By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Hanan Kattan | Shamim Sarif
Country: canada, united_kingdom
Year: 2012
Running time: 64
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1921119/
Bruce says: “Walls, barricades, checkpoints, barbed wire fences. These are prominent features in the West bank landscape and the areas that Palestinians must traverse to get from a refugee camp to a Palestinian village twenty five kilometers away. This fifteen mile trip should take less than half an hour but takes as much as three or more hours. This is one of the many facts imbedded in the stories THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW tells us.
“The focus of this documentary is TEDx Holyland, a symposium of professional Israel and Palestinian women held in Jerusalem. TED stands for Technology, Education and Design. Thee women are meeting to talk about their future. Most are disillusioned with leaders and politicians who have demonstrated little interest in promoting peace. Israel has a 100 billion dollar economy, is third nation on NASDAQ behind the United States and Canada. How can a group of one hundred women foment change? One woman recalls Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. A room is not enough, she proclaims; women need to start businesses.
“Interspersed among the talking heads many facts are presented. The history of Israel is traced from the early 20th century to the present: the seizure of Israel by the British from the Ottoman Turks; statehood in 1947; wars in 1948, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006; the Palestinian intifadas; and development of settlements. For each Arab-Israeli conflict we get statistics on how many Israelis and Palestinians were killed. Palestinian deaths outnumber those of the Israelis by enormous margins time after time.
“Also discussed is the ethnic mix within Israel. People often think of Israel is 100% Jewish. Not true. 27% of the population is Israeli Arabs, some Christian but most Muslim. In northern cities – particularly Haifa – Jews and Arabs are quite integrated. They live together in the same areas, even the same buildings. It is not unheard of for a business to be jointly owned by Arabs and Jews. By contrast there are fewer than eight thousand Jews in all the Arab countries.
“By the end of the film we come to understand the enormity of the problems. While many of the women – including a former Miss Israel – are extraordinarily accomplished and articulate, they truly do not know where to begin as far as making a dent in the Israeli/Palestinian discord is concerned. The success of TEDx going forward is questionable. Every set of social changes must begin somewhere and miraculously something truly great may happen through these efforts. 3 cats
“(THE HOUSE OF TOMORROW screened at the 2012 Soho International Film Festival.)”