This is My Land… Hebron named Best Italian Documentary at Festival dei Popoli

Mercury title This is My Land… Hebron has been awarded the CINEMA.DOC prize for Best Italian Documentary at the 51st Festival dei Popoli. Held in Florence from 13th-20th November, the international documentary film festival also gives selected movies small distribution in Italian cinemas over a period of two weeks.

Following its World Premiere at the Festival dei Popoli, co-director Stephen Natanson commented:
“It was shown to a packed house. The Odeon is a beautiful old, large cinema with marble columns, gilt bronze sculpture and plush seats right in the center of Florence and they had to open up the gallery above to fit the people in. They all stayed, some were even standing at the back. It was followed by a emotional tension which was similar to that which we had felt when we first filmed and saw the footage but we had long forgotten. After all that tension they then applauded through all the title sequence and even after the Q + A.”

The film centers on Hebron - the major center of the three great Abrahamic religions and home to one of the first Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the only one right in the heart of a Palestinian city. The settlers explicit aim is drive out the 160,000 indigenous Palestinians and establish a Jewish majority, a goal they are slowly achieving with the collusion and protection of the Israeli army. Featuring interviews with members of the Israeli parliament and prominent Haaretz journalists, the film expertly lifts the lid on the destruction of the Palestinian way of life in old Hebron.

This is My Land… Hebron has sold to broadcasters VRT Belgium and Russia Today.