In 2004, during the height of the intifada, students from the Aviv High School in Raanana and the Al Sadiya High School in Qalqilya created an animated movie on the subject of peace. The movie, entitled “Pace of Peace”, was the fruit of a project initiated and sponsored by the Municipality of Rome’s Office for Peace in Jerusalem and the I Castelli Animati film festival, with the active cooperation and support of the Municipalities of Raanana and Qalqilya.
The movie won the “Culture of Dialogue” award at the Venice Film Festival in September 2004 - its first public screening. At the prestigious international animated movie festival “I Castelli Animati” held in December 2004 in Genzo di Roma, the film was screened in the presence of the students and teachers who participated in the project, the then Mayor of Raanana, Mr. Zeev Bielski and the then Mayor of Qalqilya, Mr. Marouf Zahran.
Background
The original idea for the project was raised at a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian mayors in Rome in November 2002, sponsored by the Peres Peace Center. The project – to jointly create a short animated movie with a working title “My country in a world of peace” – was initiated and co-sponsored by “I Castelli Animati” and Rome Municipality’s Office for Peace in Jerusalem.
“My colleague Mayor Marouf Zahran from Qalqilya and I immediately accepted the challenge, as we both recognize the importance of bringing together youth from our two cities to share common experiences and work towards a better mutual understanding,” noted the Mayor of Raanana, Mr. Zeev Bielski. “I am grateful to Rome’s Mayor Veltroni and to our good friends at “I Castelli Animati” for their vision and generosity in sponsoring this innovative and exciting project, which we hope will spread a message of peace to the younger generation in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
Creating the movie
In order to bring the eight 10th and 11th graders from each school together, they were flown to Rome, where they were hosted at a week long animation workshop in February 2004. During the workshop, the students developed the storyline and characters for the movie under the expert guidance of animation professionals such as Luca Rafaelli, Artistic Director of the “I Castelli Animati” film festival, Attilio Valenti and former Oscar-nominees Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati. All the professionals involved in the making of the movie donated their time.
They developed a mutually-agreed story line in which an Israeli boy and a Palestinian boy, shown simultaneously in their respective sides of town, step out of their homes into a war zone before the house behind them is destroyed. Fleeing toward a tall wall, each looks up to the sun and asks, "Why?"
A clumsy, warmhearted camel makes his way toward them on the wall and bends down, inviting each to step up. The two boys meet atop the so-called super camel, which takes the kids on journeys through scenes of terrorism and war, while transforming each scene into one of joy and peace. In the fable, soldiers turn their weapons into plant holders and a terrorist is hiding nothing more under his coat than a flock of doves.
After some difficult beginnings, due in part to language barriers and in part to the sensitive nature of the project, the students worked together and enjoyed social activities arranged by their hosts.
The development and production of the film was completed by animation professionals, in consultation with the students. The accompanying sound track was created and performed by Israeli singer Ahinoam Nini (Noa) and Palestinian singer Rim Banna, who also donated their services.
A 40 minute film, that documents the creative process and the relationship between the two groups, was also made for screening alongside the animated movie.
2005 and beyond
Since the change of municipal government in Qalqilya in 2005, the elected Mayor of the city, a representative of Hamas, is no longer willing to continue cooperative projects of this nature with Raanana. It is hoped that this situation will change and/or that another partner can be found with whom similar creative projects that bring together students from both sides can be initiated.
Further information or copies of the DVD can be obtained from:
Lydia Weitzman
International Relations Coordinator
Municipality of Raanana
Lydiaw@raanana.muni.il
972 9 7610319