Territories

A contemplation of occupation, exploitation, documentation and the role of the photographer and his art

Mary Ellen Davis / Canada / 2007 / 64 min

A giant in the world of documentary photography, Larry Towell has garnered several top-level honors, including the 2005 Priz Nadar and the first Henri Cartier-Bresson Award. This program follows Towell as he uses his camera to confront foreboding landscapes and shed light on struggling communities—drawing parallels between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. Towell also reflects on the creative process, offers insight into the photojournalist’s trade, and describes his experiences as an eyewitness to the 9/11 attack on New York City. His thoughtful commentary accompanies numerous examples of his work.

Filmed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank and East-Jerusalem), at the border between Mexico and the United States (States of California and Baja California), New York and Southern Ontario in Canada.

TERRITORIES will be preceded by the short - A DAY IN PALESTINE

A DAY IN PALESTINE
Mary Ellen Davis /2007 /Canada /6 minutes

SYNOPSIS: Deceptively beautiful, this Super-8 Kodachrome collection of vignettes of everyday life for Palestinians under occupation has a dreamlike quality, but the reality is anything but. A man picks olives against an azure sky. Grandmothers plead with expressionless soldiers as excavators wait on the hills behind them. Children and the elderly struggle to climb the brutal concrete wall that divides their homes, schools, mosques and workplaces as the film builds to a powerful indictment against oppression.

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