USA
, 86 min
Shown in 1981
CREDITS
- dir
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David Koff
- prod
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David Koff
- scr
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David Koff
- cam
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Stephen Lighthill, Neil Gibson
-
COMMENTS
David Koff in person.
A vivid documentary about the struggle of the Palestinian people for reestablishment of an independent nation and the first film to unflinchingly describe the contemporary background of this struggle. David Koff, best known for his documentary study of black-white controversy and sociological conflicts in England, Blacks Britannica, spent two years in the Middle East, inspired by the events taking place in Israel. He wanted to focus upon the resistance of the Palestinians to colonial traditions, racism and imperialist behavior, which he felt was exemplified in the reactions of the Israeli government toward the entire Palestinian movement. Koff believes that the reality of day-to-day events in Occupied Palestine is something that must be seen by American audiences, who might be completely unaware of the oppressed atmosphere of that particular Middle Eastern area. For him, the film is a continuous attempt to open up the question of justice in that part of the world and the potentiality of peace there. The film was shot by an international crew, under conditions of great difficulty. Most of the footage was taken in areas of military occupation and, on one occasion, Koff was arrested and the film confiscated because of the demonstrations which had been photographed. In a dangerous atmosphere, he managed to compile an often startling, always absorbing look at one of the most provocative, troublesome areas in the world today, and the center of the bitterest, most tragic confrontations. Occupied Palestine is more than reportage: it is an agonizingly truthful look at a problem from which ordinary news sources tend to avert their eyes.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #232
Our first seminar at the Festival was entitled Censorship and the Actor’s Art: A Symposium, featuring panelists Michael Mayer and Lou Greenspan at Grace Cathedral, October 24, 1966.
