USA: "A Slim Peace," a new documentary showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, explores whether bringing together Israeli and Palestinian women to shed pounds together and talk about peace, can help resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis

Record ID: 349081

  • Title: USA: "A Slim Peace," a new documentary showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, explores whether bringing together Israeli and Palestinian women to shed pounds together and talk about peace, can help resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis
  • Date: 9th May 2007
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) YAEL LUTTWACK, DIRECTOR OF "A SLIM PEACE", SAYING: "Basically every single person I met or haven't met I asked, and then I got a group together. I interviewed them with dietitians, but then I had to call people up and say sorry - I had more people than I needed."
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA6S12FBC3X2WMJL7FBVJ5JMH2S
  • Story Text: "A Slim Peace," a new documentary showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, explores whether bringing together Israeli and Palestinian women to shed pounds together and talk about peace, can help resolve the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis. As world leaders continue attempts to jump-start the broken-down Mideast peace process, documentary film maker Yael Luttwack decided that she too would use her talents to start a dialogue among Israelis and Palestinians.
    But Luttwack's dialogue doesn't involve Ehud Olmert or Mahmoud Abbas - instead, she focused her latest film "A Slim Peace," around uniting 14 overweight women of varying backgrounds who live in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The goal was simple, create an environment where women share the goal of losing weight -- a universal problem -- and learn about one another in the process.
    For Luttwack, who is passionate about the Middle East, shedding pounds and talking peace seemed like a natural fit.
    "I always felt kind of chubby and I always never felt that great about my body and I think that's from speaking to every woman friend I have and male friends too. It's hard to feel good about your body in this society. And when I did feel good about my body and I also was working with Israelis and Palestinians, and obviously I'm very passionate about the Middle East and I care a lot about it, so I did connect those two things, because I'm passionate about both," says Luttwack.
    Getting women together for a weight loss group was not an easy process. After not getting much luck on approaching strangers, the half-American half-Israeli film maker turned to friends and acquaintances to spread the word that she was forming a weight loss group. The response was greater than she'd expected. In fact she got so many interested candidates, "I had to call people up and say sorry - I had more people than I needed," she says.
    In her final group of 14, Yael brought together Jewish, Palestinian, religious settlers and Bedouin women who varied in age and socio-economic status. The women met on a regular basis at the Jerusalem Cinematheuqe, some traveling 1.5 hours through check points with special permits.
    Reflecting on the experience, Luttwack says that from the beginning, the women were polite and while there was some obvious tension, it was almost always controlled.
    But she says one of the biggest surprises she encountered while making the film was the ease with which many of the women made friends with each other. "Some of the women got along like a house on fire. This Israeli and Palestinian woman that really feature in the film, they become like best friends forever," says Luttwack. The other interesting aspect she says, was that the secular Jewish women had more in common with Palestinians than Americans.
    But can these friendships made in a controlled environment last?
    Luttwack won't reveal what happens, but "at the end though you see that they have a real moment of truth," she says, "that the situation is a little bit bigger than them."
    All in all, Luttwack says she is not sending a message to the audience, she just hopes that people can learn to shed their preconceived notions, like they do weight, one pound at a time.
    "A Slim Peace" is being screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, which lasts through May 5th.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register