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A BOTTLE IN THE GAZA SEA benefit screening & discussion

Belmont World Film and Friends of the House of Hope Shelter Co-present “A Bottle in the Gaza Sea” June 5 at the Regent Theater

Belmont World Film and the Friends of the House of Hope Shelter co-present the Middle Eastern drama A Bottle in the Gaza Sea starring Hiam Abbass (The Visitor, Rock the Casbah), French director Thierry Binisti's careful nonpartisan view of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. In this drama about a 17 year-old Israeli girl who develops an email relationship with a 20 year-old boy in Gaza after he finds her message in a bottle washed up on the beach. Over the course of a single year, the two begin a search for common ground despite their uncommon circumstances. The film portrays a heartfelt engagement with war as experienced by those still growing into their opinions and allegiances.

The screening will be followed by a discussion led by Larry Sternberg, visiting professor at the Hornstein Program for Jewish Leadership at Brandeis University, and Yousef Bashir, a 24 year-old Palestinian from Gaza who is currently a graduate student in Conflict and Coexistence at Brandeis. In 2004 Yousef was shot in the back by an Israeli soldier in front of his own home. Through excellent care by Israeli doctors at a Tel Aviv hospital, Yousef’s life was saved, and he was able to learn to walk again. He has since dedicated his life to ending the cycle of hatred and revenge between Israel and Palestine.

Partial proceeds from the event benefits the Massachusetts-based Friends of the House of Hope Shelter, Inc., created for the specific purpose of supporting the shelter project of Dar Al Amal, or House of Hope as it is known in English.  The House of Hope/Dar Al Amal, is a Lebanese non-denominational and non-governmental organization, which has added the development of a property into a shelter to its ongoing human rights work. The shelter will provide a secure place for at risk children, young girls and women, or those caught in situations of poverty, violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, marginalization, legal conflict, or recent prison release.  In 2010, the House of Hope/Dar Al Amal bought a property with a building in need of rehabilitation, and with the donations collected by the fundraising events organized by the Friends of the House of Hope Shelter, is persistently renovating it.

Tickets are $11 general admission and $9.00 for students, seniors, and Belmont World Film members, and are available in advance online at www.belmontworldfilm.org or in person on day of show at the Regent Theater thirty minutes before screening. Tickets to support the Friends of the House of Hope Shelter are $20, and $15 for students with ID either in advance from Eleni Sacre at helene.sacre@gmail.com, or on day of show at the designated Friends of the House of Hope Shelter table in the theater lobby, thirty minutes before screening. Donations to the Friends of the House of Hope Shelter from the general public are welcome.

For more information, visit www.belmontworldfilm.org or call 617-484-3980.



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