Refusing
to be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story
Dialogue Based Social Justice
Documentry, 2007
Refusing
to Be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story profiles the twelve
women of an Ann Arbor dialogue group called Zeitouna ("olive tree" in Arabic) and documents their
developing relationship over a four-year period. Six
of the Zeitouna women are of Arab descent and six are
of Jewish descent. Some are native born and some are
immigrants. What they all have in common is their humanity
and their desire to bridge the gulf that has developed
between their two communities. They chose the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict as the focus of the group and use the dialogue
process as a means of personal transformation leading
to socio-political transformation.
In 2004, Laurie White envisioned a film showing Zeitouna’s learning
as a model for others. Refusing To Be Enemies is
Zeitouna’s story, a 58-minute documentary
targeted for national and international distribution
as an inspiring educational tool. White captures
both the pain and the joy inherent in dialogue’s
mastery.
Credits
Direction/
Production - Laurie White
Direction
of Photography - Meredith Zielke, Yoni Goldstein,
Soua Her
Editing
- Yoni Goldstein, Meredith Zielke, Shaun
Williams
A
gift to the Zeitouna Movie Project plants
the seeds of dialogue where they will take
root, grow and bear fruit.
Your tax-deductible gift at any level will support screenings
/ festival exposure / building, producing and distributing
the dialogue guide and DVD / translations (we hope!)
into Arabic and Hebrew. Thank you for being a part of
the Zeitouna Movie Project.
Send your check made to "Minerva Projects" with "Zeitouna
Movie Project" in the memo line to:
Zeitouna Movie Project
c/o Minerva Project
322 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
