National Geographic Society

When the day began, there were over 180 tickets yet unsold for tonight's program "The Walls Between Us" featuring the films One Wish, The Last Supper-Abu Dis and Zero Degrees of Separation. By showtime, the house was once again Sold Out with attendees both filling the seats and lining the walls  of National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium to full capacity. Emotions ran as high as the room was full on a night where unique perspectives from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict were the highlight of tonight's program.  Certainly some attendees were bit squeamish in their seats as each of the films provided a point-of-view on the hot-button issue that is not frequently told through the channels of our mainstream media.  While National Geographic does not officially endorse or oppose any of the views expressed in the films shown, the All Roads Film Project lived up to it's billing by providing a venue for the unique stories of minority and underrepresented voices.  The project went a step further at the conclusion of the films by opening up the floor into an open forum for questions.  Traditionally, passions run strong on both sides of this issue.  As we learned tonight, one's untold story is another's propaganda.  In what had the potential for an explosive political trainwreck, the forum became a constructive, though mildly contentious exchange of ideas.  This was in no small part due to the finesse with which moderator Mark Bauman was able to keep the flow from getting out of hand.  Filmmakers Issa Freig and Elle Flanders, Palestinian and Israeli respectively, handled the difficult questions with eloquence, at times defending their works within the fine line of art and politics.  By the end of the night it became evident that consensus could not be reached in such a time-constrained forum, although break away discussions carried on long after the room emptied out under the stars.  Thus one of the positive outcomes of the All Roads experience.  All of the questions may never be answered though it is through this kind of open, constructive dialogue, the healing can begin....