Dr. Muhtaseb's Film Screening at San Diego Arab Film Festival

Sunday, October 29 at 2 p.m.: Official Selection, San Diego Arab Film Festival, AMC Theatre in Mission Valley, San Diego, CA: 

Says Dr. Muhtaseb of the film:

Through riveting and moving personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe reveals the shocking events of the most pivotal year in the most controversial conflict in the world, which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This documentary is ten years in the making.  My co-producer, Andy Trimlett and I worked with a team of researchers, archivists, historian consultants, fixers, camera operators, and translators to tell this story. We wanted to narrate the story of 1948 to an average American audience who know very little or nothing about the conflict. Production took place across seven countries: Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, UK, Canada, and the US. I also did some of my field work in Syria in 2006. We used over 20,000 pages of research, and close to 90 primary interviews with Palestinian refugees, Israeli fighters in 1948, and world-famous historians such as Rashid Khalidi, Ilan Pappe, Benny Morris, Nur Masalha, Charles Smith, and Sharif Kana’neh. We also used archival materials from a wide range of sources, such as the Israeli army, Getty, British Pathe, New York Times, and UN; over 2,000 images in all.

We just released the film and premiered a first release at the Arizona International Film Festival on April 23rd. We also held a successful special screening at the Palestine Center in DC in June and two screenings at “Art Under Siege” Exhibition at the OXO Tower in London in August.  Here is a quote from one of our attendees: 

"To this Holocaust survivor, this 1948 documentary is an important and poignant contribution to a better understanding of painful history. It should open closed minds and help pave the way toward a just peace in Palestine."Marione Ingram, Author of The Hands of War and The Hands of Peace.