[lbo-talk] Zero Degrees of Separation

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

*****   _Zero Degrees of Separation_ is a documentary 
film-in-progress focusing on queer Palestinians and Israelis and 
their relationship to the current conflict. At the heart of the film 
are Selim and Ezra, an Israeli and Palestinian gay couple who are 
trying to win the right to live together in Jerusalem and survive not 
only the larger conflict but the smaller battles of their daily lives 
with family and friends. Director Ellen Flanders, who recently 
returned from the region, will show an excerpt from her film and 
discuss the current situation as it relates to the queer world. The 
presentation will focus on the current conflict in the Middle East 
and the process of making a documentary film in difficult 
circumstances. Ellen Flanders is a filmmaker and photographer based 
in Toronto and New York. She was the Executive Director of the Inside 
Out Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival of Toronto, and sits on 
the Board of Directors of the Images Festival of Independent Film and 
Video. Middle East Focus

<http://www.newfestival.org/cgi-bin/iowa/event.html?record=248>   *****

*****   Endangered Valentine's
by Juan Pérez Cabral

FEBRUARY 14, 2002. In the midst of the brutal Israeli-Palestinian 
butchery, a Jerusalem gay couple will spend Valentine's Day 
desperately fighting to remain together. The two men, an Israeli and 
a Palestinian, have lived together in that city since 1999. But the 
Israeli authorities are threatening to deport the Palestinian 
partner, to whom they refuse to grant a resident's visa. The Israeli 
partner could land in prison for "assisting an illegal alien."...

"Let us live together in Jerusalem. It's so simple, it should have 
been obvious - that two loving individuals should be with each 
other," the two men told Sharon in a letter. "We hope that Mr. Ariel 
Sharon will allow us to realize our right to love. Perhaps that will 
give hope not just to the two of us, but to Palestinians and Israelis 
everywhere, caught like us in this terrible time of fear and 
violence."...

<http://www.thegully.com/essays/israel/020214_gay_israel_palestin.html>   *****

Flore de Préneuf, "Sleeping with the Enemy," 
<http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/02/21/ezra_selim/>.
-- 
Yoshie

* Calendars of Events in Columbus: 
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, 
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>