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My So Called Enemy
February 20, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
My So Called Enemy will be screening on Monday, February 20, 7:30, in the Douglass Lounge, Douglass College Center. It will be followed by a discussion with the Director, Lisa Gossels.
My So Called Enemy was directed by filmmaker Lisa Gossels, and has won several awards. Ms. Gossels’ first feature documentary, “Children of Chabannes,” received an Emmy in 2001. “My So Called Enemy” follows six Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls who come together for a program called “Building Bridges for Peace” and then throughout the next 7 years of their lives as they return to their homelands and navigate their feelings, their politics, and their journey to adulthood against the backdrop of the Arab/Israeli conflict.
About the Film:
“In July 2002, 22 Palestinian, Israeli and Palestinian Israeli teenage girls traveled to the United States to participate in a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. “My So-Called Enemy” is the story of six of the girls and how their transformative experience in the program, of knowing their “enemies” as human beings, meets with the realities of their lives at home in the Middle East over the next seven years.”
“While “My So Called Enemy” speaks to the humanity and complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in every frame, it is also a coming of age story that transcends the conflict. It’s about the power of individual narratives to open hearts and minds, challenge long-held pre-conceptions, and create the space for dialogue, with the goal of creating more just societies here and abroad.”
2010 Hamptons International Film Festival
Winner, Jury Prize for Best Conflict & Resolution Film
2010 Starz Denver Film Festival
Winner, Special Jury Prize in Filmmaking
2010 Boston Jewish Film Festival
Winner, Audience Award, Best Feature Documentary Film
2011 Newport Beach Film Festival
Winner, Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary Film
Winner, MacGillivray Freeman Films Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking (feature)
2011 CINE Golden Eagle
Winner, CINE Golden Eagle, Documentary Feature
about the Filmmakers:
Lisa Gossels, Director/Producer/Editor
Lisa Gossels’ first feature documentary, “The Children of Chabannes,” made with Dean Wetherell, won an Emmy Award in 2001, 10 film festival awards, had a limited theatrical release, aired on HBO Signature, local PBS stations and is now distributed by Docurama. “The Children of Chabannes” has been praised as “One of the most heartening Holocaust films ever made-splendid, informative and emotionally involving,” (Los Angeles Times) and called “a seamless memoir of courage and a tribute to the human spirit” (New York Daily News). Stanley Kauffmann wrote in The New Republic, “It’s not about the mystery of evil, but about an equally important subject: the mystery of good.” Lisa started making “My So-Called Enemy,” her second feature documentary, in 2002. Beyond her documentary work, Lisa produces and directs educational and promotional films for corporate and non-profit clients through her New York City-based company, Good Egg Productions, Inc. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.
Eden Wurmfeld, Producer
Eden Wurmfeld is a producer of fiction and documentary films. Her award-winning credits include the fiction films, “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Swingers” and the feature documentary, “Sunset Story.” She is currently producing “Habeas on the Gate,” a feature film about the unlikely friendship between a Park Avenue lawyer and a Guantanamo detainee. Eden just produced “No Impact Man,” a feature documentary about a man and his family who struggle to spend a year living in the heart of New York City while having no net impact on the environment. “No Impact Man” premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is being released theatrically by Oscilloscope. Named by Variety as one of “10 Producers to Watch for 2002,” Eden was a finalist for the 2003 Indie Spirit Motorola Producer’s Award.