The Cultural Programs presents
A Special Sneak Preview of
“Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine”
by and with
Connie Field
Director
Saturday, 9 November 2013
6:30 – 8:30 p.m. EST
The Jerusalem Fund
An African American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King which tours the West Bank preaching nonviolence. The choir is apprehensive about working with Palestinians whose American media image is that of angry, violent terrorists. For the Palestinian actors, Americans are unconditional supporters of their occupiers. It is a personal and cultural exchange where, over the course of the journey, their ideas about each other are radically transformed.Happy to finally visit the Holy Land, the choir witnesses life in the occupied territories, performs in a unique theater inside a refugee camp run by Juliano Mer-Khamis using art as an alternative to violence, and meets Fadi Quran, a young leader of a nonviolent movement for justice. At the end of their tour reality will astonishingly mirror the play on MLK, a man who died for his beliefs. On the very day of the anniversary of MLK’s murder, Juliano Mer-Khamis is assassinated, sending shock-waves throughout the country and the world. The next day at the final night of the play, the actors perform in the aftermath of his death, articulating their lines with a new and heartrending immediacy. As the choir leaves, King’s legacy lives on, as Fadi Quran and other young Palestinians board ‘settler only’ buses in an act of civil disobedience.
About the Director
Emmy winning and Academy Award nominated Filmmaker Connie Field has made a number of high profile documentaries that have been shown all over the world. Some of her previous work includes Have You Heard From Johannesburg a seven part series on the global movement that ended Apartheid in South Africa received a prime time Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking among other awards; The Academy Award Nominated Freedom on My Mind a history of the civil rights movement in Mississippi; and the feminist classic The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter. She has won numerous awards including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, British Academy Award Nominee, Best Series, and Best Feature Documentary from numerous festivals, as well as having her films listed as the ‘Best Doc of the Year’ or ‘One of the Ten Best Films of the Year’ by a number of film critics. Her work has been broadcast in over 30 countries including Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, BBC World, and in the US. Her work has been supported by The Ford Foundation and The National Endowment for the Humanities.
