about us

About Us and our Documentary Project


In the U.S., when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we hear primarily about war, terrorism, and hate, while many Israeli and Palestinian voices promoting nonviolence, justice, and coexistence are too often ignored.  As we traveled through Israel and the West Bank in 2009, we talked to both Israeli and Palestinian activists about their nonviolent resistance and attitudes about the conflict.  Through our documentary project and this website, we hope to help expand the dialogue about the situation by giving a primarily American audience a wider glimpse of seldom-heard perspectives. We hope this can help raise awareness of the complex issues involved, humanize people on both sides, and encourage people to inform themselves about the situation, so they may hopefully make a choice to become active in supporting Palestinian rights and a just resolution to the conflict.


We are two Americans who believe that both Israelis and Palestinians have an equal right to live in peace and security, and we are concerned that American policy has enabled successive Israeli governments to continue oppressive policies against the Palestinians that have in reality make Israel much less secure, not more.  We believe that Israelis can only realize peace and security after the Palestinians achieve justice and are granted their full human rights according to international law.


We also believe that Israel’s continuing military occupation of the Palestinians and ongoing settlement construction are not only oppressive obstacles to peace, but these policies also further erode Israel’s image and standing in the world and may even contribute to rising anti-Semitism internationally.  As American citizens, we cannot in good conscience remain silent about the destructive policies that our tax dollars help support, and we believe that genuine peace and security can only occur when Israel is ready to make some necessary compromises for peace.  Like a drug-addicted friend in need of an intervention, Israel needs America’s help to do what is in its long term best interests.


We have other day jobs, but documentary filmmaking is one of our passionate avocations.  We decided to translate our concern for the situation in Israel and Palestine into a visit to the region and a documentary project.  While we have produced several short documentaries, all on an amateur non-profit basis, Dreams Deferred is our first feature-length project.  We are independent filmmakers, and our only budget for this project was a few thousand dollars of our own savings that we used on high-definition video and sound equipment and travel expenses.