Who We Are

Ronit Avni is the Founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, a non-profit that widens the influence of Palestinian and Israeli non-violent civic peace builders, for which she received the 2005 Auburn Seminary’s ‘Lives of Commitment’ Award. Ronit recently directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award and was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Atlanta, Dubai and Jerusalem International Film Festival and many more. Winner of various awards for Best Documentary, Best First Documentary and Best Musical Score, Encounter Point has screened on TV, at the United Nations and in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Jenin, Ramallah and more than 150 cities worldwide. Ronit appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005 with her colleague, Joline Makhlouf and her work was featured on Oprah.com. From 2000-2003, she co-produced short videos and online video advocacy features in collaboration with filmmakers in Senegal, Burkina Faso, the United States and Brazil while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. WITNESS advances human rights advocacy using video and communications technology. Ronit has trained non-governmental organizations from Honduras to the Gambia to produce videos as a tool for public education and grassroots mobilizing, as a deterrent to further abuse and as evidence before courts and tribunals. She wrote and produced a short documentary film, Rise, with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She co-edited the book, Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, UK), with staff from WITNESS. Ronit’s essay, “Inverting the Shame-Based Human Rights Documentation Model in the Context of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” was published in the spring 2006 edition of American Anthropologist. Ronit was among eight American-based recipients of the 2003-2005 Joshua Venture Fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. She has lectured at universities across North America.

Ronit graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Vassar College. She received a Burnam Fellowship to intern at B’Tselem: the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. While abroad, Ronit volunteered for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI). Ronit acquired a DEC in Professional Theatre Studies from Dawson College.

Julia Bacha, Producer & Media Director, Encounter Point Co-Director, Writer/Editor

Julia Bacha recently co-wrote and edited the critically acclaimed documentary Control Room (Magnolia Pictures, 2004), about Al Jazeera’s coverage of the latest war in Iraq, for which she was nominated to the 2005 Writer’s Guild of America Award. Control Room won the Grand Jury Prize at Full Frame Film Festival and was broadcast on BBC, Sundance Channel, HBO Latin America and many other networks around the world. Julia was the assistant editor for the Brazilian production Casamento de Romeu e Julieta by acclaimed director Bruno Barreto. She was also the editor of National Geographic’s Conjoined at the Head, and additional editor on the films Swimmers (Sundance 2005) and Room (Cannes Director’s Fortnight and Sundance 2005).

Originally from Brazil, Julia came to New York in 1998 to study Middle Eastern history and politics at Columbia University. She wrote her thesis on Mohammmad Mossadegh, the Iranian Prime Minister who was removed from power in the early 1950’s in a CIA-orchestrated coup. Alongside her academic studies, she pursued her interest in documentary photography by portraying life in Cuba, Kashmir, the Brazilian Amazon and the Blue Mountains in Jamaica. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University and was awarded the 2003 Phi Betta Kappa Prize.

Julia has spoken in numerous panels such as the New York Time's "War Documentaries" (Los Angeles, 2004), Aspen Film Festival's "The New Political Documentary" (Aspen, 2004), the United Nation's panel on Al Jazeera International (New York, 2005), Hot Docs Film Festival’s “Activism on Film” (Toronto, 2006), Sao Paulo Film Festival’s panel on “Understanding Between Cultures” (Sao Paulo, 2006), and the Dubai Film Festival’s “Operation Cultural Bridges” (Dubai, 2006). She is currently Just Vision's Producer and Media Director.

Anat Langer-Gal, Education and Community Outreach, Israel

Israeli born and mother of two, Anat grew up in East Africa. She majored in East Asian Studies and Chinese at Tel Aviv University, after which she traveled to China to study at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

Upon her return she began working with the Parent's Circle – Bereaved Families Forum, a grassroots NGO of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis working together to promote reconciliation as an alternative to hatred and revenge, assisting the Executive Director with fundraising and networking.

In 2005 Anat worked at Beit Issie Shapiro's fundraising Department to produce its 25th Anniversary Gala with President William Jefferson Clinton as the guest of honor. Beit Issie Shapiro is a non-profit organization working to achieve an integrated society that ensures the rights of children and young adults with differing abilities while providing them with maximum opportunities for growth and development.

Recently, Anat worked at the Israel Women's Network (IWN), Israel‘s foremost organization promoting women's rights, as Manager of Resource and Development. Anat continues to volunteer at the IWN.

Joline Makhlouf, Encounter Point Film Producer

Joline worked as a facilitator at Face to Face/Faith to Faith, Building Bridges for Peace and Seeds of peace, all of which bring together youth from conflict zones around the world. She has worked with youth from Ireland, South Africa and Israel/Palestine, with a special focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Joline participated in a number of local and international conferences about conflict resolution and non-violence and lectured in girls' schools in rural villages in the West Bank regarding the advancement of women in the professional sphere.

Born and raised in Jerusalem, where she finished her high school education at Schmidt’s College, Joline later lived in Jordan, where she graduated from the Royal Jordanian Air Academy with commercial pilot license and a Diploma in aviation science. She has also received airline training in Canada at Flight Safety International. In 2003, she worked as a flight instructor at Mid East Academy in Jordan. For years she has worked in a family-owned Arabic music production company as Production and Distribution Manager.

Irene R. Nasser, Outreach Associate

Irene Nasser’s interests focus on the intersection of conflict resolution and identity. Her past research has included issues of identity for Palestinians in Israel, the role of media and education in the presentation of conflict, children and youth, and gender and globalization. Her research has included the collection of oral histories as well as media analysis. Irene currently co-facilitates a dialogue group titled "What's Beyond the Divide? An Honest and Open Dialogue about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict", which discusses Arab-Jewish-American relations in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In addition to facilitation, Irene also has training in dialogue, program evaluation and assessment, trauma management and response, as well as experience in program management.

Irene received her Master’s from the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Program at American University in Washington, DC. She received her BA in Communication from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Irene is the co-author of the forthcoming “Textbooks as a Vehicle for Segregation and Domination: State Efforts to Shape Palestinian Israeli’s Identities as Citizens” in the Journal of Curriculum Studies (Vol. 40, 2008).

A Palestinian from Israel, Irene has lived in both the United States and Israel and is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

Nahanni Rous, Education Director and Encounter Point Film Producer

Nahanni Rous moved to Jerusalem in June 2002 with a yearlong Dorot Fellowship to intern with National Public Radio reporter Linda Gradstein, volunteer at Seeds of Peace, and study Hebrew and Jewish texts. She has worked as an editor and consultant for Jerusalem Stories, Portraits and Profiles of Jerusalem Residents, and writes a monthly column about life in Jerusalem for the New Hampshire Jewish Reporter. Before coming to Jerusalem, Nahanni worked as a producer, writer, and reporter for WBUR Boston and WRNI Rhode Island public radio stations, and traveled across the United States in the fall of 2001 interviewing Americans about their reactions to September 11.

Nahanni graduated from Brown University with a degree in Comparative Literature. While at Brown, Nahanni was a string quartet cellist, took visual art classes, and spent a year learning Italian and studying Italian literature at the University of Bologna. She is a member of the board of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel, and a past board member of Community Music Works, an after school music program for kids in inner city Providence. Nahanni is currently studying Arabic.

Rula Salameh, Education and Outreach Coordinator, Palestine

Rula is currently a Middle East Liaison for the NGO, Peace x Peace. She has an international diploma in "Computers in Business and Management" and has studied sociology at Birzeit University in the West Bank. In addition, Rula was the Project Coordinator for Middle East Non-violence and Democracy (MEND) for three years. Prior to this, she worked with the Irish NGO, Refugee Trust International, where she was responsible for establishing a computer lab and children's library in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. She is a member of the International Federation of Journalists and sits on the Board of Palestinian Friends Without Borders. As a journalist, Rula has covered the situation in the Middle East on many occasions and is familiar with the political environment. She was one of the founders of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in 1993, following the Oslo Agreement. Rula has a son and lives in Jerusalem.

Julianna Takacs, Operations Manager

Julianna Takacs joined the Just Vision team as the Administrative Coordinator and has recently become the Operations Manager. She has a background in holistic education, administration and management. Julianna spent the past four years at the New York Open Center, New York City's largest center for holistic learning and world culture, where she worked with a wide spectrum of senior teachers within the holistic movement. In addition to managing the space rental program and acting as an events coordinator, Julianna founded and directed the Drop-in Yoga program for the community and staff of the Open Center in 2005. Julianna has co-managed and coordinated various events, fundraisers, galas and conferences including the widely publicized "Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right" with Karen Armstrong in 2005. From 2002-2003, Julianna interned with the organization Peace X Peace during the production of their documentary, "Peace X Peace: Women on the Frontlines", a film for PBS highlighting the work of women peace builders in Afghanistan, Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, and the United States. She helped organize and execute the film’s premiere at the United Nations (hosted by the United Nations Development Fund for Women-UNIFEM) to an audience of UN ambassadors, heads of non-governmental organizations, and international news media.

Julianna graduated Cum Laude with a BFA from Purchase College in Fine Art with a concentration in video and sculpture. Her 2002 installation, a commentary on the reactions of 9/11, was shown at galleries in both Purchase and Niagara Falls, NY. Julianna is also a classically trained ballet dancer and preformed professionally as a principal dancer with the Greater Niagara Ballet Company from 1998-2004. Julianna received her certification as a yoga teacher and Thai bodyworker in 2004 and in addition to her work with Just Vision, continues to study and teach yoga regularly at various studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Board of Directors

Ronit Avni, Founder/Executive Director, Encounter Point Film Director/Producer

Mary Ellen Bennett

Mary Ellen Bennett has had a long involvement in community organizations and a passionate interest in international affairs. Seeing herself as a member of a global community, she believes our greatest legacy for future generations is one of peace and tolerance. And living on a planet in jeopardy, her goal has been to devote her energy and talents to whatever projects can make a difference, however modest, toward peace and tolerance. As a National Board member of Childhelp, USA, she opened two group homes for abused children. To do this, it was necessary to raise funds and enlist community acceptance and participation in the project. At the same time she was a member of the Docent Council of the Orange County Museum of Art where she developed outreach programs for the various exhibitions and implemented and taught programs for both adults and children.
Early in her career she worked for American Airlines . More recently she has been a partner and consultant in a Food Services group which owned over 300 plus restaurants and franchised a number of concepts throughout the United States and overseas.

Her deep interest in international affairs has been fueled by frequent travel to all six continents and 50 plus countries. She most recently has been working with the organization Religion, Science and Environment which took her to the Amazon for a major symposium and she is now aiding in preparations for the next symposium to be held on the Nile in 2008. Her particular focus on issues of the Middle East was a natural result of her marriage to Anwar Soliman, a businessman born in Egypt. The couple currently reside in Laguna Beach, California where Mr. Soliman has a company developing clean energy.

Ruth Flicker

Ruth Flicker, M.Ed., is president of RRF Human Development Consultants, Inc., a firm specializing in change management. Ruth designs and facilitates strategic planning and leadership reviews for both corporations and not-for-profit institutions. She is an expert in facilitating difficult conversations among leaders about the effects of their behaviors on their organizations.

Educated at McGill University as an educational psychologist, Ruth has written and overseen the implementation of groundbreaking curricula in leadership development and negotiation techniques across Canada and United States. In 1975, she co-founded Montreal’s first public alternative high school, an experiment in re-engaging bright, alienated youth. Five years later she founded Project MOM, a confidence-building program for mothers, and in 1983 she created Opportunities for Advancement for Women. Since 1986, Ruth has provided consulting services to businesses, governmental agencies, hospitals, school boards, and Jewish community organizations in the United States, Canada and abroad. In recognition of her personal and professional achievements, social commitment and important contributions to the advancement of women, Ruth was named as a Woman of Distinction, and awarded the 2003 Laureate for Entrepreneurship by the Women’s Y Foundation.

Michael J. Hirschhorn

Michael J. Hirschhorn is currently the Executive Director of the Coro New York Leadership Center. He is a strategy consultant to non-profit and philanthropic organizations predominantly in the arenas of education, human rights and human services. From 1995 - 2001, Michael served as executive director of the Literacy Assistance Center (LAC) in New York City. Michael holds an MBA and an MSW from Columbia University. He serves on the boards of several local and national non-profits along with chairing the board of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, based in Baltimore, MD. Before joining the Literacy Assistance Center, Michael served as deputy director of Educators for Social Responsibility Metro and as an assistant to the Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools. Michael is a “visiting executive” at the Yale School of Management, where he advises MBA students interested in non-profit, public, and non-traditional private sector management.

Deborah Kanafani

Deborah Kanafani has been Director of International Productions for the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, where she wrote and produced programs on children’s and women’s rights for the UNDP, UNICEF, and various European countries. While in the Middle East she ran conflict resolution programs between Palestinians and Israelis. She was Executive Director of Women in Film and Video in Washington, DC, and a consultant for Oxygen Media. She began her work in media affairs when she did her masters thesis on "The portrayal of the Middle East conflict in high school history textbooks and its impact on stereotyping. " She is the author of "Unveiled: How an American Woman Found Her way Through Politics, Love and Obedience in the Middle East". She currently lives in New York and Los Angeles, where she is producing a film on the life of Queen Dina.

Jehane Noujaim

Jehane Noujaim began her career as a photographer and filmmaker in Cairo, Egypt. She attended Harvard University and was awarded the Gardiner Fellowship. She then joined the MTV news and documentary division as a producer for the series Unfiltered. Noujaim left her producing job at MTV to produce and direct Startup.Com, which played as part of Sundance's documentary competition in 2001. The film won numerous awards, including the Directors Guild of America and IDA Awards for best documentary. Noujaim has since worked in both the Middle East and the United States as a director and cinematographer on various documentaries, including Down From The Mountain and Only The Strong Survive. Her latest film, Control Room, screened at Sundance and Berlin in 2004. The Writer’s Guild of America recently nominated Jehane for co-writing Control Room in 2004. She was recently the recipient of the TED prize.

Janice Stieber Rous

Janice is the creator of Body Dialogue, a mind-body technique. She is the founder of the West Side Jewish Community School, a co-founder of the New York Havurah School and the former Director of Education at the Jewish Museum. An organizer of the Bavli Yerushalmi project, Janice co-founded a holistic medical center in lower Manhattan, Eleven Eleven Wellness Center. She served on the board of Project Kesher for 6 years. She lives part-time in Israel and the U.S.

Haroon Sugich

Haroon Sugich is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Trans-Arabian Creative Communications (TRACCS) and Managing Director in the United Arab Emirates.

An Arab-American writer and filmmaker born and raised in Santa Barbara, California and educated at UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts, Haroon Sugich has worked in a wide range of media for over 35 years and is today considered one of the leading public relations strategists in the Middle East and an expert in cross-cultural communications.

In a varied career that has taken him from Hollywood to London to Fez to Cairo to Mecca to Mumbai to Delhi to Dubai, and many ports of call in between, he has authored and edited books, written and directed films, published newspaper columns, conducted television and radio interviews, created crisis management protocols and issues management programs, led training seminars and lectured on communications.

In 1997 he co-founded Trans-Arabian Creative Communications (TRACCS) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and has been instrumental in building the company from a tiny public relations practice into a dynamic regional communications force operating throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In 2006 TRACCS formed a strategic alliance with Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, the world’s largest and most successful public relations company becoming Fleishman’s exclusive representative in every Arab country in the Middle East and North Africa.

He has homes in Santa Barbara, Cairo and Dubai, from where as executive vice-president and chief operating officer he leads TRACCS MENA operations, supervises the expansion and development of the TRACCS network and oversees the TRACCS/Fleishman global relationship.

Having lived in Mecca, Saudi Arabia for 23 years and traveled extensively throughout the Arab and Islamic world, Haroon has developed a deep knowledge and understanding of the religious, social, cultural, educational and political issues that have formed both public policy and popular attitudes in this rich, complex and volatile part of the world. He is dedicated to bringing cultures together through communications and works as a strategic communications advisor for influential religious scholars, including the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and social institutions dedicated to peace and knowledge.

Hanan S. Watson

After a long and productive career in executive search and human resources, which included working for the international management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, as well as founding and running her own business, Hanan retired from the business world and has dedicated herself to working for peace. Her activism had started early in life and had been limited only by the need to balance family and working career. Among her volunteer activities are leadership of the Peace Task Force of the Unitarian Church of All Souls, a congregational group whose mission is to present programs to the public that increase awareness of current events, and present information and analyses that go beyond reports presented by the mainstream media. She is also a volunteer adult literacy tutor with Literacy Partners. Previously, she served on the boards of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, New York Chapter; One Stop Senior Services; and The Associated Blind. Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, Hanan grew up in Jordan and Lebanon, and obtained her BA and MA from the American University of Beirut. She has lived in New York since 1966.

Review Committee

Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Dr.

Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University. Abu-Nimer received his Bachelor's and Master's degree from Hebrew University, Jerusalem and the Ph.D. from George Mason University. He is the author of Dialogue, Conflict Resolution and Change: The Case of Arabs and Jew in Israel (SUNY Press, 1999) and Reconciliation, Coexistence, and Justice in Interethnic Conflicts (New York: Lexington, 2001). He has received several awards for his research, including grants from the United States Institute of Peace and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since 1990 he has conducted nearly one hundred workshops in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, multiculturalism, religion and peacebuilding in conflict areas such as Gaza, West Bank, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leon, Northern Ireland, Mindanao (Philippines) and Guatemala. As a Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at the Kroc Institute during the spring semester of 2002, Abu-Nimer conducted research on Islamic resources for nonviolent conflict resolution, and published Nonviolent Voices in Israel and Palestine, Kroc Institute Policy Brief #9 (June 2002).

Deanna Armbruster

Deanna Armbruster is the Executive Director of the American Friends of Neve Shalom, Wahat al Salam. Deanna is a journalist who received a B.A. from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and a Master’s Degree from California State University, Northridge. She has received multiple honors from the Hearst Newspaper Foundation and in 1998 she received the Outstanding Work in International Reporting Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Deanna recently completed a book focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The work, entitled, Tears in the Holy Land (www.arnicapublishing.com), is co-authored with award-winning journalist, Dr. Michael Emery. It interweaves photographs with oral histories of both Jews and Palestinians who share the story of the conflict through their own personal stories.

“My work on the book, Tears in the Holy Land, is the beginning of a long journey opening many new worlds to me. Through my eyes and in my heart, the people of the Middle East - whether Christians, Muslims or Jews - are just people. People that are all searching for the same sense content, love and happiness in their lives. By creating a space for developing deeper understanding and respect for one another, we can work together toward peace. As we embark on a new millennium, it is easy to see that many people have been building bridges to peace; but now, we must stretch our faith and cross those bridges together.”

Mohamed Ibrahim

Mohamed Ibrahim is originally from Sudan. Fluent in Arabic, Mohamed lived and worked in East Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East until the mid-1990s. As a result of his activism in documenting human rights violations in Africa, he was imprisoned and tortured in the infamous Ghost House prisons created, as he describes, by “fanatic Islamists in Sudan.”

For the past ten years, Mohamed lived in Western Massachusetts, working on a range of issues including peace advocacy, coalition building among people of color, and chairing the Group Against Torture in the Sudan (GATS), which is based in Philadelphia. He currently serves as the Project VOICE Base-Building Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Mr. Ibrahim engages in resisting the unfair treatment of immigrants and refugees by new government legislation, especially since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. He is part of both the Middle Eastern and East African Moslem immigrant communities, which are major targets of this legislation.

Ned Lazarus

A graduate of Wesleyan University and a Dorot Foundation Fellow, Ned served as the Program Director at the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem from 1996-2003. Together with Just Vision profilee Sami Al-Jundi, Ned established, developed and directed year-round coexistence programs involving hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian teen-aged graduates of Seeds of Peace International Camp. Ned also served as editor of the Olive Branch, the Seeds of Peace youth magazine written by and for youth from conflict regions around the world (see www.seedsofpeace.org). Ned has written for Slate.com and will be returning to Washington, D.C., to pursue his PhD at American University. He is currently writing a book on his experiences in Jerusalem.

Joshua Levine Grater, Rabbi

Rabbi Joshua Levine-Grater is the spiritual leader of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center in Pasadena, CA. He spent two years as the Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan, where he trained and worked as a social justice coordinator. Rabbi Joshua then brought his message to the small town of Kingston, NY. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the Tikkun Community, on the Education Committee of Brit Tzedek V'Shalom and is one of the co-chairs of the Southern California Rabbinic Council of Americans for Peace Now. He is also on the Rabbinic Advisory Board for Eilat Chayyim, the Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center, where he received training as a Jewish meditation teacher. Rabbi Joshua is active in interfaith work and has spoken in New York and Pasadena churches on Judaism and social justice. He worked actively with Congressman Maurice Hinchey of New York on Middle East affairs and received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for those efforts.

Rabbi Joshua speaks regularly about the need for Judaism to reflect the social values of peace, human rights, justice and compassion. He has been published in Tikkun, the Forward and Socialaction.com. His first book, L'Vakesh Kedusha, Seeking Holiness, is due out in late 2004. Rabbi Joshua received his B.A. in English and Literature from Lee College and his Masters and Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

Abderrahim (Rahim) Sabir

Abderrahim (Rahim) Sabir is a Senior Program Associate with Human Rights Education Associates. Mr. Sabir spent eight years working with Amnesty International at the International Secretariat in London and later as the Chair of the North Africa coordination Group at Amnesty International, USA. Rahim consulted with many NGOs, including: the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Women Learning Partnership, the American Bar Association, Sisterhood is Global, and Freedom House. He is a Board member of the Arab Commission for Human Rights.

Rahim received a Master’s degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America and attended the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies for a course on the Intercultural Dimension of Human Rights and International Law; He received a Bachelor's degree in French literature. He published articles and essays in Arabic, English and French, including: Militant Islam and Political Violence, an essay in a collection of writings entitled, Lifting the Spirit: Writings on Human Rights distributed at the Conference of the Parliament of World Religions in Cape town, South Africa and Morocco’s Civil Society, published in Al Bayane Al-Thakafi, a bi-monthly magazine in Morocco.

Advisory Council

Gillian Caldwell

1Sky Campaign Director, is a film maker and an attorney with thirty years of experience advocating for social justice in the United States and around the world. She is the outgoing Executive Director of WITNESS, which uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. Gillian led WITNESS’ rapid expansion during her decade of leadership and helped produce numerous documentary videos for use in advocacy campaigns around the world. She is also co-editor and author of a book published by Pluto Press called Video for Change: A Guide to Advocacy and Activism (2005). Gillian was formerly the Co-Director of the Global Survival Network, where she coordinated a two-year undercover investigation into the trafficking of women for forced prostitution from Russia and the Newly Independent States that helped spur new anti-trafficking legislation in the US and abroad. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Echoing Green Fellowship (1996-1998), Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Award (2000), Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Award Winner (2001-present), Tech Laureate of the Tech Museum (2003), Ashoka: Innovators for the Public as a special partner (2003), Journalist of the Month by Women’s Enews (2004), Skoll Social Entrepreneurship Award (2005-present). She received her BA from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where she was honored as a Public Interest Law Scholar.

Sandi DuBowski

Sandi DuBowski is a filmmaker/writer based in New York. His film, Trembling Before G-d, had a World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was the recipient of twelve awards including The Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival, The Mayor's Prize for the Jewish Experience at the Jerusalem Film Festival, The GLAAD Media Award for Best Documentary, and a nomination for the 2002 Independent Spirit Awards for the IFC/Directv Truer Than Fiction Award. Launched at Film Forum to incredible audience, critical, and box office response, the film released theatrically in the United States, Israel, Canada, Germany, South Africa, and UK. DuBowski has led 800 post-screening Q & A’s and dialogues across the globe over the past four years with the film. DuBowski is a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation's Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship, in-kind support from Skywalker Sound - a division of Lucas Digital, Ltd. as well as over 35 foundations DuBowski is developing a number of other documentary and narrative projects including producing In the Name of Allah, about Islam and homosexuality which will premiere in 2007. The project is shot in Egypt, Turkey, France, Lebanon, US, Pakistan, UK, Iran, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and India and and is a co-production with five international broadcasters - MTV-LOGO, UK’s Channel 4 in the UK, France-Germany’s ZDF-Arte, and Australia’s SBS.

Hanna Elias

Hanna Elias graduated from the University of California Los Angeles Film School in 1991. He directed several short films, including "The Mountain" (1992). In 1997 he directed and produced the children's television program "Sesame Street" in Palestine, then from 1998-1999, he worked for the United Nations on a series of promotional films on women in Palestine. He recently directed the Olive Harvest, with a Palestinian cast and Israeli crew. The Olive Harvest screened at the San Francisco Film Festival and won both the Jury Prize and the Best Arabic Film prize at the 2003 Cairo International Film Festival.

Judith Helfand

Judith Helfand has worked as a documentary producer and educator for the past ten years. With veteran documentarian George Stoney, she co-produced and co-directed the Uprising of '34, which explores “hidden” labor history, class and power in the American South. It was broadcast on public television's P.O.V. and voted one of the ten best documentaries of 1995 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her next film, A Healthy Baby Girl, was broadcast on P.O.V. and won a 1997 George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Journalism and Public Education. Jewish Women International named Judith “one of the Jewish women to watch for 5759” for her community organizing work. Her film, Blue Vinyl, won numerous awards, including: the Documentary Award for Excellence in Cinematography at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, First Prize Award for Best Documentary 2002 at the Bermuda International Film Festival, Audience Award 2002 at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, and the Santa Cruz International Film Festival.

Judith is co-founder of Working Films, a new non-profit organization based in North Carolina that is dedicated to linking documentary filmmaking to long-term social change. Judith directs the My House Is Your House Campaign - a consumer organizing initiative for Blue Vinyl. She is an adjunct professor at New York University's undergraduate film and television program.

Sami Michael

Sami Michael is a Nobel Literature Prize nominee. Born in 1926, in Baghdad, Iraq, he joined a leftist underground group at the age of 15, fighting for human rights and democracy. In 1948 Michael was forced to flee to Iran. In 1949 he immigrated to Israel. Sami Michael studied hydrology at the British Institute, worked as a field hydrologist for 25 years, and then pursued degrees in Psychology and Arabic Literature at Haifa University. In 1974 he published his first novel in Hebrew, entitled, “Men are Equal – But Some are More.” Since then, Michael has published 11 novels, 3 non-fiction works focusing on cultural, political and social affairs in Israel and 3 plays. His novels explore the dynamic, intersecting relationships between Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians, nationalists and communists, men and women. In recognition of his work, Michael received The Prime Minister Prize (1981, 1998); the Italian Association for the Promotion of Peace in the Middle East (Italy, 2001); Rotary prize (1998); Honor prize (Germany, 1996); The Israeli Literature prize by The Ministry of Education, Science and Art Prize (1994); WIZO Prize (Paris, 1993); The ACUM Award (Israel, 1993), Brener Prize (2004), EMET Prize (Israel, 2007) and several others. Michael received honorary doctorates from Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University for his literary contributions to Israeli society. In 2001, Sami Michael became the president of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel.

Wissam Nasr

Wissam Nasr was most recently the Executive Director of CAIR-NY, the New York chapter of the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country. He remains on its executive board, and volunteers his time with a number of Muslim community based organizations in New York. In 2000, he was awarded Amnesty International's Ralph Bunche Fellowship to write a curriculum on the death penalty. He was also a New York City Teaching Fellow, where he taught special education at the most diverse school in the city (2003) and Coro New American Leadership Fellow in which he studied immigrant advocacy models (2005). He was born in Egypt and raised in New York City.

Emad Omar

Mr. Emad Omar is a freelance consultant in conflict resolution and media. He served, from 1997 to 2007, as a Senior Advisor for the Search for Common Ground's Middle East and Partners in Humanity programs, and the Executive Editor of the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) . He is also a human rights and peace activist, journalist, analyst, writer and has an experience in the fields of statistics, demography, training and research. Previously, he worked for Kuwait University as an Instructor and personal computer Center Manager. He has also served at the United Nations ( ESCWA), and as Regional Advisor for the Middle East Human Rights Core Working-Group project. Mr. Omar has authored many books among them are The Questions of Human Rights and NGO Capacity Building Handbook, both of them have been used by many activists and NGOs in the region as key references . Mr. Omar has authored, translated, revised and edited numerous books, op-eds, papers, technical documents and dictionaries. He used to write a periodical column for al-Ahram al-Arabi weekly magazine and the Palestine Times daily newspaper and still write a periodical column for Sharqiyat women magazine. He served as a Judge for the Eliav-Sartawi Awards for Common Ground Journalism in the Middle East 1999-2005. Omar is a member of the Strategy Group Middle East.

Marieke van Woerkom

Marieke van Woerkom is a freelance consultant who has worked in the field of cultural exchange, conflict transformation and human rights for over ten years. She holds a double Masters in Cultural Anthropology and International Relations from the University of Amsterdam, with a specialization in group identity and intergroup relations. As a program director, facilitator and educator, she has designed, implemented and supervised hundreds of trainings, dialogues and related programs that raise awareness, promote understanding and empower diverse groups of people to make positive change in their own lives and that of their communities. Marieke has worked with groups of Arab, Israeli, Cypriot, Balkan, South Asian, American and European participants in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. In New York City, where she lives, she works in the public schools to help create more conducive learning environments. She also works with various cross-cultural groups, designing curricula, facilitating dialogues, and debriefing audience reactions to theater performances and movie screenings.

Marieke is trained as a mediator and has participated in group process work trainings around the world. She is well versed in Theater of the Oppressed techniques, Open Space Technology, and uses story telling and the arts in her workshops as needed. Past and current clients include Seeds of Peace, Children of Abraham, Winter Media, Just Vision, Columbia University's Project Tolerance, Hostelling International, Global Youth Connect, Backward Society Education, American MidEast Leadership Network, RebuildingHope Sudan and Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility.