DISTURBING THE PEACE: New Film Reveals Hope for Israel/Palestine

Born into conflict, generations of Israeli and Palestinians have taken up arms against each other. But a new film reveals an incredible story of peace-building from the region. Disturbing the Peace follows former enemy combatants: Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who have joined together to say “enough”.

They formed the bi-partisan group Combatants for Peace, and the film reveals their inspirational journey.

Disturbing the Peace, a film by Reconsider, has already won awards, and acclaim at its New York screening. A Los Angeles premier is set for later this week.

Director and Producer Stephen Apkon said the film is different to most Hollywood cinema because it doesn’t follow a traditional good guy/bad guy plot line.

“We like to see our lives in the way we see our movies, which is to clearly identify who’s the hero and who is the villain,” Mr Apkon told Peace News.

“The challenge of this movie was to make a movie in which there is no ‘villain’ if you will. If there were to be a ‘bad guy’ it would be the narrative itself that we get stuck in.”

Mr Apkon said the messages in the film have resonated with a far wider audience than just in the MENA region.

“You don’t have to look very far to realise we are living in an increasingly polarised world,” he said.

“What happens in that polarisation is the way we look to balance it, is the further somebody goes out on the extreme the further we go out on the opposite extreme. And we end hate with hate, conflict with conflict,” he said.

“What we’re talking about is how do we move toward each other? How do we hold multiple narratives at one time? By doing that with respect and honour for each of those experiences it allows for new narratives to emerge.”

For an EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW of the film click here.