My Israel
Yulie Cohen loves Israel. It is the land of her ancestors, the land her parents fought for during the 1948 war and the land she herself served as an Air Force Officer during the Entebbe crisis. In 1978, working as an El Al stewardess, she survived a terrorist attack in London that killed a colleague and left her with shrapnel in her arm. In My Israel Yulie Cohen revisits her critically acclaimed trilogy; My Terrorist (2002), My Land Zion (2004) and My Brother (2007) with a new perspective and additional footage. Embarking on a difficult and emotional journey she attempts to free the surviving terrorist who attacked her, to question the myths of the state that she grew up in and to reconcile with her ultra orthodox brother after 25 years of estrangement. My Israel is an account of remarkable courage and understanding set against the last turbulent decade of Israeli history.
" …Storyville presents a fantastically interesting and moving film by Yulie Cohen… " The Guardian, Gareth McLean, May 14, 2008
"..a remarkable film, formulating a logical response to a complex, troubling set of circumstances." Phil Harrison, Timeout London, May 8-14, 2008
" …Far better, Storyville: My Israel was the raw and far from resolved story of Yulie Cohen Gerstel…a stubborn corrective to the politics of hatred and division swirling around her. " The Times, Tim Teeman, May 15, 2008
“…a strange, compelling film, mostly distinguished by a sense of pain…a portrait of a society simmering with rage and fear…” The independent, Thomas Sutcliffe, 15 May 2008
Screenings with filmmaker:
1. Middle East Associations Conference Washington DC Dec. 2009
2. Israelis Films' week, Berlin.
3. London, Forgiveness Concert,
St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.
4. Oslo, a Palestinian Israeli Films' week.
5. London, a workshop about forgiveness
6. Miami, NCJW.
7. New York, Bnei Yeshurun Congregation.
8. Northeastern University
9. University of NC/Chapel Hill
10. Wilmington, University of North Carolina.
11. Maine, the Atlantic College.
12. Bezalel, Academy for Art, Jerusalem
13. ICCI Jerusalem, students' seminar for Palestinians, Israelis and Japanese.
Educational use at:
1. Yale University
2. Art Institute of California/SF
3. University of Alberta
4. University of MD/College Park
5. University of CA/Santa Barbara
6. University of TN/Knoxville
7. University of Wisc/Superior
8. Worcester Polytechnic Inst.
9. Pacific Lutheran University
10. Mount Holyoke College
11. University of FL/Gainesville
12. University of Miami
13. University Ca/Davis
14. Duke University
15. Chapman University
16. Colgate University
17. Florida Intl University
18. Upper Arlington Pub Library
19. Ithaca College
20. College of Scholastica
21. Hong Kong, Temple Israel
22. Bloomsburg University
23. University of MI/Dearborn
24. Rutgers University
25. Abraham Joshua Heschel School NYC
26. Simon Fraser University
27. Columbia University
28. University of Lethbridge
29. UWM Center for International Education
30. University of Sothern California
31. New York University
32. University of MI/Ann Arbor
33. Connecticut College
34. Media Educator Corp/WA
35. Tulane University
36. Northeastern University
37. University of NC/Chapel Hill
38. Temple Israel/NE
39. Central CT State University
40. Brooklyn Public Library