Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Gossels screened
her latest film, My So-Called Enemy, at Mount Saint Mary
College at 7 pm on Wednesday, October 12. Gossels hosted a
discussion of the film at the college at 4 pm on Thursday, October
13, followed by a reception. The presentation was co-hosted by the
Catholic & Dominican Institute, the Division of Arts &
Letters, and Curtin Memorial Library.
My So-Called Enemy is a coming of age story about 22
Palestinian and Israeli girls who came to the US in 2002 to
participate in Building Bridges for Peace, a women’s leadership
program.
The film follows six of the young women over a seven-year
period, poignantly depicting how the experience of knowing their
“enemies” as human beings meets with the realities of their lives
at home in the Middle East. Lisa Gossels is the director and
producer of this feature-length documentary, which has won six
prestigious filmmaking awards including the 2011 Newport Beach Film
Festival, 2011 CINE Golden Eagle, and the 2010 Hamptons
International Film Festival.
My So Called Enemy is a timely and timeless film about
the human consequences of conflict as seen through the eyes of
young people who are thoughtful, intelligent and articulate beyond
their years. It is about multi-faith and multi-cultural
understanding and the important role of women in building peaceful
communities. While the film speaks directly to the complexities of
the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it is also a coming of age story
that transcends the conflict. It’s about the power of individual
narratives to open hearts and minds, challenge long-held
pre-conceptions, and create the space for dialogue, with the goal
of creating more just societies.
Lisa Gossels won an Emmy Award in 2001 for her feature
documentary about the Holocaust, The Children of
Chabannes, which was praised as “One of the most heartening
Holocaust films ever made …” by the Los Angeles Times. Beyond her
documentary work, Gossels produces and directs educational and
promotional films for corporate and non-profit clients through her
New York City-based company, Good Egg Productions, Inc. She is a
Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.
My So-Called Enemy will be screened at the Aquinas Hall Theatre
at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh at 7 pm on October 12.
Lisa Gossels will introduce the 90-minute film and lead a
question and answer session afterward. A more in-depth conversation
with the filmmaker will take place the following afternoon, on
October 13, at 4 pm. in Curtin Memorial Library on the MSMC campus.
Light refreshments will be served.
The events are co-sponsored by the Division of Arts and Letters,
Curtin Memorial Library, and the Catholic and Dominican Institute
at the Mount. For more information, call Curtin Library at
845-569-3600.