Playing is a video that features both Israeli people and Palestinian people discussing the ongoing conflict between the two groups, a conflict that goes back more than 100 years.
“Voices From Israel/Palestine,” was created entirely by Talia Weisz, a graduate student at Ohio State pursuing her Master of Arts degree in comparative studies.
Weisz began shooting the project about a year ago. The film strictly features interviews with Israelis and Palestinians, filmed both in Columbus and in the Middle East, where Weisz spent time.
“I met a huge variety of people. I met people living under vastly different circumstances providing vastly different perspectives on the conflict,” she said.
Weisz says that she interviewed around 60 people before getting her final product together.
“I was looking for people who can tell compelling stories,” Weisz said. “Who can convey sort of a slice of their lives through narrative.”
Weisz, growing up in Canada, was raised Jewish and grew up in a home where she was only exposed to one side of the conflict.
“I am not really interested in making any kind of political statement, making any kind of claims on about who’s right and who’s wrong,” she said. “But I’m interested in exposing people to stories that they might not have heard before.”
After completing the project, Weisz now feels she has a better global understanding.
“It’s very common to talk about this conflict being between two sides,” Weisz said. “It’s not really like that. There are many, many sides. I think doing this project exposed me to the multiplicity of perspectives.”
When she finished the project, the video found itself at the Wild Goose Creative.
“It just seemed like a good place to have (the presentation),” Weisz said. “Because it’s sort of connected to a broader arts community, and I wanted as many people as possible to know about this.”
Weisz hopes to be able to distribute the film soon.
“I want to look into publishing it or self publishing it so I can distribute it. People haven’t been able to stay for the whole thing and have been asking‘can I get a copy of this?'”
