Synopsis:
Directed by Bathsheba Ratzkoff and Sut Jhally, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land has been hailed by film critics and media commentators alike as an important and revealing documentary about the...
Directed by Bathsheba Ratzkoff and Sut Jhally, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land has been hailed by film critics and media commentators alike as an important and revealing documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its coverage in the news media. The film, distributed by Arab Film Distribution, will open on Friday, January 28 at Cinema Village in New York City and will play through Thursday, February 3.
The film provides a scathing examination of the American and international news media, which millions of people rely on for information about events occurring around the world. News, especially television news, exerts a powerful influence on our perceptions, telling us which events are important and shaping our understanding of the issues. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict currently dominates American news coverage of international issues. Given the central role played by the United Sates in the Middle East conflict, and thus the vital role played by American voters, it becomes important to examine the stories the news media are telling and to ask the question: Does the news coverage reflect the reality on the ground?
Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land provides a striking comparison on US and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in US coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites-oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others-work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.
Through voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how-through the use of language, framing and context-the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied territories appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that US journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.
"Painstakingly stripping away the myths and inaccuracies regularly passed off as 'truth' by the US media, this film not only reveals the motivations and methods of those responsible for skewing the picture, but also manages to present the most concise and accurate account of the history and implications of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role that the US has played in the continuation of that conflict that I have seen."
--Donna Baillie, Women in Black and director, Secret Hebron: The School Run
"Extraordinarily powerful and courageous."
--Bo Smith, Boston Museum of Fine Arts
"The best, least biased presentation we have of all the issues involved. A must-see documentary."
--Chalmers Johnson, author, Sorrows of Empire
"While I have always understood that the war here is over words and images, as much as it is over land and bones there, the film really enlightened me about the complexity and profundity of this form of colonization of the mind…[It] will clearly be pivotal in this movement and a priceless educational tool."
--Cecilie Surasky, Jewish Voice for Peace
-- © Arab Film Distribution
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