Sunday, April 6 | Noon | Chapel
We are pleased to welcome Just Vision to present a screening of Naila and the Uprising, followed by Julia Bacha (Director) and Suhad Babaa (Executive Producer) in conversation with Rabbi Matt Green.
When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a young woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that forces the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time.
Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh and a fierce community of women at the frontlines, whose stories weave through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history - the First Intifada in the late 1980s. Using evocative under-camera animation, intimate interviews, and exclusive archival footage, this film brings the courageous women who shook the Israeli occupation and put Palestinians on the map for the first time out of anonymity. This film tells the story that history overlooked – of an unbending nonviolent women’s movement at the head of Palestine’s struggle for freedom.
Suhad Babaa is a producer, news publisher, and the Executive Director of Just Vision. Suhad produced Boycott (2021) and executive produced Naila and the Uprising (2017). She is also the co-publisher of the award-winning Hebrew-language news site, Local Call. Additionally, Suhad helped lead the impact campaigns for Just Vision's critically acclaimed film, Budrus (2009), which was recognized with the Doc Society Social Impact Award in 2012, as well as the Peabody award-winning documentary, My Neighbourhood (2012).
Suhad has addressed dozens of audiences at venues including the United Nations, White House, Harvard University and film festivals, mosques, synagogues and churches across the country. She has worked closely with policymakers, faith and community leaders, educators, and students as part of Just Vision's broader public engagement efforts. Her team's work has been featured by institutions including TED, Tate Britain and the Nobel Women's Initiative and highlighted in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Yedioth Ahronoth, PBS, BBC, Channel 2 News (Israel), Ma'an News, Al Quds, The Forward and beyond.
Suhad is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow, Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, and Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Suhad graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania where she received a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
Suhad is based in Washington, DC where she lives with her beloved partner and splits her time between DC, NYC and Israel-Palestine.
Julia Bacha is a Peabody and Guggenheim award-winning filmmaker and the Creative Director at Just Vision. Since graduating Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University, she has strategically used documentary film to foster constructive conversations on some of the most divisive issues of our times.
Julia started her filmmaking career in Cairo, where she wrote and edited Control Room (2004), for which she was nominated for the Writer’s Guild of America Award. Control Room became one of the highest-grossing political documentaries of all time and introduced Americans for the first time to the inner workings of the Arab satellite channel, Al Jazeera.
Subsequently, she moved to Jerusalem where she co-directed, wrote, and edited Encounter Point (2006), and directed and produced Budrus (2009) and My Neighbourhood (2012), which follows a Palestinian teenager struggling to reclaim his home in East Jerusalem from Israeli settlers.
Most recently, Julia directed Boycott (2021), which documents the efforts of three Americans from diverse backgrounds to protect the right to boycott in America. The film was an official selection at SXSW, HotDocs, and DOC NYC and was covered by CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times, among others.
In addition to over thirty film festival awards, Julia is the recipient of the King Hussein Leadership Prize, Search for Common Ground Award, Ridenhour Film Prize, DocSociety Creative Impact Award, Chicken & Egg Prize, and Columbia University’s Medal of Excellence. Originally from Brazil, Julia is a documentary branch member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Just Vision highlights the power and reach of Palestinians and Israelis working to end the occupation and build a future of freedom, dignity and equality for all. Our overarching goal is to contribute to fostering peace and an end to the occupation by rendering Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders more visible, valued and influential in their efforts. We tell their under-documented stories through award-winning films, digital media and targeted public education campaigns that undermine stereotypes, inspire commitment and galvanize action.
We are a team of human rights advocates, journalists and filmmakers that has a reputation for leadership, credibility and excellence. Based in East Jerusalem, New York and Washington DC, our team reaches tens of thousands of people in direct programs and screenings, moving fluidly from refugee camps and villages to high-level talks with the world’s top decision-makers. Founded in 2003, Just Vision is nonpartisan and religiously unaffiliated.