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Screening will start at 12:00 Noon US EDT; 19:00 Palestine, 18:00 Europe, Running Time 74 minutes, English with English subtitles as applicable. The film screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Ellie Bernstein.

About the Film
We are still Standing: Stories of Women in Black builds its narrative around the stories of women who are representative of Women in Black activities around the world. Women in Black started in Israel in 1988, the response of a small group of Jewish women to the violence that was being wrongly inflicted on the Palestinian people. They wore black and held signs that read 'End the Occupation.' We Are Still Standing: The Stories of Women in Black is a documentary that profiles one of the most determined and far-reaching feminist movements for peace. Traveling to Jerusalem, New York, Palestine, Excelsior (Minnesota), Seattle, Belgrade, Spain, Italy and Colombia, the film opens a window into a reality not often depicted in the media – numbers of women (and men) working against the tide of nationalism, militarism and violence.

Stoically, they withstood beatings and verbal abuse, including being called “whores of Arafat,” “traitors” and worse. However, this did not deter the movement of women who spontaneously came to the streets and stood in public places in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel. Since then, Women in Black groups has spread to include chapters in nearly 50 countries, and they have held conferences and encounters in Jerusalem, Beijing, Serbia, Brussels, Florence and Spain. In 2001, Women in Black was awarded the Millennium Peace Prize for Women by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Women in Black in Israel/Palestine and former Yugoslavia were also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Right Livelihood Award.

We are Still Standing: Stories of Women in Black builds its narrative around the stories of women who are representative of Women in Black activities around the world. The film will use these personal stories as jumping-off points to tell the larger story of Women in Black and its history, and give viewers a very direct experience of the flavor and atmosphere of the movement and its activities. The narrative of We are Still Standing is punctuated by many scenes of actual vigils -- from large, dramatic gatherings of hundreds of women, to a lone vigil by a Woman in Black outside a courthouse in Minnesota. These comprise a moving visual refrain in the narrative, and help convey the heart of the Women in Black phenomenon.

As it opens windows onto the outward activities of the Women in Black movement, We Are Still Standing also chronicles the remarkable personal transformations that women experience as a result of participating in the movement-- striking an effective balance between profiling the movement as a global phenomenon, and bringing the viewer inside the lives of some of its members-- from housewives unaccustomed to protest, domestic violence survivors, refugees, lesbians, feminists and Zionists, grandmothers to hippies-all stand together speaking a new feminist voice.


We are Still Standing also works to contrast the images of violence in the media. Regardless of the many thousands of women participating in this worldwide movement, the activities of Women in Black are not considered particularly newsworthy. Just like the silent vigils that it depicts, We Are Still Standing uses the powerful medium of documentary film to convey the message that peace is more powerful than violence and that even in simple ways, people everywhere can participate in bringing it about.

Director’s Filmography
Closing the Open Door: The Fight for a College Education http://www.cinemaguild.com/

Closing the Open Door is in the Yip Harburg collection in the Donnell Branch of the New York Public Library, and is distributed by Third World Newsreel. The film was the centerpiece of the AAUP annual meeting in 2002. The film tells the story of the incredible strike of Black and Hispanic students to change the admission standards of the City University of New York-during the era of the civil rights movement.

Waiting for Mercy: The Case Against Mohammed Hossain and Yassin Aref

Waiting for Mercy tells the story of an FBI sting operation that took place in Albany, New York during the winter, spring and summer of 2004. Waiting For Mercy won Best Documentary at the Ballston Spa Film Festival, and was in the ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) Film Festival. It was on Link TV, Free Speech TV and has been seen many cable channels in the United States. It has a national distribution through Third World Newsreel. Mohammed Hossain and Yassin Aref were convicted of terrorism based on the testimony of a criminal informant-Mohammed Hossain was a naturalized US citizen from Bangladesh and Yassin Aref was a young Imam who had entered the US through the United Notions Refugee program.

We are Still Standing: The Stories of Women in Black

The film tells stories of the 20 years of constant struggle of the International movement of Women in Black. Brussels Film Festival, London Feminist Film festival. The film covers stories of Women in Black in Israel, Yugoslavia, Columbia, Seattle Washington and NYC, Women in Black was the largest grassroots Women’s organization with groups in 35 US states and almost all countries of the world.

Ghost Town: The Hebron Story

"Ghost Town: The Hebron Story" tells the stories of Palestinian families in Hebron, Palestine. Hebron is considered the most controversial city in the West Bank because it is the home of the Abrahami mosque-home of the tomb of Abraham and Sarah. Narrated by renowned actor Martin Sheen. The film was shown at the ICCD Capital Region, Riverside Church NY, Al-Jazeera International

Documentary Film Festival, Cleveland Institute of Art and Cinematography, Sanctuary for Independent Media, Jewish-Palestine Film Festival.

No History of Violence

Tells the story of a federal case in which 10 young Somali boys were charged with terrorism. There was no history of violence and not one of the boys had a criminal history. The sting was organized by the FBI and the Justice Department. The film was shown at the Rutgers Center for Law and Security and at the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival.