As Christmas approaches, join CTPI and the Grassmarket Project for a beautiful and challenging film about Bethlehem – a city under occupation. Film director Leila Sansour returns to Bethlehem to make a film about her home town, soon to be encircled by a wall. She left the city as a teenager thinking that Bethlehem was too small and provincial.. She intends her film to be a tribute to her late father, founder of Bethlehem University, and a man regarded as a hero by his town’s folk. As Bethlehem approaches ruin, her decision to flee this sleepy town, taken much to her father’s regret, comes to haunt her. OPEN BETHLEHEM is a story of a homecoming to the world’s most famous little town. The film spans seven momentous years in the life of Bethlehem, revealing a city of astonishing beauty and political strife under occupation. While telling a personal story, the film charts the creation of a campaign to compel international action to bring peace to the Middle East. The OPEN BETHLEHEM Project seeks to advocate and proactively promote support for a free and flourishing Bethlehem city within a vibrant and sovereign Palestine. After the film there will be mulled wine and mince pies. All welcome. This article was published on 2024-03-19
