Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.
This 2011 documentary, co-directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, follows a Palestinian farmer in the village of Bil'in who picks up a camera to record family life and instead becomes the chronicler of his community's years-long nonviolent resistance to encroaching settlement and a dividing wall. Structured around a succession of cameras lost to the conflict, it blends intimate home-movie warmth with the urgency of frontline witness. Sober and personal, the film weighs grief, endurance and the cost of bearing witness. Carrying a MagicMovieScore of 7.5, it will speak to viewers drawn to first-person nonfiction and documentaries about conflict and conscience.
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Emad Burnat
Himself (Narrator)
Soraya Burnat
Herself (Emad's wife)
Gibreel Burnat
Himself (Emad's 4th son)
Mohammed Burnat
Himself (Emad's 1st son)
Yasin Burnat
Himself (Emad's 2nd son)
Taki-Ydin Burnat
Himself (Emad's 3rd son)
Muhammad Burnat
Himself (Emad's Father)
Intisar Burnat
Herself (Emad's mother)
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Release Date
November 23, 2011
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
NR
Genres
Documentary, War
Director