A Sundance Film Festival award winner, Five Broken Cameras will be shown at Hampshire College on Friday, November 16, at 4 p.m. in Franklin Patterson Hall (Main Lecture Hall). Director and protagonist Emad Burnat will be present for a question-and-answer session following the screening.

Burnat, a Palestinian farmer who lives with his family in the West Bank village of Bil’in, got his first video camera with the birth of his son in 2005. He recorded the boy’s initial steps, but also ventured out to document the building of the separation wall, which divided villagers from their farmland. He filmed for more than five years, documenting the nonviolent protest of the villagers and the escalating struggle. As he filmed, one camera after another was smashed; bullets struck two and a third was hit with a teargas canister. Each camera captured a part of Burnat’s story.

He teamed up with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi for the editing of the film. Together, they crafted Burnat’s archive of footage into a film that is both advocacy journalism and a visual essay in autobiography.

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Five Broken Cameras will also show at Amherst Cinema on Thursday, November 15, at 7:15 p.m. More >>