Heather Tenzer's "Uprising of the Rabbis" won the Al Jazeera Documentary Grand Prix ($25,11) in the co-production category for best project under development at the second edition of Al Jazeera Documentary Days on Monday evening, September <>.
Syrian director Abdelkader Hobak's "Until the Buzz Stops" won the $15,10 award in the works in progress category from Al Jazeera Documentary, while in the Balkan Stars Award, Hanis Bagushov's "I Don't Want" won the $<>,<> prize from Al Jazeera Balkans.
Intifada of the Rabbis
The grand prize-winning film follows the journey of four Jewish rabbis from the Neturei Karta community and traces what they offer to the Palestinian cause in different countries of the world, and their story of defending Palestinian freedom.
The film also tells the story of its Jewish producer and director, Heather Tenzer, who loved Israel as a child and had the dream of visiting Jerusalem and getting to know the Jewish state up close, but the sheer amount of violence Israel practices against Palestinians prompted her to look for a way to express her rejection of violence and to demand a better life for Palestinians.
Although the director comes from a religious Jewish background, supports Israel and participates in many activities in support of its policies, the film was an attempt to get rid of living in an ideological bubble that accompanied the director for so long of her life that she finally decided to confront and talk about it.
The research then led her to the group "Neturei Karta", which means "guardian of the city" in Aramaic (an ancient Middle Eastern Semitic language), a Jewish movement against Zionism and against the establishment of the State of Israel, to accompany 4 of the movement's rabbis during their conferences or field visits to some countries.
The film begins with a Jewish march in the United States and moves directly to a demonstration against the march, led by religious Jews carrying Palestinian flags and chanting for Palestinian freedom.
The film shows archival scenes of the group's arrival in the besieged Gaza City and their meeting with some Palestinian leaders there, and their demand for a just peace for the Palestinians, based on the idea that these practices are reprehensible in Judaism, which stipulates the prohibition of murder and injustice.
Director Heather Tenzer receives the award from the director of Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Ahmed Mahfouz (Al Jazeera)
Director Heather Tenzer says she would like to tell her story of how she knew about this group and traveled with them to several Arab countries, how they are received by Arab, Muslim and Arab communities, and the communication that such movements create.
The director believes that she now has a greater burden to expose the amount of injustice to which a number of her Jewish compatriots are subjected at the hands of Zionist organizations, in order to demand justice for the Palestinian people. She also believes that this message should reach the Jews first.
The director is seeking $451,175 to complete the film, of which she has raised nearly $<>,<> so far, while continuing to seek funding for the rest through institutions sponsoring filmmakers around the world.
Sixth Gezira Balkan Festival
The sixth Al Jazeera Balkan Documentary Film Festival, organized by Al Jazeera Media Network, concluded in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Tuesday (September 12th).
The cultural and artistic event highlighted human-centered stories in the regions of Southeast Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East, which was reflected through the participation of production companies, satellite broadcasting channels and specialists from various media organizations.
In conjunction with the festival, the second edition of the Al Jazeera Documentary Days was organized, during which a variety of film projects were presented to a jury specialized in the documentary industry to evaluate and provide the necessary support to the films.
Adel Al-Ksiksi, director of Al Jazeera Documentary Days, said, "The event is an opportunity for filmmakers and directors to showcase their ideas and projects and receive support from their colleagues in the documentary industry."
Al Jazeera Documentary Days is a unique opportunity for young filmmakers looking for funding for their projects, with this year's prizes worth $70,20 and cash prizes worth $<>,<> presented by partners and sponsors.
It is not only financial prizes that attract directors and documentary filmmakers, as experiences are shared among the industry in lengthy discussion sessions, in which directors receive the necessary technical guidance and support through a number of long-time directors.
For her part, Maria Sayed, producer of the film "Jana" for Al Jazeera Net expressed her happiness to participate in the festival, and said that "although the filming of our film is nearing completion, the advice and guidance we received from the leaders of the documentary industry during the past three days, was enough to give us a lot of ideas that will help us finish the film directorial and editorially."
Adham Fuchu, President of the Al Jazeera Balkan Documentary Film Festival, said: "This was an exceptional event that we were able to distinguish ourselves from the huge number of different festivals, by attracting the most important decision-makers in various media organizations, we became the best documentary event in the region stretching from Italy to Greece."
On the sidelines of the festival, the digital sector of Al Jazeera Media Network organized an introductory workshop on the new projects that the sector is working on, during which it presented the highlights of the media content that will be available to users of the new platforms, and the possible areas of cooperation and joint work with filmmakers and documentary producers from around the world.