A Bottle in the Gaza Sea
Une bouteille à la mer (A Bottle in the Gaza Sea) was shown at the recent Other Israel Film Festival sponsored by the Manhattan Jewish Community Center. It is a film about the friendship between a young Jewish woman living in Jerusalem and a young Palestinian man from Gaza sparked by a message in a bottle. The film opens with the sounds of conversation coming from a Jerusalem café, silenced by an explosion. Later, a lone Israeli soldier throws a bottle containing a message into the sea. The message is from the soldier’s 17-year-old sister, Tal Levine (Agathe Bonitzer) who wants the question answered, “How could someone strap a bomb to themselves, walk into a café, and kill innocent people?” Her message is found by Naim Al Fardjouki (Mahmud Shalaby), a twenty year old living in Gaza. He reads her message, accepts her invitation to respond by email, and a friendship ensues.
