NYC Premiere of The Ruins of Lifta
“Through an open discussion with some of the most thoughtful inhabitants of the land, we have sought to impart what we have learned to a wider public.” – Oren Rudavsky
The Ruins of Lifta is the new feature-length documentary directed and produced by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky. The film makes its NYC Theatrical Premiere on September 23, 2016.
Check out the NYC Premiere!
When: September 23, 2016
Where: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, 1886 Broadway, New York, NY 10023
Tickets: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas Tickets and Showtimes
Presented by First Run Features
Today Lifta is the only Palestinian village abandoned during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that has not been destroyed or repopulated by Jews. The land and its buildings are at the western entrance to Jerusalem, a place of great beauty and significant history. Yet it is rarely on a tourist map. Lifta is now threatened by an Israeli development plan that would convert it into an upscale Jewish neighborhood and forever change the village’s character.
The story told in The Ruins of Lifta revolves around the conflict’s underpinnings: the Holocaust and the Nakba (the Palestinian exile of 1948). An Orthodox Jew who grew up among Holocaust survivors, filmmaker Menachem Daum, examines the narrow views of the community in which he was raised. Daum connects with Yacoub Odeh, a Palestinian who was expelled from Lifta in 1948 and now leads the struggle to save the haunting ruins of his village from Israeli plans to build luxury villas on the site.
The story continues as Menachem learns that Lifta was once a place where Jews and Palestinians got along, and that his revered uncle might have been involved in Jewish militia attacks on Lifta. Menachem seeks out family members as well as Israeli and Palestinian witnesses and historians. Rudavsky and Daum present this unique story, a microcosm of the Middle Eastern conflict, with unprecedented honesty and compassion. Daum and Rudavsky also collaborated on Hiding and Seeking and A Life Apart, both NYFA fiscally sponsored projects.
NYFA Fiscal Sponsorship allows individual artists and emerging arts organizations in all disciplines the ability to raise funds using NYFA’s tax-exempt status as a 501©(3)-classified organization. Under NYFA’s fiscal sponsorship, artists and organizations can optimize the reach of their fundraising efforts. Deadlines for the program are quarterly; learn more here.
Images courtesy of The Ruins of Lifta
