The Beloit International Film Festival features a short documentary from a Rockford area filmmaker and teacher.
Nick Stange’s documentary is called "For Gaza We Rise." It begins with some historical context for the ongoing Israeli military assault in Gaza.
Over a blank screen with white letters there is a description of the Nakba, when the newly formed Israeli military killed and displaced Palestinians to establish Israel and the Israeli occupied territories of Palestine in 1948.
His documentary covers Rockford for Palestine, which is a group made up of northern Illinois residents seeking an end to Israeli’s war in Gaza.
“I just think it's important to understand and to hear from and to see these individuals,” Stange said. “I think the Palestinian community has been so vilified. I think if you come and you watch this, you'll see that that's been just completely unfair, and they deserve to have their voice, their viewpoint, shared, because it's not being shared at all.”
The film follows the group's effort to get a ceasefire resolution passed in the Rockford City Council. They hold actions on the streets but also speak out during city meetings. There are also quieter moments captured in the documentary like a child flying a kite.
Their actions don’t draw thousands such as in events held in Chicago or across the world, but Rockford is an important backdrop for protest. It’s home to several aerospace companies that protestors say help supply military equipment used by Israel.
Over 50,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children have been killed, with researchers estimating the death toll to be over 100,000 when death by starvation and lack of medical aid is included.
January brought a glimpse of hope for an end to the conflict, but it continues and so have the marches. So Stange carries on filming the group’s actions around Rockford.
“Just look at what's going on in this country,” he said. “I mean, they're pretty much being silenced, almost with some of the deportations we've seen recently of just college kids writing op-ed pieces criticizing American, Israeli policies and they're being deported, having their pathway of education taken away from them just for having opinion."
He’s referring to the detention of a doctoral student from Turkey in late March. Masked immigration officials stop Rumeysa Ozturk on the streets of greater Boston in what appears as an orchestrated abduction in a video of her arrest.
Her detention is one of several under the Trump Administration that target international and immigrant students for voicing opposition to U.S. policy and Israel’s war on Gaza. This includes the case of Mahmood Khalil, a permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student who is challenging deportation orders in court.
Stange said because of the government's attack on students, and the ongoing conflict, he says documentaries like his are relevant.
“It's important that we amplify those voices,” he says. “I happen to be in a position of privilege to where I can do some of that, being a white male, and going out there and documenting stuff.”
Stange plans on incorporating his short documentary into a larger film.
"Gaza We Rise" will be screened on Friday, April 3, at 2:30 pm. Two short films created by Harlem High School students during the last school year are also in the festival lineup.
The Beloit International Film festival wraps up on Sunday.
