Where Olive Trees Weep: a Documentary Film Premiere on Palestine

This is a free event. Please RSVP for capacity. Purchasing a ticket to donate is optional, but donations are appreciated to offset our costs and to ensure we can continue offering this important work. We will also be donating to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.

The Fallser Club will show the film Sunday, June 23rd at 4pm.  Below you will also find more information on daily discussions sponsored by the film with 21 different speakers.

After the film, we will have a panel discussion. Details to come. 

You can RSVP on this website or go to https://kinema.com/events/where-olive-trees-weep-mremdg

This is a beautiful, poignant, heartbreaking new film about the struggles and the resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. They follow, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass.  It also features Dr. Gabor Maté as he offers trauma-healing work to Palestinian women tortured in Israeli prisons.

In May 2022 the filmmakers followed Dr. Gabor Maté, a trauma expert and holocaust survivor,  to the occupied West Bank, where he was offering trauma healing work to a group of Palestinian women who were detained—and some tortured—in Israeli prisons. During this journey they filmed what they witnessed and the heartbreaking stories of the people they met. 

Two years later, they are finally ready to premiere the new film Where Olive Trees Weep.  The film will be accompanied by 21 days of conversations on Palestine starting on June 7th.  (https://whereolivetreesweep.com/event/#schedule)

Don’t miss this emotional cinematic journey and the accompanying talks, panels, poetry, and musical performances. Together, we can bear witness to the Palestinian experience, deepen our understanding, and stand in solidarity with those who have endured unimaginable hardship.

Here is a link to the movie trailer:

https://kinema.com/films/where-olive-tres-weep-l3jugg

Participate in the 21 days of conversations on Palestine starting June 7th. See the schedule https://whereolivetreesweep.com/event/#schedule

If you want to get further involved:

The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.  —Toni Cade Bambara

Our vision is to inspire viewers to get involved — or deepen their engagement — in taking action for Palestinian freedom and collective liberation.

We do not know which actions will become a tipping point, or how our collective action may inspire others to get involved. It is in this spirit that we invite you to take action in whichever way you can.

While we share the following ideas, we strongly recommend reaching out to connect with local groups and campaigns toward meaningful conversations and movement building.

1. Donate to support organizations supporting the population of the occupied territories, rebuilding Gaza, working towards human rights and bringing trauma healing work to the region. See the “Support Humanitarian and Peace Organization” section below.
2. Call for Permanent Ceasefire: Contact your elected officials, ask them to  call for a permanent ceasefire and stop sending weapons to Israel. Keep calling — while building community — by joining Power Hours hosted by our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace.
3. Join your local, intersectional solidarity movement. Join street protests, strikes and creative actions. In the US, you can find protests at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, and others. Access tools for protesting from Gaza is Palestine.  
4. Divest from injustice. One of the key aspects of the international movement to help end apartheid in South Africa was to apply economic pressure. Palestinians are calling for similar Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. 
   • Learn about divestment and find local campaigns to join.
   • See a list of companies profiting from the current assault on Gaza.
   • Ask your local college, faith institutions, cities, and pension funds to divest from apartheid. This simple toolkit can help you get started.
   • Ask your community to sign the Apartheid-Free Pledge.
   • Download the Boycat app
5. When it is safe, visit Palestine. Visit the refugee camps, checkpoints, and experience daily life. Go on educational tours. Join solidarity efforts to help Palestinians resist settler attacks and continue their sumud (steadfastness), tending their flocks and olive trees, taking their children to school, and making everyday living an act of resistance. Check organizations such as Eyewitness Palestine, International Solidarity Movement or Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Here is a good tour company led by a local Palestinian. 
6. Practice having hard conversations. Find tips on how to talk with your family and friends, and on how to talk about Palestine in your workplace in this free toolkit, Freedom Within Reach, by the Palestine Feminist Collective (see page 19).
7. Oppose hate speech and violence against Muslim and Jewish communities. Speak up and learn more about how to organize against antisemitism, anti-Arab hate, and anti-Muslim hate. Understand the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Educate yourself on antisemitism with this primer, On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice, and the Unraveling Antisemitism poster and curriculum from Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. Access guides for speaking out against Islamophobia, bullying and bias from CAIR.
8. Continue your learning journey. Study and research everything you can, and share your knowledge. Find out who finances American elected officials.  Join Study & Action for Palestine, an online summer 2024 course for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of Palestinian liberation struggles led by a top group of trainers, hosted by White Awake.
9. Grieve. Mourn and pray together to grieve the lives lost in this genocide. Host a vigil, invoking rituals from your own traditions. Honoring the memories of those killed, you can read out their names, share their stories, or display their photos with candles and tea lights. 
10. Practice gratitude and self-care. We can take care of one another so we can sustain ourselves for the long haul. Find tools for bringing resilience practices into your community and daily practice and keep these reminders nearby. Remember, burn brightly, but don’t burn out! Express your gratitude to leaders who are taking heart and courage and calling for a permanent ceasefire — elected officials, faith leaders, students, artists, humanitarian aid workers, and community voices around the world. Gratitude is the antidote to fear and despair and helps motivate people to continue to act in integrity and with care! And don’t forget to celebrate the mystery and sacredness of life!

SUPPORT HUMANITARIAN AND PEACE ORGANIZATIONS

Parking in East Falls is no problem! There is ample free on-street parking near the East Falls train station driveway at 3610 Midvale Ave and a paid municipal lot three blocks away at 4100 Ridge Ave.  Midvale Ave and Ridge Ave are both well-lit!