A new film series in Lake Placid will present Palestine beyond the headlines

Mar. 15—LAKE PLACID — A volunteer group of High Peaks-area residents will host a free film series, "Plants, People, and Apartheid: A Film Series for Palestine," at St. Eustace Church in Lake Placid on Tuesday evenings this Spring.

Meet Palestinian farmers, foragers, and kite-flyers in this independent documentary series. Through an environmental and artistic lens, this three-part screening will feature award-winning films exploring Palestinian society and history under apartheid.

Gather on Tuesday evenings in April and May to learn, engage, and connect with others interested in knowing Palestine beyond the headlines.

St. Eustace Episcopal Church is located at 2450 Main St, Lake Placid. Parking is available in the lot off of Hayes Street, with additional parking on Main Street.

SYNOPSIS OF FILMS — Tuesday, April 9, 6:30 p.m. "My Tree" (2021, 104 min). Jewish Canadian filmmaker Jason Sherman sets out to find the tree that was long ago planted in his name in Israel. When he discovers that the tree stands on the remains of a Palestinian village that was destroyed in 1967, he embarks on another journey — to determine his responsibility in helping to cover up the destruction. — Tuesday, April 23, 6:30 p.m. "Flying Paper" (2013, 51 min). The uplifting story of resilient Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown. "The film offers a rare glimpse into the humanity of Gaza, showing a story rooted in the simple desire of local kids obsessed with seeing their creations take flight and fill the sky" — The Times of Israel — Tuesday, May 7, 6:30 p.m. "Foragers" (2022, 64 min)Directed by Jumana Manna, "Foragers" depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humor and a meditative pace. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it employs fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. Subject to change, due to availability.

GAZA FAMILIES IN NEED

Organized by attendees of PS: Letters for a Ceasefire and the High Peaks DSA, this series will raise money for three Palestinian families working to evacuate from Gaza. Attendance is free, but donations are strongly encouraged. One-hundred percent of donations collected at these film screenings will support three families attempting to evacuate from and survive day-to-day in Gaza as they work to access visas, travel fare, food, and other necessary supplies. Organizers of this event have personal connections involved with each of these campaigns. — Ayman's Family — Read the GoFundMe: Gaza Evacuation: Help Get Aymans Family to Canada — The Labeeb Family — Read the GoFundMe: Urgent: Help Labeeb family to evacuate from Gaza — The Ramlawi Family — Read the GoFundMe: Evacuate The Ramlawi Family From Gaza

"The film series came out of this Letters for a Ceasefire writing group," Tyler Barton, a letter writer, said.

"We've had dozens of people join us each week, and during those meetups people are writing and we're talking about the issues. But, there has also been questions about what else can we do. One thing that came up during these meetings was that people don't have language for how to talk about this stuff, especially people who haven't been paying attention for a long time and are interested to learn about the conflict there. So we were thinking of ways to kind of educate and get people more comfortable talking about this issue and also just to educate people."

BACKSTORY

At the start of 2024, a group of concerned residents of towns across the Adirondacks began gathering weekly at 15 Broadway, Saranac Lake to write and send postcards, letters, and poems to U.S. elected officials urging them to support a ceasefire in Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

"Over winter break around the holidays last year, my wife and I were talking about ways that we could voice our disapproval for what we saw happening in Gaza, in the killing of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure and things like that," Barton said.

"We just felt like we were seeing was a lot and we were thinking about ways to have our voices heard. We had been calling our representatives from time to time and getting the voicemail and just leaving a message. But we figured we would try to get other people who cared about this issue in the area together to write together.

"We write physical letters and mail postcards, poems and things like that and send them to our elected representatives at the state, federal and sometimes the local level as well, expressing lots of different things that at the base was just that we want to see a ceasefire and we know that the U.S. has leverage to try and convince Israel to pursue that option instead of pursuing all out war as a way to get hostages back and stuff. So, it's a community effort."

The group has met every Monday since the new year at the Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW).

"Though it's not an official ACW event," Barton said.

"Like a lot of things that happen at ACW, it's a private group that meets there in the evenings to do some writing-based activities. We get together every Monday, provide news about what is going on in the region, and news about what the political landscape looks like in America around things and anything that has moved. We write to our reps to make sure our voices are heard. We've been doing that since the start of the year."

The weekly effort—PS: Letter Writing for Ceasefire— takes place Mondays, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at 15 Broadway, Saranac Lake. All supplies are provided and all ages are welcome.

CONTACT INFO

Keep up to date about the series by following the series Instagram (@adkpalfilm) or via the Facebook Event pages.

A registration form for all three films (registrants can select which they plan to attend) can be found here: https://forms.gle/vEVXZP912VB2Mn7T9

4/9 — "My Tree" — Facebook Event

4/23 — "Flying Paper" — Facebook Event

5/7 — "Foragers" — Facebook Event

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell