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Film on Jewish Israeli peace activists

Jacob Kamaras
THE JEWISH STATE
May 21, 2010

At next month's New Jersey International Film Festival, Rutgers University will screen a documentary that presents the viewpoint of Jewish Israeli peace activists who express disappointment with how their country is handling the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"Voices From Inside," to be screened at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 13 at Voorhees Hall classroom 105 on the College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, features interviews with 16 activists -- including several former IDF soldiers, a conscientious objector, and a rabbi -- who are "all extremely concerned about the future of Israel," said Marjorie Wright, the film's writer and producer.

The interviewees, ranging in age from their early 20s to 79, volunteer for a number of groups that organize collaborative projects between Israelis and Palestinians, including Ta'ayush, Machsom Watch, Gush Shalom, and Yesh Din, among others.

Wright said her original intention was to make a film based on answers to the question of whether a two-state solution is possible for Israel given the Palestinian population increase in the West Bank, but when interviewees emphatically refused to answer what they called a "hypothetical question" or offer alternative proposals to the conflict, the direction of the film changed, Wright said.

"They basically told us what they wanted to tell us, and that changed the entire direction of the film," Wright told The Jewish State.

Wright said she did not try to make "Voices From Inside" a point/counterpoint film by gathering responses to the activists' opinions, but that she instead aimed to give a voice to "Israelis speaking their mind who are not in line with the official government viewpoint."

The film's subjects expressed concern about emigration out of Israel, young Israelis refusing to fight in the army, IDF soldiers committing suicide, how Israel has "demographics stacked against them," and how Israel has "hundreds of nuclear weapons," Wright said.

In portions of the interviews that did not make it into the film, Wright said almost every subject felt that Israel needed "outside help" to resolve the conflict, specifically help from America. A full exploration of America's role is for "another film," Wright said.

Wright said she also collected an array of film clips, dating back to before 1920, so that "Voices From Inside" could include a history of Zionism, or what she called "a passage through time."

Thirty-nine films will have their New Jersey or Middlesex County premier screenings as part of the New Jersey International Film Festival's summer 2010 lineup. For a full schedule and more information, visit www.njfilmfest.com.