The Little will screen Gaza in Context (20 min.), and Gaza Fixer: A Chronicle of Survival (George Azar, Raed Atharmneh, 58 min.)

Two years after the onslaught on Gaza that killed over 2,200 people, a group of activists, academics, and artists have produced a new teaching video that aims at shifting the western narrative of the conflict. Gaza in Context, narrated by Noura Erakat, points out the historic roots of the conflict: for 70 years Israel has sought as much Palestinian land with as few Palestinians on it as possible, and the peace process has only served as a cover for this project. Erakat uses simple descriptions to convey the reality, that Israel now seeks to accustom Palestinians to "domination as a way of life— an unfathomable possibility to all humans, whose first instinct is to be free."

Raed Atharmneh is a six-time war survivor, patriarch, and trusted news fixer to foreign reporters covering Gaza. In 2006 he became part of the story when eighteen members of his family were killed by an Israeli bomb. As he gives aid workers and journalists tours, he is the one who actually talks to the people, and translates the story of their fate to the foreigners eagerly recoding, writing, filming, the tragedy that Gaza has become. His colleague, photojournalist George Azar, has witnessed Gaza's trauma in extreme close-up and through his observational filming of Raed himself, as well as over nine years of friendship. He captures the defining moments of Raed's life – destruction, endurance, humour and unimaginable loss – with remarkable intimacy.

[source: Little Theatre website, 2017-Sep-14]