Middle East Film Series

Naila and the Uprising
(Julia Bacha, 2017, 76 min, USA, in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, Color, Digital)

-- Q&A to follow with producer Emma Alpert

When an uprising breaks out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 1987, a young woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable real-life journey of Naila Ayesh, a key figure in the First Intifada, which forced the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Using evocative animation, intimate interviews, and exclusive archival footage, this film tells the story the mainstream media missed: of a courageous clandestine women’s movement at the head of Palestinians’ struggle for freedom, bringing out of anonymity the courageous women activists whose contributions and sacrifices changed history, but whose stories have remained untold until now.

"Stories like Naila’s remind us of a third way: one of nonviolent resistance led by self-reliant, democratic, gender-equal communities."  - Sarah Aziza, The Nation

About Emma Alpert:
Emma is the Public Engagement Manager for Just Vision, an organization that highlights the power and reach of Palestinians and Israelis working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity, and equality. She oversees Just Vision's outreach and impact strategy in the US, Palestine and Israel to engage students, educators, faith leaders, policy makers, activists and thought leaders on the issue. Emma is also the impact producer of Just Vision's newest documentary, Naila and the Uprising (2017), which chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh whose story weaves through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history -- the First Intifada.

Sponsored by the Duke University Middle Eastern Studies Center (DUMESC), the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES), and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI).

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