This screening is free and open to the public.
The Occupation of the American Mind examines how the Israeli government, the United States government, and pro-Israel lobbying groups have waged a series of coordinated PR campaigns to manage political fallout from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The film also traces the development of pro-Israel “hasbara” or propaganda efforts in the United States over the past four decades, ranging from government information campaigns devised after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s to the specific media strategies implemented during Israel’s recent bombardments of the Gaza Strip. Narrated by Roger Waters, the film includes interviews with political dissidents, intellectuals, and journalists to show how the media determines how we see the world.
Director Biography
Loretta Alper has produced and/or directed several documentary films for the Media Education Foundation (MEF), including Captive Audience: Advertising Invades the Classroom (2003), Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (2005), and War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death (2007).
Jeremy Earp has produced and/or directed several MEF films, including Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear, and the Selling of American Empire (2006), The Mean World Syndrome: Media, Violence & the Cultivation of Fear (2010), and Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006).
Sut Jhally is the founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation, a documentary film company that looks at issues related to US media and public attitudes. He is the producer, director, or executive producer of dozens of MEF films, including Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict (2003), Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire (2006), and Dreamworlds: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video (2007).
Jason Young has edited and co-produced several documentaries for the Media Education Foundation, including Guyland: Where Boys Become Men (2015), Not Just a Game: Power, Politics & American Sports (2010), and White Like Me: Race, Racism, and White Privilege in America (2013).
Sponsors
TWIN CITIES ARAB FILM FEST
Mizna's twelfth Twin Cities Arab Film Fest offers an eclectic program of compelling and provocative contemporary narrative, documentary, and short films made by Arab filmmakers from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, and more.
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