Images © Georgia International Films
'
A radical, unique and holy response to human suffering' - Leonard Cohen.
Sydney - Thursday 18 May 2023 at 7.30pm - 45 St Paul's Street, Randwick, NSW
Melbourne - Sunday 28 May 2023 at 4pm - Classic Cinemas, 9 Gordon St, Elsternwick, VIC
is a journey into the souls of four people - Bushra, Rami, Meytal and Bassam. They have all suffered loss, both men and women, Palestinian and Israeli. Bushra's teenage son was killed just outside his home. Rami's daughter was blown up getting books for the new school year. Meytal's father was axed to death in his garden, and Bassam's daughter was shot dead while sharing sweets with her sister. This documentary was completed in 2022 and was written, produced and directed by Esther Takac. Q&A screening details for Sydney and Melbourne are as listed above, presented by
JIFF aka Jewish International Film Festival. Click on the given links for your state to book your tickets to join the subjects of the documentary, best friends and peace activists
Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, for these two very special Q&A screenings.
In a conflict where narratives clash and the suffering of the other is often dismissed, this documentary is committed to being balanced, fair and informed. Palestinian and Israeli cinematographers filmed up close and personal with the four participants, a woman and a man from each side of the conflict, with beautiful footage from Bet Jalla and Bet Uma in the Palestinian territories and Jerusalem and the Ayalon Valley in Israel.
It is a harrowing and sorrowful watch of the violence and senseless killing that can take place in times of conflict. How man's belief can be unchanged when all they see is an enemy; unwilling to understand or even see each other as human beings just like themselves. Killing innocent children takes some kind of single-mindedness that refuses to budge. In a conflict that seems unsolvable, these are four people who have decided to walk the narrow bridge towards reconciliation and create a movement of understanding and peace. That we really are all the same in our grief and sorrow and shed the same colour tears. By no means does the doco elude to it being an easy task.
You do witness the hesitance and take a journey into how change came about for them. Politics had to be left at the door, and the concentration is on building a future based on dignity, and equality, no matter how difficult. They refuse to give up and believe if they let in a crack of light, it could change the darkness. This story is not just about the personal, it belongs to a controversial grassroots movement of broken-hearted people 'Israeli Palestinian Bereaved Families' who stand side-by-side to end the violence in spite of their internal struggles and aching loss. It is also about courageous shifts in thinking and how they choose to have the experience of pain change them. Book early to see The Narrow Bridge as it has the markings of being sold out.
The Narrow Bridge - Trailer from Esther Takac on Vimeo.
