The Voices Documentary: We’re Going Back to Bethlehem

Thank you to those who’ve followed our updates since the successful completion of our videography training program for eleven Palestinian students, in January 2022. (“Documentary, “Voices of Palestine’s Future,” in the Works in Boulder,” 6/23/2022, boulderjewishnews.org.) And to all, we wish to acknowledge the sensitive time that we are all in, as each of us grapples with how to respond to the ever changing realities for Israelis and Palestinians, and in our own lives, too, during the last 14+ months. Now, we’re eager to tell you of the pivotal moment where we, our students, and our supporters have arrived.

We were in post-production (editing) on the video, when Israel was shaken to its core on October 7, 2023, by the Hamas attack. The ongoing impacts in Israel and the ensuing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and now Syria are reshaping the lives of all in the region, including our students. In 2022, they bravely told of their ambitions for the future, which became the intimate content of our documentary. We now want to revisit many of the students in Bethlehem during February or March, to record their thoughts in a dramatically different world. Frankly, we’re convinced that screening the video without updating it would be a disservice to all, while presenting their “then and now” perspectives would be compelling and insightful. Bruce S met with these students in October 2024, they’re ‘all in’ for being reinterviewed, and we’re expecting some strong testimony.

We have immense gratitude to those of you who financially helped make the training program a success and get us to where we are now. Our ambition remains the same: to create an honest, uncompromised portrait of these young Palestinians as they try to shape their future, and we’re not giving up. With our access and opportunity to show transformation, their new perspectives will be a unique advantage of our film.

Imagine being able to find out what the students are thinking, today. Here are a few clips from our rough cut so you can meet and hear some of them ‘back then’, before we return to Bethlehem.

The total amount we need to raise for hard costs is $20,000, as explained on our webpage. We are still volunteering our time. Please help us bring this unique, revealing video current and complete in 2025 by making your tax-deductible donation to our 501(c)3 Fiscal Sponsor, Boulder County Arts Alliance. We’re proud that BCAA is continuing to support our project.

Thank you.

Bruce Borowsky & Bruce Shaffer