In the summer of 2002, Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travel together from the south to the north of their country of birth; they traced their trajectory on a map and called it ROUTE 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1947 to partition Palestine into two states.
As they travel, Khleifi and Sivan meet a multitude of characters, each of which has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humor, indifference, suspicion, aggression; frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all, in the collective unconscious of both societies.
ROUTE 181: FRAGMENTS OF A JOURNEY IN PALESTINE-ISRAEL is divided into three parts, screening between January and March 2022 as part of the Mizna Film Series.
Please note: this program is available to view ONLY within the United States.
TO THE SOUTH: From Ashdod to Gaza. The first part of ROUTE 181 begins in Ashdod, on the seaside at a construction site. The filmmakers talk to an Israeli foreman as well as Chinese and Palestinian workers and surveyers. Sivan and Khleifi begin their cinematic journey this way, through the southern parts of Palestine-Israel, interviewing a juice seller, a candy seller, an engineer, and a manager, gaining perspectives from Israelis and Palestinians about everyday life. They visit a Kibbutz, they travel to Gaza, and they hear residents understandings of the Zionist project alongside discussions of Palestinians right to return. Their task as filmmakers is to document, to convey what is desired and what is experienced, to distinguish people’s dreams from political projects, to hear what one wants to forget, and to listen to the other––this is how the journey begins.
- Year2003
- Runtime85 minutes
- LanguageArabic, Hebrew
- CountryPalestine
- DirectorMichel Khleifi, Eyal Sivan
In the summer of 2002, Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi travel together from the south to the north of their country of birth; they traced their trajectory on a map and called it ROUTE 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1947 to partition Palestine into two states.
As they travel, Khleifi and Sivan meet a multitude of characters, each of which has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbors: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humor, indifference, suspicion, aggression; frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all, in the collective unconscious of both societies.
ROUTE 181: FRAGMENTS OF A JOURNEY IN PALESTINE-ISRAEL is divided into three parts, screening between January and March 2022 as part of the Mizna Film Series.
Please note: this program is available to view ONLY within the United States.
TO THE SOUTH: From Ashdod to Gaza. The first part of ROUTE 181 begins in Ashdod, on the seaside at a construction site. The filmmakers talk to an Israeli foreman as well as Chinese and Palestinian workers and surveyers. Sivan and Khleifi begin their cinematic journey this way, through the southern parts of Palestine-Israel, interviewing a juice seller, a candy seller, an engineer, and a manager, gaining perspectives from Israelis and Palestinians about everyday life. They visit a Kibbutz, they travel to Gaza, and they hear residents understandings of the Zionist project alongside discussions of Palestinians right to return. Their task as filmmakers is to document, to convey what is desired and what is experienced, to distinguish people’s dreams from political projects, to hear what one wants to forget, and to listen to the other––this is how the journey begins.
- Year2003
- Runtime85 minutes
- LanguageArabic, Hebrew
- CountryPalestine
- DirectorMichel Khleifi, Eyal Sivan