We have a special oppor­tu­nity to view a striking about-to-be-released docu­men­tary on Israeli-Palestinian conflict trans­for­ma­tion, Imagining Peace. At the Alumni Retreat in 2008 we showed an early cut of the film, and even then one partic­i­pant reflected that its honesty and power resem­bled “a full Encounter Program squeezed into a film.” Since then it’s been tight­ened much more — I’m very eager to see the new version and reflect on it, and I hope you can join in.

Please let me know if you’d be inter­ested in an informal gath­ering in NYC on December 7th, about 7:00 to 10:00.

Imagining Peace joins a group of Israeli, Palestinian and Palestinian Israeli teenage girls who partic­i­pated in a women’s lead­er­ship program called Building Bridges for Peace in 2002. The docu­men­tary follows the lives of six of the girls three years after the program, watching as they grow, test their boundary-crossing rela­tion­ships, and struggle with bridging the intense gap between their dialogue expe­ri­ence on one hand and their real lives in society on the other. You can read a short bio of film-maker Lisa Gossels at http://​www​.docu​rama​.com/​f​i​l​m​m​a​k​e​r​d​e​t​a​i​l​.​h​t​m​l​?​f​i​l​m​m​a​k​e​r​i​d​=​103.

When we gather on December 7, we’ll watch the film and discuss how we can use the film (once it’s released) as an educa­tional tool or to open up conver­sa­tions in our commu­ni­ties. We’ll also have a chance to help shape the docu­men­tary by offering feed­back to the film­makers, who will be in their final week of film-editing and told us they’d love feed­back on making the docu­men­tary even tighter. I’m sure this will be a fun and thoughtful evening — please let me know if you’ll be able to make it.