Documentary film screening and discussion with the filmmaker, Joel Blasberg.
Thursday, November 19, 20156:30 PM - 8:30 PMRoyce Hall 314
About the Film
"Withdrawal from Gaza" chronicles the events of August 2005, when the Israeli government dictated the removal of 8,500 Israelis from 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, as part of a disengagement process to secure peace with the Palestinians. (At the same time, 4 small settlements on the West Bank were also evacuated). The film focuses on the settlers and the soldiers whose job it was to remove them, and also includes interviews with political and military figures with differing views on the disengagement.
"Featuring extensive footage of the process as well as numerous interviews with those who were displaced, Withdrawal From Gaza details the trauma suffered both by them and the soldiers fulfilling their duties....Focusing on several families (many of whom we also see in flashbacks preparing for the move), it well delineates the physical and emotional turmoil that marked the process on all sides." (Hollywood Reporter, 2006)
"Noteworthy among the documentaries [in the 2006 Israeli Film Festival] is Joel Blasberg’s searing Withdrawal From Gaza, about the planned Israeli withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories that pitted Jewish settlers against leftists committed to returning Israel to its pre-1967 borders. (LA Weekly, 2006)
About the Filmmaker
Writer, producer and director, Joel Blasberg has written and produced television and film for most of the major studios and television networks over a 30-year career. He lives in Los Angeles and is the son of Holocaust survivors. Before coming to Hollywood, he lived in Israel for six years and served in the Israeli Army.
93 minutes, in Hebrew and English, with English subtitles
The Gaza Disengagement: 10 Years After