Two Films about the Bedouin of the Northern Negev Premiere at the Jerusalem Film Festival

 I had the opportunity to see two extraordinary films about the Bedouin community of the northern Negev.  Eid by Yousef Abo Madegem, is a full-length feature film. Desert Laws, by Ilan Moskovitch and Dan Bronfeld, is a documentary.  I am proud to say that both films were funded (in part) by the Gesher Film Fund (of which I am a member and sit on the funding committee).

Eid, which is a debut feature film (90 minutes) by Yousef Abo Madegem, is the first Bedouin-made feature film in Israel.  The filmmaker studied film at Sapir College in Sderot and is a graduate of the Mandel leadership program.  In addition, I have a personal connection to him -- he is a graduate of a program that I initiated in 2008 that brought together Jewish and Arab young filmmakers, to participate in a two-part seminar: a coexistence seminar abroad (hosted by the International YMCA of Jerusalem and the YMCA of the USA) and a film seminar in Jerusalem (run by Gesher). The idea was to make connections across the divide within your own profession. I remember at that time that Abo Madegem made a big impression on me, talking about his growing up in the Bedouin community of Rahat and his experiences as a child in a family with two wives.  

After the world premiere screening at the Jerusalem Film Festival, Abo Madegem told the enthusiastic audience that he has 10 children and this film is his 11^th! He also explained that the story of the film is based on a true story that happened to his friend when he was young.  It is also interesting to note that the film stars Palestinian actors from the north of Israel who had to learn the special dialect and accent of the Bedouin.

The title of the film refers to the name of the main character of the film.  Eid is a young man who has experienced trauma in his life.  He was sexually assaulted when he was a child by someone close to the family, and no one has provided him with any sense of consolation, closure or even minimal understanding.  In addition, his father, who came from Gaza and is not a native-born Bedouin, sold land to the Jews, and therefore is considered a traitor in the community.  As a result, Eid is bullied by those around him.  Eid is educated and wants his wife to be educated also.  He writes lines for a play that he is dreaming of staging.  It is a play that would help him come to grips with his experiences.  When his parents announce that they have arranged a marriage agreement for him and his sister, he must figure out how to realize his dreams.

Eid, the film, is superb – it is lyrical in many ways, the acting is compelling and effective, the sets are minimalistic but the script holds the viewer and the film unfolds like a thriller.

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Desert Laws, directed by Ilan Moskovitch and Dan Bronfeld, is an anthropological portrait of a Bedouin elder, living in an unrecognized village at Tel Arad.  Farhan lives with his two wives and 13 of his children.  There are 300,000 Bedouin living in the Negev and one third of them live in villages which are not officially recognized by the State of Israel, which means that they are not hooked up to basic infrastructure, such as water and electricity.

Farhan is a respected elder of the Al-Nabari tribe, a mediator between the different factions of the tribe, and between tribes.  What he says goes.  This is the justice system of the traditional Bedouin. Today, there is terrible crime – armed robbery and an ongoing cycle of revenge murders – within the Bedouin society.  These are the types of crimes that he is dealing with in his verdicts and he takes his role and his responsibility very seriously.

We watch as Farhan, aided by his sons who span a wide range of ages, cares for his camels, slaughters sheep for the eid (the holiday at the end of Ramadan), and during Ramadan, we see them laying out a feast for the iftar dinner.  But most importantly, we are witness to how he deals with the clansmen and their contradictory claims and grievances.

The title of the film, refers to two sets of laws, not just the Bedouin law, but also the laws of the State of Israel.  Farhan lives in a reality in which the government can confiscate their land and evict them from their homes. Although his family has been living in Tel Arad since 1952 when the military governor moved them to this site, now, the Israel Lands Authority has decided to evict them.  Farhan decides to fight this unfair and ironic decision of the government.

Desert Laws is a hard-hitting portrait (documentary, 80 minutes) of one man, his leadership in his community, his work with his sons on his land, his work as an arbitrator within the community, and his terrible plight vis-à-vis the Israeli government.