Presentation on filming my film Valleys of Hope and Despair about Wadi Fukin, a small Palestinian village.

1. Valleys of Hope and Despair; peace
building through independent
environmental documentaries
By Joshka Wessels
Lund University
Sweden

2. Ecological Peacebuilding:
environment, democracy and peace.
• The environmental roots to armed conflicts
• Theories of ecological peace-building, peace with
peaceful means
• Environmental politics/political ecology.
• Impact of occupation on nature.
• Environmentalism in religion; the Divineness of
Nature
• Holistic approach to peacemaking; there are no
war heros, only peace heros

3. Wadi Fukin,
shedding a tear for human & nature
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Area C
600 year old terraces, UNESCO designated
Colonisation
Land confiscation
Settler violence and harassment
Marginalisation of agricultural production
Pollution and drying up of Palestinian springs
Sewage spill-over
Peace building despite everything

4. Research and development
• A passion for water, nature & film
• EU-Meda Water film project “Save local, Solve
gobal”
• Development “From The Source” media
initiative & blog with personal investment
• Inception tour June 2009 (Jordan, Palestine,
Israel)

7. Challenges of production and
development
• Interviews, filming with Palestinian Water
Authority, researchers
• Interviews, filming with Israeli
environmentalists, researchers
• Cooperation with FoEME, initial idea of “Share
the Drop”

8. Challenges of production and
development
• Traveling through Ben Gurion Airport or the
Allenby Bridge
• On-going FoEME environmental project “Good
Water Neighbours”
• Visit of the Elders to Wadi Fukin and Tsur
Hadassah
• Pitching “Share The Drop” in Europe
• Being a Western Dutch female filmmaker;
gender, expectations and perception.

9. Challenges of production and
development
• Under reported issues of environment and
water, lack of production funding
• Pitching water stories to Television trust for
the Environment, Al Jazeera English (UK)
• Putting together a Dutch-Israeli-Palestinian
crew
• Connecting with people of Wadi Fukin and
Tsur Hadassah
• Entering Bitar Illit

16. Worldwide broadcast, screenings and
audience feedback
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November 2010 TX Al Jazeera English
Repeats throughout 2011
Director’s cut in 2011
Screenings in Environmental filmfestivals, The
Netherlands, Sweden, the UK
• Crowdfunding for community tour with
Palestinians Mobile Cinema Association

17. Challenges and a community tour in
Occupied Territories

18. Challenges and a community tour in
Occupied Territories

19. Challenges and a community tour in
Occupied Territories

20. Realities of conflict, recognitions, fear
and mistrust
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Recognising trauma
Suspicion towards the other
Problems working with settlers, collaboration
Anti-normalisation sentiments
Blind spots for our common humanity
Cycle of violence towards Self
Hydrological and ecological cycles of Life

22. Conclusion
• Daily confrontation with occupation &
increasing settler violence, suffocation
• One-staters vs. two-staters (Palestine-Israel)
• Anti-normalisation and Arabophobia
• Peace industry or peace of mind
• Suspicion, traumatic stress and reconciliation
• Inter-connectedness, the hydrological cycle
• Common humanity and the environment