://cineaste.com/articles/making-a-choice-between-justice-and-oppression-an-interview-with-simone-bitton-web-exclusive In 2006 the New York Theatre Workshop droppedPage 1 ofthe 11 one-woman play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, which had opened in London, succumbing to Jewish protests. It was staged later the same year by the smaller Minetta Lane Theatre.

Howard Feinstein reviews films for Screen, Filmmaker, and indieWIRE and programs fiction, documentaries, and directors’ retrospectives for the Sarajevo Film Festival. He lives in New York.

Cineaste,Vol.XXXV No.4 2010

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