Encounter Point on AllMovie

Encounter Point takes a look at the growing grassroots peace movement among Israelis and Palestinians. Directors Ronit Avni, who is the founder and director of Just Vision, a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging grassroots peace organizations like those that are the focus of the film, and Julia Bacha, who co-wrote and edited Control Room, the acclaimed documentary about Al-Jazeera's coverage of the Iraq war, focus on several individuals who have responded to personal tragedies caused by the conflict by becoming activists for peace. The subjects include Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian who served several years in Israeli prisons for his participation as a teen in the first Intifada, and whose brother was killed by Israeli soldiers; Robi Damelin, whose son, an Israeli soldier, was killed by a Palestinian sniper; Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian former militant who is now the supervisor of the Seeds of Peace center in Jerusalem; Tzvika Shahak, an Israeli whose teenage daughter was killed in a terrorist bombing in 1996; George Sa'adeh, a Palestinian whose own young daughter was killed by soldiers at a checkpoint when they mistakenly opened fire on his family's car; and Shlomo Zagman, a devoutly religious former settler who rejected his right-wing upbringing and left the territories in an effort to learn more about the conflict from the Palestinian side. The filmmakers profile these individuals and show them at work, trying to overcome the obstacles that the Israeli government, the media, and decades of ingrained antagonism have placed in their path.Encounter Point had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival.