Original subtitles

I've lived through so many experiences.

they burn in my head

like a hot flame

Pain and joy

fears and hope

are all mixed together.

I'm losing track.

The old wouds don't have time to heal

New wounds will cover them up

So I film

to hold onto my memories

These are my five cameras

Every camera is an episode in my life

Five Broken Cameras

I was born and lived all my life in Bil'in,

a village surrounded by hills,

just inside the occupied territories of the West Bank

I'm a "falah" a peasent. Like my entire family.

Then land draws us inward

As a boy, I used to work the land with my father.

We would pick olives.

Once, I didn't fell like working

My father hit me in the head.

So I ran away.

I preferred wandering

in the open valley with my friends.

One day,

Israeli surveyors come to take measurements

to put a separation barrier

in the middle of our land.

The first days the bulldozers come are very hard.

Yet those are also very happy days for me

Our fourth son, Gibreel, is born.

I get my first camera to film Gilbreel.

let me film too, Daddy.

Soraya and I

have four sons.

Each boy is a phase of our lives.

Each boy experienced a different childhood.

Mohamad, our eldest, was born in 1955,

in the time of hope after The Oslo Peace Accords

In his childhood,things were more open.

We could go to the sea every summer.

Yasin was born 3 years later,in a time of uncertainly

The very day the Intifada began in 2000,

Taki -Ydin was born.

The hospital was full of the dead and wounded.

His childhood was shaped

by the long siege the West Bank was under,

In february 2005, Gibreel was born,

Between my childhood and Gilreel's birth,

settlements were built closer and closer...

taking up more and more cultivated land,

so Israeli settlers could move in.

Modi'in-hit, the most recent settlement,

doubled in population within 5 years.

The barrier is supposed to secure

and separate the settlers.

But it's being built far from the settlement

and very close to Bil'in

So more land

is taken from the surrounding villages

Emad, don't let the kids out. Soldiers are in the village.

When something happens in the village,

my instinct is to film it.

I never thought of making films.

But now that I have a camera,

people begin to call me

to shoot special events in the village

So I've become the Bil'in cameraman.

But my camera doesn't work well.

What I have to film demands a strong camera,

not a fragile one.

This man used as a guinea pig is my friend Phil.

The kids call him "El-Phil."

It's a nickname. It means "the elephant."

O often find El-Phil hanging around with the village kids

I think kids like him

because they see a lot of hope in him

which is something not easy to find in adults.

Repaving the streets will solve all our problems.

How's our neighborhood? We'll fix everything today.

Have a drink! There's some juice.

But nothing to eat.

When fall comes, we pick olives on the part of our land

beyond the planned route of the barrier.

Stay off the construction site!

You'll be forcibly evacuated!

Don't come fordward!

No to the fence!

I am confused.

Seeing my brother Riyad hit by these people,

it takes me a while to realize that

they are special unit Israeli soldiers disguised as Palestinians

and planted among us to create chaos.

Shut up! Get going!

Let me go!

Untie me!

We begin to organize demostrations

with Israeli activists joining us.

Is there anything important you want to say?

Bil'in is here,

Part of the Matetyahu settlement is on Bil'in land

So is part of the Qiryat Sefer settlement.

and the new plan goes to here.

We want to know

how the Israeli Army approved taking these lands

How did the construction companies take them?

And then we decide that

every week, after the Friday prayer,

we'd try to get that land and protest.

Good morning, Bil'in!

Come and join us!

Men and women,

old and young!

We're not afraid

of tears gas or guns!

This is our land!

It's not use.

This is a small village

What do you think?

Have you no heart? No family?

Every one of you knows that this is village land!

You stole my land!

Don't do that! I'm telling you!

That's Adeeb.

Adeeb is always

looking for an opportunity to make a scene

We were born on this land

and we'll die here.

We'll live on this land for the rest of our lives!

The barrier construction continues,

without delay.

We have to be solid.

People from all over the world join our resistance.

They bring creative ideas to our protest.

They're with us in everything that happens.

That day, a gas grenade breaks my first camera.

The first camera witnessed winter 2005 to autumn 2005.

When it was shot, Emad also injuried his hand.

I have no job or fixed income.

Like most of the villagers, I live off the land.

In order to keep filming, my friend Yisrael gives me his camera.

Here's the camera.

The sunshade will fall off

if you walk or run while you're shooting.

Otherwise, it works just fine

My brother is released after a month of jail.

He was the first man arrested since demostrations began.

Gibreel's first year flew by.

I observe how every gesture is an exciting move.

I watch him through my camera,

trying to rediscover the world through his eyes.

Thanks to our pressure,

we are temporarily allowed

to cross the barrier.

When Gibreel pronounces his first words

it is a magical moment.

Where are we?

"Jidar", the wall.

"Matat," cartridge

There's a "matat."

Watch out!

Don't be afraid.

- What? -"Jesh," army.

"Jesh." What did they do?

"Jesh," Daddy.

Run, run!

We walk at our own pace, taking baby steps,

as buildings pop out!

of the land.

Hello, Abu-Mohamad (Emad).

Are you getting married?

A day of demostration in the village

is better than a wedding.

All groups - Spanish,

French, German...

Bil'in becomes a symbol of popular resistence

all over the world.

We respond to every political act,

like Israel's attack on Lebanon

in 2006.

Adeeb and Phil are

always on the front lines.

At least this time, it isn't me!

What happened?

They shot your camera?

Shoot him!

I'm bleeding!

I'm bleeding!

Calm down, Adeeb! It's not serious.

Oh, my leg!

He could have died!

Why do that?

Are you crazy?

You killed him!

Take him Don't argue!

Go on, take me!

Phil is released in the same day.

It takes Adeeb a year to recover.

But he never gives up.

Adeeb, Phil and I are very different.

During the time of demostrations,

a close bond develops between us.

Through the camera I see Adeeb's endurance,

Phil's great spirit.

They both have such a love of life

They have a coop but they won't go in it.

Everyday - wintertime, summertime...

They climb the tree everyday - Why?

They have their freedom!

It takes strength to turn anger into something positive.

Phil and I are worried about Adeeb.

Wait!

My oldest son, Mohamad, likes to film me.

I look at Soraya. She is a Palestinian

but she grew up in Brazil.

She loves picking olives working the land.

This place ties us together.

More than feeding us, the land connects us.

Israel uses lots of techniques for occupying lands.

Some are illegal, even according to their own laws.

One way is allowing settlers

to place trailers

on Palestine land.

Once they do, it becomes fact.

So we try to keep them from placing them.

No way is this going down!

I'll bust your ass! Get lost!

Go on, hit me!

Don't touch me!

I'll sue you. I know who you are.

We're non violent. There's no need for violence!

In the end, they beat us all up

You're killing me!

Don't film this!

Don't tell us not to film!

We can't keep the settlers

from putting down their trailers.

So we have another idea.

Why not put down our own trailer

on our stolen land on the other side of the barrier?

Sit down! Let Emad film.

Good morning, Please vacate this land

What do you want me to do?

It doesn't take long to move it.

So we bring a second one

Only this time,

we lock ourselves inside

There are people inside!

And then the second trailer is removed.

After the trailers, the settlers build concrete outposts.

They make use of a law that prevents the army

from destroying concrete structures.

Once they claim the land, construction companies can step in.

So we decide to use the same law to hold onto our land.

Throw another one!

Daba!

How did you sleep in the new outpost?

How did you sleep in the new outpost?

Did you sleep well?

Wake up! The soldiers are here.

Why are you filming me?

You just got here. I was already here.

Did you ever film in your house?

Who cares? What are you doing here?

I'm filming here.

If you point that camera at me again,

I'll bust it, okay?

Okay.

The settlers retaliate at night

The settlers did this!

You see, Emad!

The olive trees! What did the olive trees do?

This olive tree that prays to God, what did they do?

We have to plant this on our land.

Don't swear!

I'm just saying no to the wall!

Do it nice and quietly.

We'll plant it

and it'll feed us with olives.

We'll destroy you, fence!

No, no to the wall!

A tear gas grenade hits Yisrael.

Did it hit your face?

What did hey do?

Eyad is my second brother to be arrested.

It's an endless cycle.

They destroyed our outpost.

We're rebuilding it.

it's impressive how Phil and Adeeb

can raise morale even when things seem hopeless

The outpost becomes our hangout.

I look at Phil and Gibreel.

Something connects them.

Something strong that I can't explain.

What's up?

What can we do?

They're gobbling up all our land, Emad.

They'll never take down the wall

if they can keep building the settlement.

It's all for nothing!

When we get to the settlement!,

we see Phil's brother, Daba,

trying to stop construction alone.

Daba never seems too worried.

He always has that childlike grin.

I'll sue you!

- Film them. - You were told not to come here.

- Protect the cameraman! - I have permission to film.

They're attacking me.

What's the problem?

I'll file a complaint.

Stopo filming!

if he films, I'll break his bones!

Tell them to go away.

We're not doing anything wrong.

What's up, man?

The second camera witnessed winter 2006 to spring 2007.

The focus isn't working.

Why won't it turn?

As months pass, Gibreel becomes more and more

sensitive to the world around him.

Bil'in keeps demostrating, week after week.

Where's Israeli TV?

Film your soldiers!

Now thay Gibreel is old enough to understand,

he comes to see the demostrations.

What are you doing?

He sees people he knows getting arrested

but doesn't understand why

Jaffar is my third brother to be arrested.

Close the windows!

Close the windows!

Then the soldiers came and started shooting.

They were everywhere.

But I wasn't afraid.

They were in front of Daddys's car.

And you weren't afraid?

Weren't you afraid they'd take you?

Weren't you afraid, Gibreel?

Yes, I was.

If there's tear gas, just smell the onion.

You're a hero.

- No! - A hero.

Gibreel's skin is so sensitive,

even the scratch of a sponge leaves marks on his back.

I hpe he'll develop a thick skin fast.

The army comes into the village more and more often.

They try to keep people from demostrating.

When I film, I feel like the camera

protects me.

But it's an illusion.

I film my brother Khaled's arrest.

My mother and father try to stop the jeep.

I keep thinking, "What should I do?"

I have to believe that capturing these images

will have some meaning.

Now the soldiers start comming at night.

Mostly for kids.

They're trying to force us to quit.

Welcome to the club, Bil'in!

Go in and shut the door.

How can you arrest a child?

Hush, little baby, don't say a word

Mama's gonna trap you a bird

Where are you going?

Where are you going?

To the wall.

Watch out, you're gonna fall!

- Why? - Because they're taking our land!

To take back the land the army stole!

We want to sleep!

Stop filming. Get behind the fence.

You're strong Gibreel. - Don't be afraid.

Look! They're afraid of a bunch of kids

If you go back, nobody will throw stones at you!

This is a small village.

Lots of Israelis come here.

These people want peace

The Israelis are

our cousings, my friend.

If you leave,

we'll go back to our village.

What's this?

You've wounded and Israeli!

Call an ambulance!

He's bleeding!

Open up!

Get out of here!

There are no kids here!

- What? - They shot your brother, Eyad,

in the shoulder.

Let's see your shoulder.

It's not serious.

Sit down and let me see.

It's nothing, Mom

It's superficial, okay?

Le tme see the brochure the soldiers distributed.

It says, "Stay away from the Wall

all day during friday dimostrations"

So we'll demostrate on Saturdays

Let's look at the map

This is Bil'in

They took all this. What's left?

They can't tell us what to do

We''ll stop when we decide to stop.

Open up!

Now it's my turn.

I take the camera to protect myself.

- I ask you to stop filming. - I can film in my own house.

Show me your I.D.

Get my I.D.

- What's the matter? - This is a Closed Military Zone.

"The military has declared this area

a Closed Military Zone."

"Anyone found in a Closed Military Zone

must evacuate the area at once.

"No one can enter or remain on the premises..."

You are now in violation of the order

- I ask you to stop filming. - I'm a journalist, I can film.

This is a Closed Military Zone. Stop filming.

Put down the camera.

I'm a journalist and I'm in my own home.

Put down the camera. That's an order

Turn the lens to the wall.

Give it to your son, He can put it down.

Why is he being taken?

The police interrogate me and accuse me of throwing rocks.

I do time in jail.

My lawyer gets them to release me

under house arrest.

I'm held in a house outside Bil'in.

The camera is pretty much all I took.

He'll talk to you.

I'm a psychologist. I do evaluations for the court.

Is that constantly filming?

I'm used to filming.

I haven't done it for a while. Because I was in jail

and now I'm under house arrest.

It's been a month now.

I've got nothing to do here, so I film.

Nature gives me new vitality.

I know I have a purpose in life.

The price may be high but the path I've chosen

is the one meant for me. It's my destiny.

After a while, I'm back in Bil'in.

My case is closed. They claim they lost the evidence

I'm happy to see that people

continue to meet at the outpost.

Through our lawsuit against the barrier,

we,ve discovered a lot about the land

on the other side of the barrier.

We found out that

all the construction was illegal.

We have a warrant to stop construction

and prohibit occupation of the new buildings.

I'm off to the demostration.

But, Emad, It's a holy day. No, not today!

Haven't you had enough problems?

Don't go! I want us to be together.

It's a holy day There's no demostration.

Enough with the filming!

I have to go on filming.

All I can hear is Phil's voice in my other ear.

Your camera's busted.

My third camera may have saved my life.

The bullet is lodged in it,

as a remainder of life's fragility.

The third camera sustained from winter 2007 to winter 2008

During this time, it was shot and repaired twice.

I wanna see it.

- Where you going? - To the snow.

I have to find the inner strength to keep on doing

all the good things we like to do.

Daba, get up!

Time passes.

People keep demostrating on Fridays.

But the barrier wends it's way to other villages.

People feel that nothing will stop the occupation from its course.

So I decide to do something

to boost morale.

Screening my footage allows the villagers

to gain some distance from those events.

I think it contributes

to the solidarity among us.

It encourages them to get more villages

to start protesting.

By 2008, many new villages,

alla across the West Banck

adopt the Bil'in struggle

as a model for a new kind of resistance.

The Israeli government fears that the protest

will become a third Intifada.

The army is under pressure.

Someone is shot dead in Nil'in, a nearby village.

So we all go to show our support.

In the middle of the chaos in Nil'in,

they take Daba and shoot him in the leg.

The soldiers use a lots of gas

and live ammunition.

Snipers surround the village.

We have children here!

From Nil'in to Bil'in!

We're one with Bil'in!

From Bil'in to Beiruth!

An 11 -year- old boy is killed in Nil'in.

Snipers shot him near his home.

Immediatly after the funeral, a 17 -year- old boy is also killed.

Clinging to nonviolent ideals isn't easy...

when dead is alla around.

These images bring back old memories.

Memories I'd rather keep from my children.

Danger is creeping closer.

I'm thinking about my children.

I want to protect them.

But the occupation always catches you off guard.

They have to become tough men.

Phil is the only one who's still optimistic.

He's like his nickname, "the elephant"

Strong and thick-skinned.

But he's a gentle man.

He seems so sure that things will work out.

That's when we get good news.

We're reinforced by the Israeli court decision

to dismantle a section of the barrier.

A year after that moment of joy,

There is no physical evidence of the court's decision.

I've been waiting for 4 hours.

I don't know where I am.

So much land has been destroyed.

I feel dizzy.

Two o'clock in Bil'in!

We're all in rebellion.

Then the truck I'm driving crashes into the barrier.

These are the last images recorded by my fourth camera.

The fourth camera operated all of 2008.

I could die but no one realizes it.

I can't help feeling

that I crashed because of the barrier.

But crashing into it probably saved my life.

Then the soldiers have to take me to an Isreali hospital.

Take him to a hospital in Israel

On one hand I know it's a God's decision.

On the other, if I had been taken to an average Palestinian hospital,

I probably wouldn't have survived.

Much of my body is severely injured.

I lose consciousness for 20 days.

When I wake up in the Tel Aviv hospital,

Israel is beginning

its massive attack on Gaza of late 2008

My recovery is just a drop in that sea of violence.

Two months later, I go home

without much of a welcome.

People are in mourning for Gaza.

Daddy!

What's up, Gibreel?

The doctor say I can never do physical work again.

I'm not an Isreali citizen,

so I have huge hospital bills.

I have to find funding

to continue my treatment.

The Palestinian Authority doesn't consider my accident

to be resistance-related.

If you don't fit the resistance image,

you're on your own.

Lots of people use symbols for political profit

Whether it's a symbol of Bil'in or a symbol of a Palestinian state.

Bil'in is attracting more politicians of all stripes.

I film Adeeb onserving them from behing.

I'm sure he doesn't like it.

I'd rather be with the real people.

Will you get back some of your land now?

No, none of it.

There's no way?

They've built buildings on it.

- There are no olive trees left? - They're all gone.

If they move the wall back just one yard,

we'll have succeeded.

We've been waiting here for a change for 4 years.

We want to see them retreat!

New settlres are allowed to move into the buildings,

on the land we lost,

with the permission of the Isreali court.

Get the furniture here fast.

Hang the mezuzah

to stablish ownership

I meet Phil, watching the World Cup

with the kids at the outpost.

He still dreams about fixing the world.

But dreming can be dangerous.

Gibreel is 4 years old now, so is Bil'in's resistance.

The only protection I can offer him

is allowing him to see everything with his own eyes,

just how vulnerable life is.

Soldier!

Don't shoot! Go back home!

If you kill anyone you'll be responsible!

Back then, I didn't realize

that death was hovering over us.

Officer, you shot an Israeli girl!

it only became clear to me...

when Phil was killed

Stop shooting!

At night, Daba hangs posters of his martyred brother.

The entire village is in shock.

Maybe it's just the kids who were Phil's friends

like my kids

who still can't digest it.

They kiss him goodbye but it will take weeks

for hate and anger to rise from within

When someone dies,

the anger is so overwhelming

that people's feelings erupt

and they're ready to die.

Where's your heart?

Your commander has no heart!

Why are you doing this?

I wanna die! Like that!

Let me have it! I wanna die!

This is our land!

Daddy...

Why don't you kill the soldiers with a knife?

Because they'd shoot me.

Will there be any left?

There will be.

Why do you want to hurt them?

Because they shot my Phil

Why did they shoot Phil?

What did he do to them?

We all lose our childhood at some point.

Like Daba lost his childlike grin.

But while we erase every piece of our childhood,

it's the angers that remains.

All together!

Gaza and the West Banck!

I think about the children like my son Gibreel.

Or Adeeb's son

on the day his father was arrested and sent to jail.

How will they be able to bear their anger?

Release my father!

Release my father!

Shortly after that I receive an arrested warrant.

What did they say?

They said they were going to arrest me again tonight.

What will you do?

What can I do?

See what's happening to us because of your filming!

Now they're taking you!

You nevver know what they're up to!

If they take you, what'll we do, the kids and I?

You saw what they did to you before

But you never learn!

I've told you to stop a thousand times!

Stay home with our kids and find something else to do!

Why didn't you? Why, Emad?

If they come, what will we do?

What will I do?

And the kids?

It happened once, twice...

I can't take this a third time!

Stop! Enough with the filming!

I'm so tired!

Stop with the filming!

Emad, what are you doing?

There's not many soldiers today Why?

They're tearing down the fence.

- You think so? - Yeah, I do.

- So no tear gas today? - No tear gas!

For the first time in 5 years?

The speed of an M16 bullet is...

2,800 feet per second.

it takes the bullet 3 milliseconds

to hit my camera.

In that flash of time.

before the experience

becomes a memory,

everything I know vanishes.

The fifth camera lasted from winter 2009

to spring 2010. It was smashed by a soldier

and repaired before veing shot.

It's been a year that Adeeb's been in jail.

The court's decision begins to be implemented.

The barrier is dismantled.

It's a victory, however small, for the village.

A concrete wall is being built further from our village.

Some lands will be returned to the owners

but Bil'in continues to resist the new wall.

Barriers can be removed

but the land will always bear the scars.

Gibreel has grown from a baby into a boy.

That means letting go of innocence.

This rapid coming of age saddens me a bit.

Healing is a challenge in life.

It's a victim's sole obligation.

By healing, you resist oppression.

But when I'm hurt over and over again,

I forget the wounds that rule my life.

Forgotten wounds can't be healed.

So I film to heal.

I know they may knock at my door at any moment.

But I'll just keep filming.

It helps me confront life

and survive.

Gibreel, do you want to go to the sea?

Say you want to!

Daddy leave me alone.

Yes, I want to.

For my last treatment in Tel Aviv,

Gibreel and Taki-Ydin are allowed to come with me.

I've waited for this for so long

What are you so happy about?

The sea!

The sixth camera witnessed spring 2010. At the last day of filming

the destruction of the wall, Emad was hit by a stun grenade

...but his camera wasn't harmed and is still filming to this day.