September 24, 2002
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
Filmmaker B.Z. Goldberg presents his Oscar-
nominated film Promises at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- Screening of Promises with filmmaker B.Z. Goldberg
- Promises was nominated for the 2001 Best Documentary Academy Award
- An insightful look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
- Sunday, October 20
- 3 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public $6, UCSB students $5
- Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
Co-director/co-producer B.Z. Goldberg will present his film Promises on Sunday, October 20 at 3 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall and will answer questions after the screening. Promises is an Oscar-nominated documentary that looks at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of seven children, ages 9 to 13 when the filmmakers began the project. Filmed during a period of relative calm from 1997 through the summer of 2000, the documentary gives the Middle East conflict a human face. Goldberg is the on-camera interviewer of adolescents from both sides of the struggle; he clearly gains their trust and eventually helps them get beyond both their platitudes about peace and unity and their regurgitations of appalling stereotypes. The film unflinchingly looks at why peace in the region has been so elusive, yet also offers hope, as the children are shown in moments, however temporary, of bonding. The LA Weekly wrote that Promises “proves too sincere to exploit its subjects and too honest to manipulate its audience. What first might have seemed like naivete on the part of the filmmakers reveals itself as hope.” The Jerusalem Post calls the film “an extremely moving view of the local political situation.”
B.Z. Goldberg was born in Boston but grew up in Israel just outside of Jerusalem. He is fluent in Hebrew and conversant in Arabic. After attending New York University Film School, he returned to Jerusalem to produce television news for a variety of agencies, including Reuters.
It was during this time that he began to be moved by the ways in which the Middle East conflict informed and infused the lives of Palestinian and Israeli children. Goldberg noticed these children were not simply victims of the conflict, but had become active protagonists in the making of their countries. Goldberg began to develop the idea of a documentary film that would take international audiences beyond the news headlines, into the hearts and minds of these children.
Since 1992 Goldberg has worked for a number of U.S. based consulting firms as a specialist in the field of conflict resolution, working with organizations as varied as the Israeli army, AT&T, Columbia University, and the African National Congress in South Africa. Promises is his first feature-length film. He co-directed Promises with Justine Shapiro and Carlos Bolado. Shapiro, who was born in South Africa and grew up in Berkeley, California, is best known for hosting and co-writing the award-winning travel series Lonely Planet. Bolado, who was born in Mexico, directed Bajo California, El Limite del Tiempo, a film widely regarded as one of the best Mexican films of the 1990s.
Promises is presented as part of the Herman P. & Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies by UCSB Arts & Lectures, the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and the Department of Religious Studies. This event is presented in partnership with the Santa Barbara Jewish Federation.
Tickets for Promises are $6 for the general public and $5 for UCSB students.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.