NEWS RELEASE
BROCK UNIVERSITY CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S AND GENDER STUDIES/DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
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The acclaimed documentary film Israelism is coming to the Niagara Region.
Israelism, released in 2023, is a groundbreaking account of young Jewish Americans coming to terms with Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. They ultimately reject the claim that support for occupation and war is fundamental to Jewish identity today.
Co-directed by Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, Israelism documents the fervor with which generations of Jews have been indoctrinated with the idea that being Jewish requires unquestioning loyalty to the policies of the Israeli government – and that any questioning of Israel's violent and repressive actions in Palestine is, therefore, antisemitic.
The Niagara showing, held on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre in downtown St. Catharines, will be followed by a virtual conversation with Eilertsen. Admission is free, and a Palestinian buffet will be served. The event will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Israelism has toured hundreds of venues across North America and garnered awards at numerous film festivals including the Arizona International Film Festival, the Big Sky Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and the Chicago Palestine Film Festival.
The film has also drawn ire from the very forces it takes to task. Even before it began touring, opponents launched a disinformation campaign designed to prevent it from being shown. They inundated college and university presidents with accusations that the documentary foments antisemitism – precisely the strategy of silencing that the film itself lays bare.
While Israelism’s adversaries shut down several early showings, their actions have generated widespread condemnation and expanded interest in the film. For example, attempts to stop a showing in Hamilton last year caused considerable outcry, and the theatre allowed the film to go on, to a sold-out crowd of over 300.
“What’s taking place in Gaza is unconscionable,” said Tami J. Friedman, a member of Independent Jewish Voices and the Jewish Faculty Network who is part of the Israelism in Niagara Working Group organizing the St. Catharines event. “Smearing opponents of Israel’s brutality against Palestinians as antisemitic is a deliberate strategy to suppress open dialogue about Israeli policies. This film goes a long way in making sure critical voices can be heard.”
The event is co-sponsored/endorsed by Independent Jewish Voices Hamilton, Jewish Faculty Network, Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel, Silver Spire United Church, Brock University: Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies; Faculty for Palestine; Indigenous Educational Studies; President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity, and Decolonization; Social Justice and Equity Studies MA Program; Social Justice Research Institute.
For more information: [email protected]; https://kinema.com/events/israelism-ot4jeb; https://www.israelismfilm.com
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