Screening: Bridge Over the Wadi

This event is run in collaboration with The Abraham Fund In 2004, a group of Palestinian and Israeli parents began a remarkable experiment in Israel's Wadi Valley, a school called Bridge Over The Wadi, which educates fifty Jewish children and fifty Arab children. All classes are bi-lingual with an equal number of Israeli and Palestinian teachers, all students are required to learn both Hebrew and Arabic, the school has both a Jewish and an Arab principal, and all the children are invited to participate in religious celebrations, regardless of faith. The school was the subject of great controversy when it opened, and the administrators still find themselves dealing with a broad cultural divide when teaching the history of the area or dealing with each cultures perspectives on the founding of Israel. However, as the youngsters make friends with one another, slowly but surely the school moves towards its goal of narrowing the boundaries that separate two peoples. The film follows the school's first year and portrays through the personal stories of its characters, how complicated and fragile is the attempt to create an environment of co-existence against the backdrop of the complicated reality around.