Synopsis for the Film
Film: Drying Up Palestine
Country: Palestine/UK
Director: Rima Essa & Peter Snowdon
Duration: 28 min
Category: Who Owns the Water
Drying Up Palestine presents a horror scenario where civil and political tensions have spread to the water issue. These are stories of innocent by-standers caught up in a web of violence and intrigue where even basic survival is constantly on the edge and at stake. ‘Not even the rain that falls on Palestine belongs to us’ is the lament of the common Palestinian as the film explores the misery and choices of the victims and the intricate system of apathy and total control that Israel has constructed to deny its neighbors and long-standing foes with access to one of the most basic of everyday needs- water.
Distinctions
Freedom Film Festival
Boston Palestine Film Festival
AMAL Film Festival
New Orleans Human Rights Film Festival
Chicago Palestine Film Festi
Environmental Film Festival of Accra, Ghana
Documenta Madrid
More Details
Rima Essa was born and brought up in the north of Israel, close to the Lebanon border. She became the first Palestinian director to graduate from the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. Her first film, a documentary portrait of her father, Ashes (2002), has been widely shown at film festivals. Most recently, she co-directed Hole in the Wall (2006) for the Alternative Information Centre, Jerusalem.
Peter Snowdon was born and brought up in Northumberland, England. He has lived and worked in Paris and Cairo, and has travelled widely in Asia and the Middle East. Returning to Europe in 2000, he set up Gourna Films to produce low-budget digital documentaries for grassroots citizens’ groups.
