Screenings
- Past Screenings
April, 2024, at the American University in Bulgaria | Academic Version
April, 2024, at the American University of Rome | Academic Version
September, 2024, at UNESCO partnered World Without Anger conference in Kathmandu, Nepal
October, 2024, at Kopriva Social Space in Sofia, Bulgaria
- Future Screenings
November, 2024, at Skidmore College in Albany, New York
January, 2025, in Clare County, Ireland
Ibrahim Ahmed Abu El-Hawa - March 2022
Love Your Neighbor Academic Cut Reflection
Ibrahim, the Jerusalemite who runs a peace hostel's great ambition is to love your neighbor no matter what but is faced with a persistent dilemma: how can you love your neighbor in a land that is systematically apart?
Although I am proud of the first version of 'Love Your Neighbor' that came from two years of filming, four trips to the Holy Lands, and countless hours of editing; there are many things to change. The most drastic and important change is to the structure of the story. I am personally much too prevalent in a story that is not about me and I used myself to guide and tie the many different sub-stories into a larger narrative, but, it weakened the overall argument and theme.
I believe I have captured Ibrahim's (the protagonist) message and the greater dilemma both with journalistic integrity, and passion for the struggle his story represents. But, I will continue working on this piece. I will cut myself and my grandfather out of the story and create a new structure based on connections I saw after stepping away for a while.
Love Your Neighbor Academic Cut
The first version of 'Love Your Neighbor' was used as my graduating thesis for the American University in Bulgaria.
Israel-Hamas video Reports
Gaza reports
A day after the October 7th Hamas attack, I made a video explaining some events that occurred within the days leading up to the attack.
I felt that many within my circle were looking at this event as if it happened in a vacuum, I shared a point of view that many hadn't considered at the time. The video now has over 24K views
Five days after the October 7th Hamas attack, I made a second video explaining how tensions were rising in the region and how humanitarian disasters were continuing.
Possible revision points: More emphasis on
Why the days before October 7th were significant. Why it mattered that there's a pattern in history that gives more context to the attack.
Zoopark Blagoevgrad Reflecting
I played guitar for the Bears to process culture shock when I moved to Bulgaria. I felt alien to my surroundings and I imagine so did they.
For a semester I would go biweekly to take photos of how the conditions changed. My goal was to help raise awareness of the Zoo for the university community. It was only a 20-minute walk from the university and many of my peers never went so I decided to show them what it's actually like. This was also my final project for a documentary photography class.
Writing
This is a written report about Israel's press freedom index score in 2022. I wrote it for a 'Writing for Media' class project at the American University in Bulgaria.