Screening date: 22-11-2007 -- 15h30
Iltizam (Commitment)

December 2004: almost a month after president Arafat's death, a month before the election of the new president, the town of Jenine, in the north of the occupied left bank, survives in the ruins of its economy and its infrastructures.

Yet in Jenine, children dream of citizenship and commit themselves to thinking and acting on behalf of the community. They have been elected by the students of the town's schools.

"If we do not care for the children, who will? If my friends see I am committed to others, they will do it too," says Dia, 16.
"We hope society will follow our example," adds Maha, 15.

And then? ...Two years later, in 2006, the children of the first Iltizam film have grown. They were again waiting to have the opportunity to talk in front of a camera, for the world to hear, how after the elections in Palestine, they had been forgotten, their dreams unfulfilled, sometimes even cruelly blurred by reality.

And yet, these young people try to imagine a different life, even if the situation attempts to silence their voices.

Country: France
Production: Philippe Teissier
Year: 2005-2006
Director: Philippe Teissier
Montage : Philippe Teissier
Photo : Philippe Teissier
DVCam  –  color  –  60 min

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biography

Philippe Teissier, 44, studied philosophy at the University of Nanterre and began working with adolescents within the educational system, in prisons and boarding schools. Specialized in legal protection for youths, he operated a youth center on a barge in the suburbs of Paris for several years. In 1995 he spent the year in Jenine under the auspices of Doctors without Borders and was an international observer of the Palestinian elections in 1996. He also spent a year in Gaza working on a youth project. In the year 2000 he founded the association Le Dîwan, an educational center for youths under court order.
In 2004, he made his first film, a documentary focusing on the children of Jenine, whom he filmed a second time in 2006. Some of them came to France and visited Le Dîwan, where they were able to talk about their difficult situation.

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