When a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas are told they must choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech across 35 states in America.
It takes a village to unite the most divided people on earth.
Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites Palestinian political factions and invites Israeli supporters to join an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolent strategies to confront a threat. The movie is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and editor of Control Room and co-director Encounter Point), and produced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly of WITNESS, Director of Encounter Point). Read more information about the crew and cast. While this film is about one Palestinian village, it tells a much bigger story about what is possible in the Middle East. Ayed succeeded in doing what many people believe to be impossible: he united feuding Palestinian political groups, including Fatah and Hamas; he brought women to the heart of the struggle by encouraging his daughter Iltezam's leadership; and welcoming hundreds of Israelis to cross into Palestinian territory for the first time and join this nonviolent effort. Many of the activists who joined the villagers of Budrus are now continuing to support nonviolence efforts in villages from Bil’in to Nabi Saleh to Hebron to Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. While many documentaries about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict either romanticize the notion of peace, or dwell entirely on the suffering of victims to the conflict, this film focuses on the success of a Palestinian-led unarmed struggle. For information regarding the rights of the film, and how to bring it to your community, visit the Budrus FAQ. Watch Budrus online here.
Ayed Morrar, an unlikely community organizer, unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to save his village from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Victory seems improbable until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines.
Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat yet remain virtually unknown to the world. The movie is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and editor Control Room, co-director Encounter Point), and produced by Bacha, Palestinian journalist Rula Salameh, and filmmaker and human rights advocate Ronit Avni (formerly of WITNESS, director of Encounter Point).
While this film is about one Palestinian village, it tells a much bigger story about what is possible in the Middle East. Ayed succeeded in doing what many people believe to be impossible: he united local Palestinian political factions, including Fatah and Hamas; he brought women to the heart of the struggle by encouraging his daughter Iltezam's leadership; and he welcomed hundreds of Israelis to cross into Palestinian territory for the first time and join this nonviolent effort.
Budrus includes diverse voices from the Palestinian leaders of the movement and their Israeli allies to an Israeli military spokesman, Doron Spielman, and Yasmine Levy, the Israeli border police officer stationed in the village at that time. While many documentaries about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict either romanticize the notion of peace, or dwell entirely on the suffering of victims to the conflict, this film focuses on the success of a Palestinian-led nonviolent movement.
In a keynote address immediately following the debut of Budrus at a Gala screening at the Dubai International Film Festival in December 2009, Her Majesty Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan praised the film, stating that Budrus: “Gives an enormous amount of hope... It’s a story which will have an impact and can help bring change.”
When I first met Ayed Morrar, the protagonist of Budrus, in September 2007, he was adamant that he was not worthy of a documentary film. Yet all Palestinian grassroots leaders he suggested I talk to quickly sent me back to him. It became clear that the unarmed struggle Ayed launched in 2003 to resist the building of Israel’s Separation Barrier through his village had become a role model to local activists. I hope this film can have the same effect on its viewers as the village’s efforts had on those who experienced it: inspiring more people to believe in, cover, support and join the unarmed struggles taking place throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories today.
For more than ten years now, villages across the West Bank have experienced a resurgence in nonviolent strategies to resist the Israeli occupation. Combining tactics borrowed from the first intifada in the 1980’s with the active participation of Israeli and international activists, this movement, though still fragile, carries great potential for the region. Ayed’s village, Budrus, was one of the very first communities to engage in this type of resistance and is held up as a model for what civil disobedience looks like in this context and what it can achieve.
Ayed succeeded in doing what many people believe to be impossible: he united rival political parties Fatah and Hamas; he brought women to the heart of the struggle by supporting his daughter Iltezam's leadership; and he welcomed hundreds of Israelis to cross into Palestinian territory and join the struggle.
I was lucky to work with an incredible team of Palestinians, Israelis and North Americans at Just Vision, an organization dedicated to documenting and disseminating the work of Palestinian and Israeli civilians working for freedom, dignity, equality and human security for all. Through extensive research, we were able to collect footage from over a dozen activists who had been in Budrus at some point during the movement. We also built an enduring relationship with Iltezam Morrar, Ayed’s teenage daughter, whose charisma and strength provide the heartbeat of the documentary, as it did for the struggle.
The film would not have been complete, however, without hearing the point of view of the Border Police officers who had to deal with what was one of the first organized unarmed movements to challenge the route of the Separation Barrier. We were fortunate that the squad commander, Yasmine Levy, agreed to talk earnestly with us. We were also able to include the perspective of Captain Doron Spielman, an Israeli Army spokesperson at the time.
Today, from Nabi Saleh to Ni’lin, Bil’in to Sheikh Jarrah, every week Palestinians from all political factions, along with Israeli and international supporters, often with women leading, gather to protest the confiscation of olive groves, house demolitions and settlement growth. They do so in creative ways and to varying degrees of success, yet remain virtually unknown. We hope this film can help bring them out of anonymity so we can all benefit from their courageous work.
Julia Bacha (2009)
Winner, Best Documentary & Audience Award, Common Memory International Film Festival, Morocco, 2013
Winner, Panorama Audience Award Second Prize, Berlin International Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Special Jury Mention, Tribeca Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Audience Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Honorable Mention for Best Documentary in the Spirit of Freedom Award, Jerusalem International Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Witness Award at Silverdocs Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Honorable Mention of the Jury, Documenta Madrid 10
Winner, Amnesty Italia Award, Pesaro Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Founders Prize, Best of Fest, Nonfiction, Traverse City Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Checkpoints Award, Bergen International Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Festival des Libertés Prize, Festival des Libertés, 2010
Winner, Spirit of Freedom Documentary Award, Bahamas International Film Festival, 2010
Winner, Amnesty's Matter of Act Human Rights Award, Movies That Matter Film Festival, 2011
Winner, Jury Award for Excellence in Documenting a Human Rights Issue, Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival, 2011
PUMA.Creative Impact Award, 2012
The Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, 2011
The Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize, 2011
Circles of Change Award, 2010
The Common Ground Award, 2010
King Hussein Leadership Prize, 2009
Learn more about the strategy behind the Budrus public education campaign and its impact
Created by BritDoc
Our team created Budrus with the explicit goals of putting Palestinian and Israeli nonviolence efforts at the center of local and international discourse about the conflict, as well as building the capacity of nonviolent activists in the field by ensuring they gain traction within their own societies and abroad. Just Vision recognized the advantages of film early on: the immersive storytelling experience invites large numbers of people to briefly suspend disbelief and invest themselves in a particular narrative, even if that narrative falls outside of their deep-rooted political perspectives. Further, film takes viewers beyond the platitudes that dominate discourse around controversial issues and allows them to examine the human implications of a particular topic. But even while recognizing these benefits, we knew we needed targeted media outreach and an intensive public education campaign to maximize the impact of this story. For more on Just Vision's theory of change read Julia Bacha's editorial in Forbes: Shifting Narratives in Documentary: A Case Study of Budrus.
Visualizing Palestine created this infographic based on research conducted by StrategyOne, a daughter company of the public relations firm, Edelman, which analyzed all English-language media coverage relating to the village of Budrus before and after the film's release. The results showed that coverage prior to the release of the film characterized the protest in Budrus as riots and disturbances of the peace. After the launch of the film in 2009, most of the media coverage described the events in Budrus as a nonviolent struggle initiated by the residents to save their lands and olive trees. The StrategyOne findings showed that the film not only put Budrus on the map, but successfully shifted the media narrative around the protests from one of riots to one of a strategic nonviolent campaign.
Provides background information and discussion questions exploring themes including the role of women in grassroots leadership, unity across political factions, movement building and more.
Download 36-page PDF.
For answers to frequently asked questions about Budrus, please visit the FAQ page.
Mikkel Jordahl challenges Arizona’s anti-boycott law in court.
A federal district court rules in Mik’s favor, finding that the law violates his First Amendment rights.
Arizona lawmakers amend the law, rendering Mik’s case moot, but leaving the underlying constitutional issues unresolved. The amended law pertains only to businesses with 10 or more full-time employees with contracts valued at $100,000 or more.
"Budrus gives an enormous amount of hope... It's a story which will have an impact and can help bring about change. "
Provides background information and discussion questions exploring themes including the role of women in grassroots leadership, unity across political factions, movement building and more.
Download 36-page PDF.
Download press kit and press notes
Just Vision is seeking a full-time Development Associate. This is a job with a dynamic, high-performing team.
The Development Associate will play a key role in strengthening and maintaining our fundraising systems and data using Salesforce and other platforms, managing special events in relationship to our supporter community, coordinating bi-annual fundraising mailings, and ensuring timely updates and acknowledgments are sent to donors and/or prospective supporters. S/he/they will support Just Vision’s development team in key aspects of our donor program, including identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors.
The Development Associate will report to the Executive Director, work closely with the Manager of Institutional Partnerships and interface regularly with Just Vision’s finance team. S/he/they will also collaborate with Just Vision’s media, outreach and communications teams, and will have a deep curiosity for learning and staying up-to-speed with the organization’s programs and impact in order to strengthen our development efforts.
Candidates will have a passion for building the resources necessary to advance transformative social change efforts, excellent research and writing skills, and experience and ease with customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Responsibilities:
Required Experience and Skills:
The salary range for this role is between $45,000-$55,000 commensurate with experience. This is a full-time exempt, position based out of Washington, DC. Applications will be considered through September 10, 2021.
Please email a cover letter, resume, two relevant writing samples (no longer than three pages each) and three references to hiring@justvision.org. Please put “Development Associate” in the subject line. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. No phone calls, Facebook or Twitter inquiries please. Due to the volume of applicants we anticipate, we will not respond individually to each application. We will contact those applicants who are of interest to the Search Committee directly.
Just Vision is an equal opportunity employer. We carefully consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, citizenship, veteran status, ability or on any other legally protected status.
Recurring gifts to Just Vision provide us with the steady support needed as we work toward a pluralistic, just and rights-respecting future in Israel-Palestine.
Set-up a recurring monthly, quarterly or annual donation.
We are delighted to receive gifts of stock.
Please contact giving@justvision.org or call us at (202) 232-6821 and we will provide you with our brokerage account information.
We all hope to see a just, free and rights-respecting reality in the Israeli-Palestinian context emerge in our lifetimes. We also know that the deep transformation we strive for requires an eye toward long-term change, and an understanding that the work will involve a sustained movement.
Providing for a future gift to Just Vision can be an opportunity to advance the values you hold most dear and the commitment you hold for voices of moral courage that are needed to transform our societies. We encourage you to consult with your legal and financial advisors to think about what makes the most sense for you in future giving options and how best to set those up as laws vary by state and change over time.
If you’re interested in speaking with Just Vision about your plans, please be in touch with giving@justvision.org or call us at (202) 232-6821.
If you are a librarian, professor or student at a university, college, library or other educational institution, please purchase the educational license for Boycott. Contact us if you'd like to pay by check.
The license includes rights to screen and stream the film – including Public Performance Rights (PPR) for public events – within the institution for the life of the file. This means it can be used by students and professors in the classroom, in the library and for university/college events. Students, professors or librarians cannot charge ticket fees or use the film for fundraising purposes.
Soon after you make your purchase, the Just Vision team will be in touch with instructions on how to download the film to store on your library server.
Contact us if you’d like to bring a speaker from our team to campus. If you are interested in leading your own discussion or want to include the film in your syllabus, we encourage you to utilize Boycott’s resources, most notably our Discussion Guide.
Note: Proceeds from educational and community screening licenses go toward fueling Just Vision’s outreach in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.
The First Intifada was a rich and complex historical period that has been the subject of numerous research studies, articles, books, films and other resources. The resources below, organized around clips from the film, are not meant to be comprehensive. Rather, they provide useful context to deepen your understanding of this pivotal time in Israeli-Palestinian history. Please note that these resources do not necessarily represent the perspective of Just Vision.
Learn more about the strategy behind the Budrus public education campaign and its impact
Created by BritDoc
Our team created Budrus with the explicit goals of putting Palestinian and Israeli nonviolence efforts at the center of local and international discourse about the conflict, as well as building the capacity of nonviolent activists in the field by ensuring they gain traction within their own societies and abroad. Just Vision recognized the advantages of film early on: the immersive storytelling experience invites large numbers of people to briefly suspend disbelief and invest themselves in a particular narrative, even if that narrative falls outside of their deep-rooted political perspectives. Further, film takes viewers beyond the platitudes that dominate discourse around controversial issues and allows them to examine the human implications of a particular topic. But even while recognizing these benefits, we knew we needed targeted media outreach and an intensive public education campaign to maximize the impact of this story. For more on Just Vision's theory of change read Julia Bacha's editorial in Forbes: Shifting Narratives in Documentary: A Case Study of Budrus.
Visualizing Palestine created this infographic based on research conducted by StrategyOne, a daughter company of the public relations firm, Edelman, which analyzed all English-language media coverage relating to the village of Budrus before and after the film's release. The results showed that coverage prior to the release of the film characterized the protest in Budrus as riots and disturbances of the peace. After the launch of the film in 2009, most of the media coverage described the events in Budrus as a nonviolent struggle initiated by the residents to save their lands and olive trees. The StrategyOne findings showed that the film not only put Budrus on the map, but successfully shifted the media narrative around the protests from one of riots to one of a strategic nonviolent campaign.
The Communications Manager (CM) is responsible for developing and implementing Just Vision’s communications strategy, bolstering Just Vision’s public presence and ensuring that the organization’s values, mission and approach are communicated in a clear and compelling manner, both externally and internally. The CM oversees our press, print and digital media and ensures consistent messaging across all our public engagement efforts. The CM will represent Just Vision at public engagements and is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with key media outlets and generating interest from reputable print, radio, digital and broadcast journalists around Just Vision’s work and developments taking place in the region.
Candidates must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong organizational and problem-solving skills, experience as a people manager and a passion for working on social change efforts, storytelling, journalism and the Israeli-Palestinian context. They will report to the Chief of Staff and be part of a fast-paced and collaborative environment as an integral member of a nimble, thoughtful and high-performance team.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategy:
External Communications:
Press Engagement :
Management and Internal Coordination :
Qualifications:
Apply Now
This is a full-time, exempt position with a salary range of $70,000 – $82,000, commensurate with experience. This salary band applies to candidates in the US, however candidates in Israel-Palestine are most welcome to apply and the salary will be adjusted for location accordingly. Just Vision strives to offer a competitive total compensation package including health, dental and generous time off. We are ideally looking for someone based in or near Washington, DC, New York, NY, or Israel-Palestine, with the option for remote/hybrid work. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, with an anticipated start date of May 1, 2024.
To apply, email a cover letter, resume and three references to hiring@justvision.org. Please put “Communications Manager” in the subject line. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. No phone calls, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter inquiries please. Due to the volume of applicants we anticipate, we may not be able to respond individually to each application.
Just Vision is an equal opportunity employer. We carefully consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, citizenship, veteran status, ability or any other legally protected status.
Just Vision is seeking a Public Engagement Associate (PEA) to join our growing team. This person will support the implementation of Just Vision’s public engagement strategies related to the organization’s films, journalism, digital media, outreach campaigns and other projects. The PEA will report to the Public Engagement Manager and ensure that Just Vision’s public engagement efforts are thoughtfully executed to reach our target audiences and goals. They will be responsible for planning and coordinating Just Vision engagements; drafting outreach materials, social media content and other communications; tracking outreach, program and communications outcomes and ensuring that impact stories, analytics and other data are effectively integrated to support future growth across the organization.
Candidates must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong organizational and problem-solving skills and a passion for working on the Israeli-Palestinian context and on social justice issues more broadly. S/he/they will be part of a fast-paced and collaborative environment as an integral member of a nimble and high-functioning team.
Primary Responsibilities:
Outreach and Event Coordination
Systems management and tracking
Digital media support
Qualifications :
This is a full-time position with a salary range of $45,000-$55,000, commensurate with experience. We are ideally looking for someone based in or near Washington, DC or New York, NY, with the option for remote/hybrid work. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis through August 24, 2022.
To apply, email a cover letter and resume to hiring@justvision.org. Please put “Public Engagement Associate” in the subject line. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. No phone calls, Facebook or Twitter inquiries please. Due to the volume of applicants we anticipate, we may not be able to respond individually to each application.
Just Vision is an equal opportunity employer. We carefully consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, citizenship, veteran status, ability or on any other legally protected status.
For the most up-to-date information, visit our Legislation Tracker.