This intimate documentary explores the complex lives of Israeli and Palestinian gays and lesbians in inter-ethnic relationships. Director Elle Flanders breaks with the sensationalistic media coverage of the violence in the Middle East by documenting the everyday lives of courageous, outspoken individuals as they take small steps towards peace, mutual respect and hope.
“Zero Degrees is hypnotic, elegaic, political, and incisive. Yet the film isn’t merely poetic — it illuminates the filmmaker’s (and by extension, the viewer’s) complicity in war and intolerance.
—Jennie Livingston
“Flanders has found a way to surround a verite slice of life with the most deeply personal and lyrical frame, complicating our notions of Israeli/Palestinian ‘relations’ in a wonderfully unexpected fashion. Her documentary speaks to anyone who cares about the future of partnerships, filmmaking, or social justice.”
—B. Ruby Rich
Followed by Panel Discussion
Flanders will be joined by U of A graduate students Jessica Weinberg (Anthropology and Linguistics) and Ashley Alsayyad (Women’s Studies).
Jessica P. Weinberg’s research examines the ways in which the feminist peace movement in Israel is linguistically and discursively constructed from within, by the Palestinian and Jewish activists who participate in the movement. Her scholarship is informed by her own feminist and queer activism, as well as her peace activism in alliance with Palestinian activists and with other Jewish activists.
Ashley Alsayyad is a first year graduate student in the Women’s Studies Department at the University of Arizona where she is working on a project about Muslim lesbians in the Middle East.