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Screening will start at 12:00 Noon US EST; 18:00 Europe; 19:00 Palestine; 17:00 UK; 05:00 New Zealand; running time: 20 minutes; English with English Subtitles; 2003, The screening of the film will be followed by Q&A discussion with David Halpin, film producer.
About the Film
The voyage of the Dove and Dolphin on MV Barbara from Torquay in the UK to Ashdod in occupied Palestine was conceived and lead by David Halpin. The crew was Danish, there were four British passengers including David and there were 50 tons of flour, cheese, vegetable oil, milk powder and olive oil in the hold. There were also a thousand pounds worth of dressings from Dr Hamami, 1.2 tons of waste carpet wool for weaving, and clothes and blankets. This journey took place in the first two weeks of February 2003, six weeks before the illegal war on Iraq was unleashed. It was a cry for justice in Palestine, a shout against the looming war on Iraq and a demonstration of our common humanity. This film is a pastiche of TV broadcasts and amateur video recordings taken inside Gaza. It starts in darkness with the officer of the watch being interrogated from a fixed wing plane in the eastern Mediterranean.
David Halpin
About Film Director/Producer
David Halpin: “I have been asked many times why we are making this voyage to Ashdod and Gaza.
Firstly we know that many families there live in crushing poverty. The malnutrition rate in the children is reported to be 50% and rising. We are taking about 55 tons of essential foodstuffs. We are also of course taking ourselves and thus demonstrating our common humanity.
Secondly we are pointing the ship at a country which has been the centre of conflict and bitter dispute for 55 years. This demonstrates the bankruptcy of political institutions, both in this country and abroad. The priority should be to bring justice and peace to the Palestinian people and not to wreak yet more havoc in countries like Iraq.
Thirdly, we will sail a course which is almost the same as the warships being sent by the bombers Blair and Bush. Our little ship represents all that is opposite. We stand for justice and peace and against the irrational and the destructive.”
In the weeks following 11-9-01 and when the high altitude bombing of the Afghan people was starting, there were bumper stickers on cars in Florida which read "Nuke them till they glow". Millions of people in the UK are repulsed by such violence and hatred. Instead they would agree with the surgeon who says that "We should do our best to heal and not to harm’’