A Slim Peace

Director: Yael Luttwak
UK 2007 60 mins
Language: English/Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles

Fresh from a debut at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, this documentary by filmmaker Yael Luttwak is sure to get audiences here talking. Luttwak, a Jewish-American, set herself a bold and often thankless task, forming a weight-loss group in Jerusalem for women whose backgrounds cross the political spectrum: Palestinian, Bedouin and Jewish, including settlers.
Attempting to transcend politics by focusing on these women’s shared goals was never going to be straightforward, and personal bitterness inevitably encroaches on the hard-earned harmony of the group, but easing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through dieting was never quite the intention. Luttwak hopes to break through the layers of fear and misunderstanding isolating these women, while offering a much-needed reminder of the irrelevance of our Western obsession with body image. To see the group let down its guard, dancing together in a moment of fun - however temporary – makes a brighter future seem just that little bit closer.

Event / Themes: Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Seeds of Reconciliation