| Director's Statement
A couple of years ago, I had very little interest in the events in Israel. I watched the news, said, “Isn’t that terrible.” and changed the channel. Then I read a story that took place in Israel that gave me real people with whom I could connect. Suddenly, I was listening. After meeting Myer Sankary and Deanna Armbruster, who head up the Middle East Peace Network, I wanted to create something that would support their cry for peace. As a filmmaker, the greatest gift that I can give is to create a bridge of understanding to another person’s experience. I wanted to make a film that could help other Americans, like me, connect to the people and their struggle of Israel. Inspired by a personal account in Deanna’s book “Tears from the Holy Land,” Nathan Scoggins, a wonderful writer and friend, and I began a journey to tell the story now called Cries from Ramah: When a bombing in a Tel Aviv cafe takes the lives of both a Palestinian bomber and an Israeli policeman, their two mothers, Rachel and Saher, encounter one another in a police station, neither aware of who the other is, until realization sets in. Most films about this topic are documentaries discussing one aspect or one side of the issue. What’s unique about Cries from Ramah is its focus on the story of mothers– a perspective rarely depicted in news stories. Our ambition is for this film to put human faces on what can become too easily a matter of a statistics. Our hope is that Cries from Ramah will create a chance for people of all faiths to look at these tragedies with compassion. Our goal is for the film to find its home in film festivals, as well as a discussion piece for schools and conferences for the Middle East Peace Network. |
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