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Families Forum a Discussion Guide a Documentary Film Directed By The Parent Circle – Families Forum Presents: A Documentary Film Directed by Emmy Award Winner Tor Ben Mayor A Discussion Guide www.theparentscircle.org [email protected] A Note from the Parents Circle – Families Forum Dear Viewer, We are so pleased that you have chosen to screen Two Sided Story. Whether you are watching this film with your class, synagogue, church, mosque, dialogue group or your friends in your own living room, we thank you for joining us in our work to promote reconciliation and understanding of many sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are all familiar with the stories presented by the media. They mostly focus on the events that mark the conflict’s history and on their political repercussions. But, there are other stories that are rarely told. They are the human stories. Two Sided Story immerses you in the conflict in the most personal way. You will join 27 Palestinians and Israelis on a unique journey that began in July 2011. Among the participants are bereaved families, Orthodox Jews and religious Muslims, settlers, former IDF soldiers, ex- security prisoners, citizens of the Gaza Strip, kibbutz members, second-generation Holocaust survivors and non-violent activists. Regardless of your political beliefs, you will be transported by the film’s first-person perspective. You will experience what the participants experienced. You will see the conflict through their eyes, deeply emotional and rooted in mistrust. Understanding comes slowly as Two Sided Story brings Palestinians and Israelis together for their first face-to-face meeting facilitated by the Parents Circle-Families Forum. As the documentary unfolds, Two Sided Story follows the participants as they take their individual journeys. You will get to know them as they get to know each other. Israelis and Palestinians paired together telling their stories and hearing stories from the other side. Learning from each other. Listening. And somewhere along the journey, you will witness the transformation that comes from this groundbreaking approach to reconciliation. This guide is intended to deepen the learning and dialogue opportunities. There is a wide variety of discussion questions and resources in this discussion guide. We recommend that you select the components that work best for your group. Thank you for participating by viewing Two Sided Story and taking part in the discussion that will follow. Perhaps it will transform your understanding of what seems to be an intractable conflict and replace it with hope and a deep sense of what can happen when ordinary people take the time to talk and to listen. Sincerely, The Parents Circle - Families Forum 01 Background Two Sided Story is a joint production of the Parents Circle - Families Forum (PCFF); the Israeli Production Company, 2SHOT; and the Palestinian News Agency, MAAN. The PCFF is an organization made up of more than 600 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families all of whom have lost a loved one as a direct result of the conflict and all of whom have chosen a path of reconciliation rather than revenge. The PCFF members work in Israel and the West Bank and all over the world sharing their stories of loss as an inspiration towards reconciliation. The PCFF operates youth and adult education programs, public awareness, and advocacy projects to forward their mission of promoting reconciliation as a catalyst and means towards conflict resolution. More information about the Parents Circle can be found at www.theparentscircle.org. If you haven’t yet contacted us to obtain the rights to screen this film with your community, please join our initiative and e-mail us at [email protected]. Acquiring the rights includes informing us of your plans. We are asking for a screening contribution of $300. For groups with limited budgets, contributions can be adjusted. Find out how you can host a screening and bring the messages of reconciliation, mutual understanding and trust to your churches, schools, campuses, mosques, synagogues, dialogue groups and living rooms. 02 Contents Pre-Screening Preparation ...................................... p. 4 Notes for the Discussion Leader ........................ p. 4 Pre-Screening Activities ........................................ p. 5 Discussion Questions ................................................. p. 6 General Questions ................................................... p. 6 In-Depth Questions ................................................. p. 7 Who’s Who in the Film ................................................ p. 9 How You Can Help ........................................................ p. 13 Glossary ............................................................................. p. 14 03 Pre-Screening Preparation Notes for the Discussion Leader Below please find suggestions for initiating an open discussion and dialogue. • Most importantly, watch Two Sided Story prior to your group’s screening. It is extremely important that you are prepared to act as a facilitator for the discussion that will follow. The PCFF facilitators that run the sessions in the documentary are very skilled at keeping the discussion on point. You can learn from them before you are pressed into duty. • It is helpful for you as facilitators and discussion leaders to think about your own relationship to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; please consider: - What are my own beliefs about this conflict? - Do I know any personal stories about people who have been involved or affected by the conflict or have I had a personal experience that has impacted the way I understand the conflict? - What are my prejudices about the many sides of the conflict, the people, the cultures, the governments, the religions? - Can I acknowledge the existence of multiple narratives and experiences? • Be prepared that some viewers will have deep ties to the conflict and others will be thinking seriously about the issue for the first time. • Establish explicit ground rules to ensure that everyone who wants to speak has a chance to participate. Ensure that people have a safe space to speak and that people will not be interrupted. • Ask to hear reactions about the film and the people in the film from the participants by relating to emotions, values and motivations. Direct questions and comments toward an understanding of the characters in the film - acknowledging the other, generating empathy, humanizing the other. Try to avoid political disputes. • Manage the discussion like a group dialogue so that participants are speaking with each other and not just the facilitator. The facilitator can ask: “Did someone else also feel or think this way?” or “What is your response to what participant X believes?” • Encourage differences of opinions and try to avoid a question and answer type of conversation between the participants and the facilitator as well as long arguments between the participants. • In case of a heated debate, the facilitator should acknowledge both sides and explain that the point of this discussion is to see the conflict through a human perspective and bring the discussion back to the perspectives of the characters in the film. 04 Pre-Screening Activities • Participants can familiarize themselves with the glossary terms at the end of this guide. • The facilitator can assign participants to different chapters in the film or pair of characters and ask participants to pay particular attention to them during the film so that they can report back about that issue or pair of characters after the film. • If the audience is primarily Muslim and/or Jewish, the facilitator can assign a specific character to the participants from the “other side.” After the film, participants should speak from that character’s perspective. 05 Discussion Questions General Questions • Was there anything in the film that you didn’t understand, or that surprised or confused you? • Which scenes, if any, made you angry? Hopeful? • Did you have any pre-conceptions coming into the film? If so, have they changed now that you’ve watched it? • Which character did you identify with the most? Why? • What scenes or characters impacted you emotionally? • Think about difficult conversations you heard in the film. What made those conversations difficult, and what made them possible? What conversations would you have liked to have heard from the characters that did not take place? • At what points during the film did you notice the humanization of the other side? • What about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does Two Sided Story portray that you hadn’t seen before? • What is the impact of the characters sharing their personal stories and pain? What is important about sharing and addressing your history – both national and personal? • What does it require, on an individual level, for peace to be possible? What fears and anger do both sides have to tackle? What do both sides have to acknowledge about each other? • Did you feel you were more aligned with the Palestinian or Israeli “side”? If so, how does that impact your understanding of the other “side”? • How can we, here today, help to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? • How can the methods used by the PCFF be used in other conflicts and in your communities? 06 In-Depth Questions • Shira, one of the Israeli participants, said that she feels that this is the first time that she is really experiencing the conflict, now that she is hearing personal, Palestinian stories. How do you feel about this sentiment? What role do personal stories have in the conflict?
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