Mizna Film Series

Route 181: Fragments of A Journey in Palestine-Israel, “Part 3: The North,” “Part 2: The Center” & “Part 1: The South”

Expired March 28, 2022 4:59 AM
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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 NORTH: From the city of Rosh HaAyin to the Lebanese border. In Rosh HaAyin, on the ruins of Majdal Sadek, a Jewish Yemenite jogger runs with his dog, and when approached by the filmmakers, he completely denies any destruction of Palestinian villages in 1948. In the North, Khleifi and Sivan drive on a brand new highway, alongside the new separation wall built to physically separate Palestinians and Israelis. Traveling through new settlements and the ruins of old villages, the filmmakers continue to interview residents with various ideologies and lives, examining the violence and mundane reality of settler colonialism. In this final section, the film ends on the border with Lebanon, gesturing toward the impact that 1947’s Resolution 181 has had on that country.

  • Year
    2003
  • Runtime
    85 minutes
  • Language
    Arabic, Hebrew
  • Country
    Palestine
  • Director
    Michel Khleifi, Eyal Sivan