Throughout 2017 our Open Bethlehem film continued to be screened in Europe and the Middle East. We had a special screening at Friends House in September, after which Leila left to tour the USA with a special push between October and Christmas. In mid-December, screenings were held on Capitol Hill and it was great honour for Leila to give the OB Passport to Congresswoman Barbara Lee – the only elected USA representative to vote against the Iraq invasion post 9/11 attacks, making her a hero of the anti-war movement. The screenings came as Trump declared the USA would recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. There is now a plan to develop a Congressional visit to Bethlehem. Open Bethlehem is now on Vimeo and the 30 minute abridged version is here.
The Film
Open Bethlehem was completed autumn 2014; released Christmas 2014 and its North America release was in 2016/2017. Continue reading →
This documentary is a personal story filmed over four critical years in the life of Bethlehem. This most famous little town also happens to be Leila Sansour’s hometown. She left it as a teenager, pledging never to return. But in 2004 she went home for Christmas. The journey changed her life. Continue reading →
“Leila Sansour’s documentary Open Bethlehem follows her campaign to stop occupying Israeli forces encircling her hometown with a concrete wall. Sansour’s film, which follows her attempts to unite Christians, Muslims and Jews in their desire for free access to the Holy City, is the kind of art that peace processes are built on.” Peter Bradshaw Continue reading →
Open Bethlehem UK cinema release December 2014
(Apologies for any cross posting!)
This film is a very personal ‘Bethlehem story’ which encompasses the history of, as well as the present-day reality for, the town of Bethlehem and its citizens as they cope with life under occupation. It is a film about family, adversity, hope and, of course, Christmas.
So, if you want to see an authentic Christmas film this year, Open Bethlehem(trailer) is for you.
“One of the most remarkable and moving documentaries I have seen. The tragedy of the Palestinians encapsulated in the life of one town, Bethlehem” Jon Snow
Picturehouse cinemas will be screening Leila Sansour’s film Open Bethlehem across the UK, beginning on December 5th. To book, select your cinema here. Continue reading →
Open Bethlehem UK cinema release December 2014
(Apologies for any cross posting!)
This film is a very personal ‘Bethlehem story’ which encompasses the history of, as well as the present-day reality for, the town of Bethlehem and its citizens as they cope with life under occupation. It is a film about family, adversity, hope and, of course, Christmas.
So, if you want to see an authentic Christmas film this year, Open Bethlehem(trailer) is for you.
“One of the most remarkable and moving documentaries I have seen. The tragedy of the Palestinians encapsulated in the life of one town, Bethlehem” Jon Snow
Picturehouse cinemas will be screening Leila Sansour’s film Open Bethlehem across the UK, beginning on December 5th. To book, select your cinema here.
18.30pm, 05 Dec, MILE END,Genesis Cinema, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour
15.45pm, 06 Dec, YORK, Picturehouse Screening
15.00pm, 07 Dec, KENSAL RISE, Lexi Cinema, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour
18.00pm, 08 Dec, CROUCH END,Arthouse Crouch End, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour & Jeremy Hardy 09 Dec, DALSTON,Rio Cinema, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour EVE, TBC
17.45pm, 10 Dec, EAST FINCHLEY,The Phoenix Cinema, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour
18.00pm, 11 Dec, EDINBURGH,Edinburgh Filmhouse, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour & Paul Laverty, chaired by Lee Randell
18.00pm, 12 Dec, GLASGOW,Glasgow Film Theatre, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour & Kathy Galloway, chaired by Irvine Welsh
14.00pm, 13 Dec, DUNDEE,DCA, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour chaired by Simon Bateson
20.00pm, 13 Dec, ABERDEEN,Belmont Filmhouse, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour chaired by Simon Bateson
15.00pm, 14 Dec, INVERNESS, Eden Court Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour & John Glenday, chaired by Simon Bateson
17.45pm, 15 Dec, OXFORD,Phoenix Picturehouse, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour
18.00pm, 16 Dec, BRISTOL, Watershed, Bristol Palestine Film Festival – screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour
18.15pm, 18 Dec, NORWICH, Cinema City, Screening
18.00pm, 19 Dec, BRIXTON,Ritzy Picturehouse, Screening and Q&A with Leila Sansour, Jeremy Hardy & Adjoa Andoh
TPFF will host screenings at The Lexi and The Ritzy
And if you’d like to organise your own screening, you can do this via ourscreen.com.
Finally, below are some vox pops from our sell-out September preview screening at the Royal Geographical Society.
We hope to see you at one of the events!
Best wishes
Deborah & Leila
Terrific response from audience at RGS preview screening with Melvyn Bragg
Leila Sansour’s film Open Bethlehem was previewed to a sell-out audience of 720 at London’s Royal Geographical Society. It was an incredible evening – MPs and activists; academics and media all joined with many leading Palestinian figures and hundreds of members of the general public in giving the film and Leila, a standing ovation.
Key to the film and the outreach is the message that – to keep Bethlehem truly ‘open’ – we need people to visit the town, to see for the themselves – and to use independent travel companies to do this. So, we were delighted to welcome more than a dozen independent tour operators to be represented, including McCabe Pilgrimages, who part funded the film.
Melvyn Bragg interviewed Leila after the film and this was followed by a Q&A with the audience . Amongst other things, Leila was keen to share the plans for the campaign of the same name – Open Bethlehem – which has the Bethlehem passport at its heart.
It was the most energising start possible to the film’s release in the UK, later this year.
In September 2014, Leila Sansour’s film Open Bethlehem was previewed to a sell-out audience of 720 at London’s Royal Geographical Society. Since then, the film has screened across the UK and Ireland; the Middle East; Canada and USA and in Moscow also. For more information visit http://www.openbethlehem.org/
The opening night preview at the RGS was an incredible evening – MPs and activists; academics and media all joined with many leading Palestinian figures and hundreds of members of the general public in giving the film and Leila, a standing ovation. Continue reading →
Leila Sansour’s film Open Bethlehem was previewed to a sell-out audience of 720 at London’s Royal Geographical Society. It was an incredible evening – MPs and activists; academics and media all joined with many leading Palestinian figures and hundreds of members of the general public in giving the film and Leila, a standing ovation. Continue reading →
Hurray, it’s Greenbelt time again! And If you don’t know what the amazing Greenbelt Arts Festival, 27-30 August, is all about then check out their website – line up includes Beverley Knight, Gil Scott Heron and Courtney Pine.
We’ll be there, screening some powerful and provocative films, hosting lively panel debates, asking some difficult questions and trying our best to provide some inspiring answers. And if we’re not busy doing that you’ll probably find us admiring our exciting Bethlehem-inspired installation in the G Source tent. Come and find us and admire it too!
In the meantime find out what we’re screening at the FILM venue and when…
Saturday 28 August, 2.30pm Vanishing of the Bees As scientists puzzle over the alarming disappearance of honeybees, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for the tragic loss. The film will be followed by a discussion.
Risking torture and life imprisonment, Burmese video journalists go undercover to document the 2007 monk uprising, exposing to the international community the Burmese government’s violent and bloody crack-down. The film will be followed by Q&A and book signing with Zoya Phan, International Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. Zoya is one of Europe’s leading Burmese democracy activists and coordinator for the European Karen Network. Her autobiography Little Daughter was published in April 2009.
Monday 30 August, 11.30am
Jeremy Hardy vs Israeli Army
The Radio 4 comedian tags along with Palestinian film-maker Leila Sansour as she travels to Israel and the Occupied Territories to team up with members of the International Solidarity Movement (or ISM), as they engage in non-violent direct action to challenge the occupation. The film will be followed by Q&A with Jeremy Hardy.
Two US film makers pose as top executives of corporations they hate; lying their way into business conferences to parody their corporate targets, doing everything they can to expose the danger of letting greed run our world. The film will be followed by a panel debate: How far is enough? A discussion about the pros and cons of peaceful direct action. The panel will be chaired by Tipping Point Film Fund and include speakers from Trident Ploughshares, World Development Movement, Christian Aid and Tearfund.
Vanishing of the Bees, Burma VJ and The Yes Men Fix World is screened in association with Dogwoof.
Palestinian film director Leila Sansour is fighting to keep her home town of Bethlehem open as the Israeli barrier slowly carves up and strangles the city, capturing Palestinian land for Israeli settlements. Leila’s next film The Road to Bethlehem will document five year’s of the wall’s construction and its impact on Leila and her community. Here, Leila shares her thoughts with Tipping Point Film Fund’s supporters.
I spent last month in London discussing plans for the release of my film. This is an industry where you have to plan ahead, especially when you are on a shoestring budget. A producer once told me to think of a film as a triangle with the three sides labelled: ‘Good’ ‘Cheap’ and ‘Fast’. She told me, you can only ever have two sides of the triangle at a time, never three. The result is, we are going slow. Being in London gave me a chance to vote in the General Election. As usual, I had British foreign policy on my mind, so while my friends discussed the economy, taxes and immigration, my thoughts were far away, with a people on the other side of the Mediterranean.
Last week our team took a meeting with a potential partner in the States. As usual, I found myself explaining the wall. “It does not encircle Bethlehem as you might think,” I say. “It cuts the entire area into two parcels, with the urban part on one side and the countryside on the other, cutting the farmland off from the town. Once the wall is complete the townspeople will be shunted into just 13 per cent of the original Bethlehem, while Israeli settlements expand into the rest.” The information causes consternation – not least among members of my team, as I discover later. This is the real challenge: when something is so absurd it is very difficult to communicate what it is really happening, even to the most interested and sympathetic friends.
I return to Bethlehem next week to resume the work of editing. I also resume my role as the director of Open Bethlehem, a campaign against the wall. A key part of my activities is providing fact-finding tours to politicians, diplomats, clergy and media. I distinctly remember one very earnest lady joining us on a summer day. After a tour of the wall we ended up at the highest point in Bethlehem, overlooking an expanse of settlements. This woman sat on a rock in bewilderment and devastation. The first thing she said when she opened her mouth was: “I do not understand this. Surely if this is really happening to the Palestinians, the whole world would be up in arms”. The world is not up in arms, but this lady is. She is Jewish-American and she travels the length and breadth of the US to tell our story. I hope my film will bring the reality of Bethlehem to many around the world who cannot make the journey – and that it will encourage others to visit my still beautiful, fast-disappearing city.
To find out more about The Road to Bethlehem or to watch a clip from the film, click here.
If you’d like to support The Road to Bethlehem please donate here and mark your donation ‘The Road to Bethlehem’.
Tipping Point North South 