Promises A Film That Provides An Extraordinary Window Into The Minds and Hearts of Jerusalem's Children. "Looking through the eyes of seven Israeli and Palestinian children living in and around Jerusalem, PROMISES provides deeply humanistic insight into the complexities of the Middle East conflict that political analysis or front-line news coverage often lacks." - David Rooney, Daily Variety Photo by Meagan Shapiro PROMISES is a compelling and humorous look at the Middle East conflict through the eyes of seven children growing up in Jerusalem, living only 20 minutes apart but locked in separate worlds. PROMISES explores the boundaries that lie between Palestinian and Israeli children, and a few who dared to cross the lines to meet their neighbors. Between 1997 and the summer of 2000, three filmmakers went to Jerusalem to ask children what they thought about war and peace in the Middle East. The result, a riveting documentary called PROMISES, is a prescient account of the bitter and historically complex struggle from the point of view of those who will inherit it. The film does not focus on news and current events, rather, the children’s detailed and intimate accounts offer personal, emotional, and sometimes hilarious insight into their experiences. Justine Shapiro, B.Z. Goldberg and Carlos Bolado's PROMISES will premiere on December 13, 2001 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) as part of the 2001 season of P.O.V., public television's groundbreaking showcase of independent, non-fiction films. Goldberg, returning to Jerusalem where he spent his youth, talks with children on both sides of the checkpoints that divide the area. Some of the seven Israeli and Palestinian children the film focuses on reside only minutes away from one another, but are nevertheless worlds apart. Ten-year-old Moishe is the son of a settler family and dreams of being Israel's first "religious" prime minister. Eleven-year-old Mahmoud lives in Jerusalem’s Old City, which allows him access denied other Palestinians. He prays for the liberation of Palestine at one of Islam's holiest shrines, the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the fiercely disputed ‘Temple Mount’ or ‘Haram Al-Sharif’. Just below the mosque, 13-year-old rabbi-in-training Shlomo prays at Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall. The Israeli twins, Yarko and Daniel, come from a secular Israeli family. Their Holocaust-survivor grandfather is a link to the generation that founded the modern state of Israel. Not fifteen minutes by car from the twins, Faraj lives in the Deheishe refugee camp with his grandmother, who still treasures the key to her house that was destroyed in the 1948 war that established the state of Israel. Sanabel is also a refugee; the assertive daughter of liberal secular Palestinians, whose journalist father was held in an Israeli jail without trial for two years. At first, the children repeat the ingrained attitudes of their elders, though with the surprising candor and insight that young people often bring to descriptions of adult affairs. As in the adult world, the children's thinking — and their hopes for a more peaceful future — seem to be at an impasse. Then the story takes a surprising turn when the twins and Faraj, who have shown growing curiosity about each other, decide to cross the checkpoints to meet in person. The encounters that follow offer an extraordinary demonstration of the human dimensions of the Middle East conflict, and of the weight of history on a young generation struggling to see a way forward. "When I was covering the first Intifada in 1988 as a journalist, I was stunned the first time I saw Palestinian children playing the 'Intifada game', " says co-director/producer Goldberg. "Some would play 'Israeli soldiers' and others 'Palestinian protestors,' and they would re-enact the whole thing - stone throwing, arrests, beatings. That planted a seed to make a film about the kids on both sides." Co-director/producer Shapiro adds, "My deepest motivation for making this film was I wanted so much to convey to an audience that "Palestinian" does not equal "terrorist" and "Israeli" does not equal "soldier" and the people living in Israel and the Palestinian Territories are not monsters. The children in PROMISES wake us up. They are candid, articulate and funny, and it is through them that we discover a deeper, more dimensional view of both Palestinians and Israelis." PROMISES received the Audience Award at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival, the first time in the festival's 30-year history that a documentary has received the audience award. PROMISES also won the Grand Prize, the Audience Award and the Golden Gate Award for Best Feature Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival; The Festival Prize at the Jerusalem International Film Festival; The Freedom of Expression Award at the Munich International Film Festival and the Special Ecumenical Jury Award at the Locarno International Film Festival. This P.O.V. documentary premieres on December 13, 2001 ON PBS. Check your local listings for times. About The Filmmakers JUSTINE SHAPIRO - Director/Producer Justine Shapiro was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California. She has been hosting and co-writing the award-winning adventure-travel series, Lonely Planet, since its inception in 1994. The series is broadcast to a global audience of 35 million (Discovery Channel; Channel 4 UK, etc). She was an actress for 15 years in theater, film and television. Traveling the world with Lonely Planet inspired Justine to turn to non-fiction filmmaking. PROMISES is her first feature-length film. B.Z. GOLDBERG - Director/Producer Born in Boston, B.Z. Goldberg grew up just outside of Jerusalem. He returned to the United States to study filmmaking at New York University. In 1987, during the "first" Intifada Goldberg returned to Israel as a producer and soundman for several international news organizations, including Reuters and the BBC. From 1992 to 1998 Goldberg worked internationally as a consultant in conflict resolution. PROMISES is his first feature-length film. CARLOS BOLADO - Co-director/Editor Carlos Bolado's debut 1999 feature, BAJO CALIFORNIA, has played and earned awards at film festivals worldwide. Bolado has also been widely recognized for his work as an editor on such films as LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE and LIKE A BRIDE. A native of Mexico, Bolado studied sociology at the National University, and cinema at the University for Film Studies, in Mexico City. This website: Copyright © 2000, 2001 Studio Q Int'l Inc / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or the previous publisher of original republished materials.