Film Documentary Visit Palestine

r27th July 2007

PRESS RELEASE

Documentary Premiere: Visit Palestine

The Malaysian Social Research Institute (MSRI), the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) and the Global Peace Mission (GPM) will be jointly organizing a Documentary Premiere screening entitled 'Visit Palestine' on Sunday, July 29, 2007, at 9.00 am.

The screening will take place at the Auditorium, Islamic Arts Museum, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur. The Palestinian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, His Excellency Abdel Aziz Aboughosh, has agreed to be present at the occasion and will give a short address on the current situation in Palestine.

This documentary, published by Katie Barlow, is about Caiomhe Butterly, one of the growing numbers of volunteers who risk their own safety to intervene in the long-running and bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine. Several internationals, including her, have now been injured. Some have died.

In this film, she describes witnessing the aftermath of the attack on Jenin in April 2002. The film follows her work, the main emphasis being "the accompaniment of communities at risk". Despite being threatened, shot in the leg and deported later that year, she is determined to go back.

In the interim, she brings her story back to her native Ireland at public meetings, receives a Time Magazine "European Hero Award", and travels to post-war Iraq to visit the Palestinian refugee camps. She arrives back in Jenin, shortly before a young woman from that community, Hanadi Jaradat, blows herself up in a suicide bombing in Haifa.

Activists such as Butterly are usually stereotyped as lunatics, meddlers or saints. This film offers an insight into a brave, honest, determined yet self-critical woman who takes direct action to the limit, with no quest for glory. She also serves as a conduit into the everyday lives of Palestinians, who are also usually presented to the viewer in a one-dimensional way, as fighters or victims, heroes or fanatics. The film gives us a rare chance to see what she calls "the spaces of beauty and joy" created by a people under occupation.

The event is open to the public and the media. We invite you to RSVP and join us for the documentary screening on Sunday, July 29, 2007, 9am – 12 noon at the Auditorium, Islamic Arts Museum, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur. Admission is free. Please call MSRI at 4252-8699 or ABIM at 4256-9822.

Malaysian Social Research Institute (MSRI)
Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM)
Global Peace Mission (GPM)

Update:

Read A Voice's Catatan Ku: Caiomhe Butterly, Anugerah Hero Eropah Majallah Time