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Jen Marlowe is a Seattle-based award-winning author/documentary filmmaker/playwright and human rights activist. Jen lived and worked in Jerusalem from 2000-2004, engaging in dialogue-based conflict resolution with Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. Jen also did conflict resolution work with youth in Afghanistan, Cyprus, India, Pakistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was while working with youth in conflict areas that she first picked up a video camera—at that time, in order to record messages being exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian youth. As the youth themselves pushed the video dialogue project to more complex realms, Jen began to explore the idea of how film can be used, not only as a tool of dialogue, but also as a tool of activism. In 2004, with colleagues Adam Shapiro and Aisha Bain, Jen traveled to Northern Darfur and Eastern Chad to make the award-winning documentary film Darfur Diaries: Message from Home and wrote the accompanying book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival (Nation Books, 2006). Jen’s second feature-length award-winning documentary is called Rebuilding Hope: Sudan's Lost Boys Return Home. Jen’s second book, called The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker (Nation Books, 2011), is co-authored with and tells the story of Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian man who spent ten years in Israeli prison for being involved in militant anti-occupation activities as a youth and who has spent the last two decades of his life working towards nonviolence and peaceful reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Jen is the playwright of There is a Field, which addresses issues faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel. Jen has been the recipient of grants, residencies and fellowships from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Nation Institute Investigative Fund, the Dorot Foundation, Seattle's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Hedgebrook, and the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice.
Ya’Ke Smith, known for his unflinching and veracious style of storytelling, is a rising voice in independent cinema. His films have received world-wide acclaim, screening and winning awards at over 100 film festivals. The Director’s Guild of America, the Student Academy Awards, HBO, have Showtime have honored him. His short, "Katrina’s Son," screened at over 40-film festivals and won 14 awards. The film was also eligible for the 2012 Academy Award in short filmmaking. His debut feature, "WOLF", which NPR called “an impressive piece by a young director,” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and has gone on to screen and win awards at festivals across North America. Currently Ya'Ke has three projects on the film festival circuit, "Brother," which won top honors at the Alternative Fiction Film Festival, Curators Choice at the Walla Walla Film Crush, and Best Texas Short at the Deep in the Heart Film Festival, "Edwin," which screened as part of the PBS Online Film Festival and “The Pandemic Chronicles,” which has won top honors at several film festivals and will be distributed by Full Spectrum Features. Ya’Ke has been featured on NPR, CNN, HLN, Ebony Online, Indiewire, Filmmaker Magazine and Shadow&Act. Ya’Ke graduated with his B.A. from the Communication Arts Department at the University of The Incarnate Word and received his M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin’s film program, where he is currently an Associate Professor of film and the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Moody College of Communication. Variety magazine named him one of the best film educators in the world.
Wafic Faour was born a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. He came to the US to study at Northeastern University. Wafic is a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and is active with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, Migrant Justice and Richmond Racial Equity. He is also a member of the Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools.
Moderator: Desirée Garcia is an interdisciplinary humanities scholar, trained in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Film and Media Studies. Her areas of specialization include the musical film and race and ethnicity in American culture. Her publications range from monographs to scholarly journal articles and online essays about musicals and mediated representations of immigrants, race, and ethnicity. She has also produced historical documentaries for American Experience/PBS, including Zoot Suit Riots (2002) and Remember the Alamo (2004).
- Runtime60 minutes
Jen Marlowe is a Seattle-based award-winning author/documentary filmmaker/playwright and human rights activist. Jen lived and worked in Jerusalem from 2000-2004, engaging in dialogue-based conflict resolution with Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. Jen also did conflict resolution work with youth in Afghanistan, Cyprus, India, Pakistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was while working with youth in conflict areas that she first picked up a video camera—at that time, in order to record messages being exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian youth. As the youth themselves pushed the video dialogue project to more complex realms, Jen began to explore the idea of how film can be used, not only as a tool of dialogue, but also as a tool of activism. In 2004, with colleagues Adam Shapiro and Aisha Bain, Jen traveled to Northern Darfur and Eastern Chad to make the award-winning documentary film Darfur Diaries: Message from Home and wrote the accompanying book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival (Nation Books, 2006). Jen’s second feature-length award-winning documentary is called Rebuilding Hope: Sudan's Lost Boys Return Home. Jen’s second book, called The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker (Nation Books, 2011), is co-authored with and tells the story of Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian man who spent ten years in Israeli prison for being involved in militant anti-occupation activities as a youth and who has spent the last two decades of his life working towards nonviolence and peaceful reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Jen is the playwright of There is a Field, which addresses issues faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel. Jen has been the recipient of grants, residencies and fellowships from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Nation Institute Investigative Fund, the Dorot Foundation, Seattle's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Hedgebrook, and the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice.
Ya’Ke Smith, known for his unflinching and veracious style of storytelling, is a rising voice in independent cinema. His films have received world-wide acclaim, screening and winning awards at over 100 film festivals. The Director’s Guild of America, the Student Academy Awards, HBO, have Showtime have honored him. His short, "Katrina’s Son," screened at over 40-film festivals and won 14 awards. The film was also eligible for the 2012 Academy Award in short filmmaking. His debut feature, "WOLF", which NPR called “an impressive piece by a young director,” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and has gone on to screen and win awards at festivals across North America. Currently Ya'Ke has three projects on the film festival circuit, "Brother," which won top honors at the Alternative Fiction Film Festival, Curators Choice at the Walla Walla Film Crush, and Best Texas Short at the Deep in the Heart Film Festival, "Edwin," which screened as part of the PBS Online Film Festival and “The Pandemic Chronicles,” which has won top honors at several film festivals and will be distributed by Full Spectrum Features. Ya’Ke has been featured on NPR, CNN, HLN, Ebony Online, Indiewire, Filmmaker Magazine and Shadow&Act. Ya’Ke graduated with his B.A. from the Communication Arts Department at the University of The Incarnate Word and received his M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin’s film program, where he is currently an Associate Professor of film and the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Moody College of Communication. Variety magazine named him one of the best film educators in the world.
Wafic Faour was born a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. He came to the US to study at Northeastern University. Wafic is a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and is active with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, Migrant Justice and Richmond Racial Equity. He is also a member of the Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools.
Moderator: Desirée Garcia is an interdisciplinary humanities scholar, trained in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Film and Media Studies. Her areas of specialization include the musical film and race and ethnicity in American culture. Her publications range from monographs to scholarly journal articles and online essays about musicals and mediated representations of immigrants, race, and ethnicity. She has also produced historical documentaries for American Experience/PBS, including Zoot Suit Riots (2002) and Remember the Alamo (2004).
- Runtime60 minutes
