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“I really hope people realize although this is a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they can see how it relates to their own lives and resolving conflicts here at home,” said Kristie Hale, director of Wright Library. “Wright Library’s mission is to encourage learning and intellectual growth,” she said.
Combatants for Peace is made up of former fighters in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict who decided to lay down their weapons and try to understand each other’s side of the conflict.
The film will be screened Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in UD’s Sears Recital Hall in the Jesse Phillips Humanities Center. After the film there will be a question and answer session with director and producer Stephen Apkon and co-producer Marcina Hale, Kristie Hale’s sister-in-law and an Ashtabula native. Kristie and Marcina’s relationship is part of the reason Wright Library is hosting the screening.
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The film is open to all.
“If Jewish and Palestinian people can come together, maybe you can too,” Kristie Hale said. “Even if it’s just with someone who voted differently than you.”
The library has tried before to address public conflict.
After the 2016 presidential election, the library developed a “post-election” podcast where people on opposite sides talked about how they voted and why, to try to help people to see different perspectives.
“Everyone was hurting after the election, no matter who they supported,” Kristie Hale said of their efforts to bring people together, similar to what they are doing with Peace Week.
Before the film on Feb. 2 and 3, there will be a youth art event at the library where children and teens can make sculptures from air-dry clay.
“We will really be listening during these events to see what the community wants to do next,” said Tracy Staley, community engagement specialist for Wright Library.
There will be an experiential and participatory workshop on Feb. 11 at the library where the filmmakers will talk about how to apply the themes of the movie to participants’ lives.
Registration for the three-hour “conflict transformation” workshop opens on Jan. 12.
“The workshop is an invitation to engage in a more thoughtful way,” Apkon said.
Marcina Hale added: “The workshop is a way to see things in your own life from different perspectives. There’s a saying, ‘if you were born where they were born and taught what they were taught, you’d believe what they believe,’ and I think that gets to the core of the workshop and movie.”
“Disturbing the Peace” was developed and produced by Reconsider, a nonprofit media production and workshop organization.
Marcina Hale said by hosting the screening and workshop, the library is initiating a community event to start important conversations.
“It’s a challenging film for many and that’s why it is important,” Marcina Hale said.
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