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. Available from Go2Films.

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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.

Bedouin of the Northern Negev

The Bedouin of the Negev are citizens of the State of Israel and many of them serve in the Israeli army.  They are traditionally are a nomadic people, whose way of life has been drastically curtailed since the establishment of international borders which prevent their wanderings with their families and tents and herds of sheep and goats.  Therefore, in the last few hundred years, they have settled into communities or villages which are spread throughout the northern Negev (in addition to some other areas within Israel and the West Bank).  These small villages are mostly unrecognized by the government, which means that they live off the grid – no electricity from the national electric company, no water supply, and no garbage removal. The government of Israel is trying to urbanize this community by destroying the villages and moving the people into towns in which every family would be given a small plot of land on which they can build a permanent home.  But how would they continue their lifestyle of herding goats and sheep?  

The Unrecognized, a new documentary film by Anna Oliker, which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival recently, tells an important story about the issue of the demolition of Bedouin villages in the northern Negev.

The film focuses on Othman, who previously served as the principal of a local school.  Now he has been appointed to convince the people of Bir Hadaj to accept the new town plan and to sign on the dotted line.  He recruits his sister, Aisha, to work with the women and young girls, especially helping them to understand the importance of education.  

As things progress in their work, there are elections in Israel and the government minister in charge of this plan for urbanization is switched and suddenly all the plans and promises fall apart and village demolitions begin anew.  Even with this terrible set-back, Bir Hadaj is considered a steadfast symbol of resistance and hope among the Bedouin communities in the Negev.  

More a reportage than a documentary, The Unrecognized (48 minutes) is available from the filmmaker, Bolt Productions, annaoliker@gmail.com.

Sand Storm by Elite Zexer

The new Israeli feature film that everyone is talking about is Sand Storm (Sufat Hol), directed by Elite Zexer.  This film is about those Bedouin who live in small villages, many unrecognized, dotting the hills of the northern Negev.  Some live in shacks, and some live in small homes, all without basic infrastructure provided by the government.  Those who can afford it have generators which provide electricity for basic needs such as small refrigerators and washing machines.  This is a patriarchal and traditional society. 

The film tells the story of a mother and daughter in one family within this closed society.  Layla, the oldest daughter, is attending a nearby college.  Her father obviously indulges her and, in the opening scene of the film, he is teaching her how to drive.  She is independent, bright, and in love with a lovely Bedouin young man from another tribe, whom she met at school. They want to marry.  

Her mother, Jalila, on the other hand, is suffering humiliation and unhappiness as she prepares the wedding feast for her husband who is taking a second wife.  The story of these two women, mother and daughter, provides the basic narrative structure for this film.

The dancing at the wedding celebration shows Jalila celebrating with a forced smile.  Because there are no men at this celebration, she is wearing a false mustache, creating a striking image.  But her face also shows a mix of pain, determination, and mostly worry about her daughter who she knows will never be permitted to marry the man she loves, a man from outside the tribe.

 

The characters in the film are compelling, even the father whose actions, in dealing with these two strong women in his life, are based on what seems to be at first unclear motivations.  It eventually becomes clear to the viewer that he is mostly conforming to what is expected of him and makes all of his decisions based on what other men in their world would say.   

This is a gritty and authentic picture of life for the women, a hard-hitting emotional and psychological study.  These women live very difficult lives and they desperately need to believe that things might change for them and that their family conditions might improve.  You might think that the position of the new second wife is actually to be envied.  But the viewer gets a glimpse at her own humiliation at not having been able to catch a young husband who would make her his first wife.

 

Sand Storm was a prizewinner at the Sundance festival, and more recently, the winner of multiple Israeli Ophir awards, including best directing and best film, which makes this film the Israeli entry for the Academy Awards.  Debut filmmaker Elite Zexer was originally drawn to the world of the Bedouin of the Negev via her mother who is a photographer and had long ago made personal connections with this community.  Zexer is to be commended for her success as a Jewish filmmaker looking in at Arab society.  This film is a tour-de-force in its emotional power, effective script and visual strength.

 

Watch the trailer! 

Bedouin of the Negev

Invisibles, directed by Mushon Salmona, tells a tragic story about contemporary issues between Arabs and Jews in the Negev -- relations with the government authorities, problems of land confiscation and house demolitions.   

The film opens with Ra'id, a young Bedouin man, as he is receiving his army discharge.  He has decided  to return to his village, somewhere between Dimona and Beersheba, a small village -- about 20 poured-concrete little houses.  His father has sold his herd of goats so that his son will have the money he needs to get married and to get started in life.  Ra'id, however, dreams of opening a restaurant in a tent off the main road, where Jews would gather for good Bedouin food and atmosphere.   Ra'id's father wants him to marry Mariam, a local school teacher.  However, Ra'id finds his cousin's fun-loving Jewish girlfriend much more compelling.

Although he seems to be a rather quiet fellow, the viewer can gather bits and pieces about Ra'id's identity, about belonging in society, how he sees himself in the future, and how he gets involved with his good-for-nothing cousin.  

According to a radio interview with the filmmaker, who grew up in Beersheba, the Bedouin community in the Negev now participates in many areas of life in Beersheba.  Whereas once it was just commerce, now there is also Arab-Jewish exchange in the areas of education, culture and entertainment, and this is reflected in the film. 

Invisibles is available from Transfax.  Transfax also produced and distributes Vasermil, the first feature by the same filmmaker, Mushon Salmona.

Home, Land

Sari Kronish, my daughter, is an architect and works for Bimkom, an Israeli NGO that uses professional tools to promote equality and social justice in planning, development and allocation of land resources.  Much of Sari's work experience has been related to the issues of unrecognized Bedouin villages of the northern Negev.  Here is a guest posting from Sari --

Sharqiya (Arabic for Eastern) is a beautifully shot, full length, feature film, directed by Ami Livne,  that premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival this past week. The film offers the viewer a powerful window into Eastern culture, especially to the interchangeable concepts of home and land.

Two brothers - one married, the other single - are living in a nameless Bedouin village in the Negev, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Although life seems meager, they have no choice but to work hard to make it better. Living elsewhere is not an option for the land has belonged to their family for generations.

The two brothers have different approaches to survival. And there is much tension between them because of this. One of them has served in the Israeli army, the other blames the soldier brother for not being around during the hard months after a car accident took their parents' lives. After being released from the IDF, Kamel gets a job as a security guard at the central bus station in Bir Saba (Be'er Sheva). He makes additional money on the side by fixing old electric items and reselling them. Kamel's brother, on the other hand, works only in the village. His wife, Nadia, hopes for a better future and wants to study. This is a point of contention between her and her husband. Only Kamel understands her.

It quickly becomes clear that their homes have received demolition orders. Once again, each brother deals with this situation differently. And Nadia is left to worry. Kamel decides to take matters into his own hands.

By creating a film that is not relentless or hard to watch, the director instigates compassion, leaving the viewer to ask questions. The well-written, reserved yet complex story will undoubtedly leave you wondering if reality can be this bad. But the truth is, unfortunately - it is much worse.

Sharqiya is available from EZ Films.

Eight Short Films about Coffee

Student films are fascinating to watch -- even though they might not be the best films cinematically speaking, they offer a glimpse at the subjects and issues facing young people today.  In a cross-national collaboration produced by the Film and TV Department of Tel Aviv University, Coffee-Between Reality and Imagination (Artistic Director: Yael Perlov, 2011), we are given the chance of seeing films by young Palestinian filmmakers (2 documentaries and 2 dramas) and Israeli filmmakers (4 dramas). 

The Palestinian Films

Of all of the Palestinian films, my favorite is The Clock and the Man by Gazi Abu Baker (drama, 11 minutes), based on a story by Samira Azzam.  This is a very special tale about a young man named Fathi who gets a job as a clerk in a government office.  On the morning of his first day of work, he discovers that an elderly man named Abu Fuad (Mohammed Bakri) wakes all the government workers in the town so that they can get to their morning train on time.  

Wajeh by Murad Nassar (documentary, 16 minutes) is about a coffee vendor at the Kalandia checkpoint near Ramallah.  The different metal gates and pathways make it seem like the workers are caged animals.  Wajeh is witness as the checkpoint fills with people trying to get to work early in the morning and they talk about the terrible reality of everyday life with these checkpoints.

Sense of Morning by Maysaloun Hamoud (drama, 9 minutes), inspired by Memory of Forgetfulness by Mahmoud Darwish (1987) is an art film about the siege of Beirut in 1982. 

A Cup of Coffee from Palestine by Kareem Karaja, Ameer Ahmarwo, Murad Nassar (documentary, 8 mintes) is about the bitter life stories of Palestinians living in the Al-Amari Refugee camp.

The Israeli Films

My favorite of the Israeli films in this collection is Tasnim by Elite Zexer (drama, 11 minutes), about a 10-year-old Bedouin girl living in a neglected village in the Negev.  When her father appears in a surprise visit, she runs to bring him coffee.  But she is surprised at the circumstances  of his visit.

Audition by Eti Tsicko (drama, 14 minutes) portrays an encounter between Haled and the female director/actress with whom he is auditioning to work.  At first awkward, their encounter develops.  The line between fiction and life itself becomes blurred.

A Trip to Jaffa by Eitan Sarid (drama) is a story of two illegal Palestinian construction workers who want to buy a ring for one of them who is getting married.  His family was from Jaffa, so they set off to find the same jewelry store where his grandfather originally bought the ring for his grandmother.  But things are different from what they imagined.  

Eva is Leaving by Aya Somech (drama, 15 minutes) is about a husband and wife who run a coffee shop.  He has become newly-religious and it is a point of contention between them, especially when he becomes obsessed that a cup of coffee from a non-kosher take-out pace has spilled over the vegetables in the kosher kitchen of his coffee shop.  

This set of 8 short films is available from Tel Aviv University -- films.tau@gmail.com

Zionist Symbols

At this time, when the Bedouin village of El Arakib in the northern Negev is continuously being dismantled by the JNF and then rebuilt by the local Bedouin themselves, with assistance from Israeli activists, I would like to draw your attention to the importance of the plight of these human beings, citizens of the State of Israel, many of whom serve in the Israeli army. Please consider previewing and using with your groups, the important film Destiny Hills גבעות גורל by Leeor Kaufman, which I have written about in detail in the past.

Peretz Rodman, an educator and friend, wanted to share some observations about the film. The following is his posting:

I was struck by the plethora of Zionist mythic symbols that appear as part of the life of the Bedouin family:

• love of this land and of a particular locale
• manual labor
• planting trees
• awareness and enjoyment of wildflowers
• male stoicism and emotional restraint
• making the Negev bloom
• collective labor accomplishing what individuals cannot
• (the pièce de résistance) the blue and white lateral stripe color scheme of tent in which Muhammad wakes up during the Knesset demonstration scene, near the end of the film.

It's so clearly a way of showing an Israeli audience that "they" are so much a mirror image of "us".

Deadly Honour

Deadly Honour is a documentary film by Lipika Pelham who tells the story of multiple honor killings of young women in Arab society. The film is narrated by Salma, a 15-year-old girl, who has seen many of her friends and cousins killed during the past 10 years. She lives in the neighborhood of Juarish, a neglected and run-down neighborhood of the Israeli city of Ramleh, which is a mixed Palestinian and Jewish city not far from the airport.

When her close friend Rana is killed, she remembers others in her clan who have been killed – Naifeh, Sabreen, Karima, Zeenat, Sharihan, Amira and Sara. She talks about the code of silence in the neighborhood, in the family and in her school and she is surprised that after Rana is killed, life carries on as if nothing has happened.

The imam says these family honor killings were a Bedouin tradition from pre-Islamic times. But Salma is a smart girl and she can't imagine that the Bedouin killed their teenage daughters when they were nomads in the desert. She explains that her clan settled in Ramleh in 1948 when they came from the Negev.

Samiya is from another clan and she survived an attempt on her life. Having left Juarish and living independently in Haifa, she was attacked by men wearing masks who shot her from very close range. She is still partially paralyzed and walks with a limp.

Salma asks, why are our brothers, our mothers, our teachers, our mullahs living in a conspiracy of silence? Not until the body of another girl is found in a well does a group of women finally agree to break the code of silence and speak up. They testify in court.

But how will these women be protected? Hamda offers testimony and is sent to a women's shelter for protection. But she is lonely and she decides to return home to her mother where she is shot and killed by her brother. He is implicated by his own mother who says she will never forgive him for what he has done.

These are the stories of the Arab women of Juarish, a neighborhood of Ramleh, a town in the center of Israel. The voice of Salma in the film is based on true stories.

The film (58 minutes, 2009) is available from Ruth Diskin Films.

Bedouin Society

Watch for another film by Uri Rosenwaks, Back and Forth, which will be completed soon.

Made up of four short films, all of which are directed by Bedouin women film makers, this unique film is an unprecedented self-portrait of life in Bedouin society. The film will be available from Ruth Diskin Films

The Bedouin of the Negev

Never think for a moment that all Israeli Arabs are the same. They do not necessarily think alike and they certainly don't all have the same politics. In the feature film Ajami, we learn that there are tensions between Christians and Muslims, and between Bedouin from the northern Negev and Muslims in Jaffa. In this film, The Film Class (directed by Uri Rosenwaks), we learn that not all Bedouin are the same – the black Bedouin are discriminated against and live separately from the Arab Bedouin.

This fascinating film is about the terrible discrimination against blacks by the Bedouin of the Negev, which is unveiled in the framework of a modest class in filmmaking.

Documentary filmmaker Uri Rosenwaks is hired by the NGO, Step Forward, to teach film to a group of black Muslim women in Rahat. He teaches these women how to hold the camera (the woman in the picture is holding a sound boom), how to interview, and eventually, how to deal with sensitive issues. He learns that the black community lives separately, as a distinct minority and he tries to get the women to talk about it in the course. He also tries to get them to talk about their roots about which they know almost nothing. As a result of his prodding, the women interview one of the elders of their community and discover that their ancestors were bought as slaves by Arab Bedouin, that their roots are in Ethiopia and Sudan and that their ancestors were branded like cattle.

Some members of the film class travel to England with Rosenwaks to interview a young black Bedouin, Rashed, from the Negev, who had to flee for his life because he fell in love with and married a white Bedouin girl. His last name, Abd, means "slave" and he wants to change it because it is humiliating. Then they travel together to Zanzibar to learn about their roots and about the Arab slave trade.

Slavery was certainly a despicable way for some men to hold power over others and the modern-day remains of this can be seen in the humiliation and abject poverty of the black Muslims of the Negev.

The Film Class (53 minutes, 2006) won an Israeli Documentary award in 2007 and a special commendation at the Film Festival in Zanzibar and is available from Ruth Diskin .

The Unrecognized Bedouin Villages of the Northern Negev

Destiny Hills גבעות גורל is a documentary portrait of one man, a man of determination and faith, who has opened his tent and his life to the camera. Muhammed and his family are living on their family lands in an "unrecognized Bedouin village" in the Negev. We meet his wife, we watch them go to Jerusalem to the Knesset to protest their situation, we see him with his children, we watch him praying, and we are witness to the burial of his father.

Previously, the family lived at Lachiya, a town built by the government in the 1950's in order to concentrate the Bedouin in one area. At that time, the tribal elders agreed to move to permanent housing at Lachiya. But the town is made-up of closely-built little concrete houses and there was no employment and as a result, the place breeds crime. Therefore, Muhammed and his friends and their families have moved back to the land.

In order to earn some money, Muhammed works as a construction worker in Tel Aviv but he would rather work his own land. He has goats, but agriculture is very difficult in these villages where they have to go and carry in their water in jugs and they have no permission to work the land.

Muhammed is a loving father, with a wife who works hard keeping their tent and cooking area clean. They live with a small group of families who have together erected a cluster of tents and some small houses. The tension rises when the government bulldozers come and demolish everything they have built. So they rebuild and soon the bulldozers come again to destroy. Muhammed builds a tree-house for his boys, which is also destroyed. With great determination and love for his sons, and with a fair amount of bitterness, Muhammed builds it again, and again.

Destiny Hills, directed by Leeor Kaufman (2009, 75 min.) is distributed by Claudia Levin at Claudius Films in Tel Aviv, claudia.levin@claudiusfilms.com