A film by Justine Shapiro, B.Z. Goldberg, and Carlos Bolado
Produced by Justine Shapiro, B.Z. Goldberg, and Carlos Bolado
Purchase: $195 Classroom Rental:$55
Special K-12 and Public Library Price: $99.95

A landmark documentary, Promises is now available with a unique electronic study guide that offers a multiple perspective approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This Oscar® nominated, Emmy® Award winning film is a beautiful and deeply moving portrait of seven Palestinian and Israeli children. It follows the journey of a filmmaker who meets these children in and around Jerusalem, from a Palestinian refugee camp to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Although they live only 20 minutes apart, these children exist in completely separate worlds, divided by physical, historical and emotional boundaries. Promises explores these boundaries and tells the story of a few children who dared to cross the lines to meet their neighbors. With remarkable balance and a compelling blend of pathos and humor, Promises moves the conflict out of politics and into the realm of the human.

The study guide was created by a team of educators, writers, and the filmmakers. It includes the following features:
50+ pages
Accommodates various time frames
Lesson Plans correlated to "chapters" on DVD
Classroom Activities
Reproducible Student Worksheets
Glossary
Background and historical information
Reference Guide to web sites, books and periodicals
Readings and Poems
Lesson plans can be correlated to state standards for Social Studies, History and Language-Arts.

In English, Hebrew & Arabic with English Subtitles. 102 minutes.

DVD Special Features:
Updates of the Israeli and Palestinian children filmed in August 2004
Footage from the kids’ journey to the 2002 Academy Awards
Deleted sequences
Original theatrical trailer

* Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary
* Emmy Award Winner, Best Documentary
* Emmy Award Winner, Best Background Analysis
* Festival Prize, Jerusalem International Film Festival
* Best Film and Audience Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival

"Extraordinary! Intensely personal and insightful - a humanist’s dream.” - Julie Salamon, The New York Times

“An important documentary that gives the Middle East conflict a human face. ‘Promises’ concludes with an image of simple beauty and hope that will not be spoiled here. It's an image that lives up to the movie's title and reveals that the filmmakers, documentarians and journalists in the best sense, are also poets. Extraordinary!” – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“What an extraordinary film, in which the filmmakers visit young people both Palestinian and Israeli and find that in many cases they share the things that all young people share even though they are divided by this great gulf in the Middle East.” - Roger Ebert

“‘Promises’ is superb! Enthralling from beginning to end with hardly a false step.” - Bob Simon, 60 Minutes, CBS

“A project of love and devotion... This small film is a large masterpiece.” - The Jerusalem Post

“Deeply touching… A movie that changes you.” – Mike Nichols, Film Director