Budrus: Nonviolent Citizen Protest on the West Bank

I had the thrilling opportunity to attend the premier last week of Budrus, a documentary film directed by Julia Bacha and produced by Ronit Avni the brillant founder of Just Vision.

Budrus is the story of Ayed Morrar, a lifelong resident of a West Bank village, Budrus ,and Palestinian activist, and his efforts, along with those of his 15 year old daughter, to stop the construction of the separation barrier the Israeli government planned to erect that would bisect their town. The wall would have run through the village cemetery and would have cut off the villagers from the olive trees. Ayed organized peaceful protests by the villagers over a ten month period. I won’t tell you the ending, you’ll have to watch it for yourself!

Here is the trailer:

By way of disclosure, I was a founding board member of Just Vision and my husband, Scott Freiman, was the sound editor of this film.

But that isn’t why I loved this film. It is an amazing, moving, human story about what individuals anyway in the world can do to protect their homes and their families. And it actually gives you hope about the possibility of peace in the Middle East when citizens say enough is enough. But don’t just take my word for it, here are reviews from the Washington Post and the New York Jewish Week.

Check the list of screenings here and try to see this film. It will leave you moved, enlightened and hopeful.

Oh, and we also got to meet Queen Noor, who presented Ayad, Julia and Ronit the King Hussein Leadership Prize!

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