States of Unbelonging

The core of this haunting meditation on war, land, the Bible, and filmmaking is a portrait of Revital Ohayon, an Israeli filmmaker and mother killed near the West Bank. Director Lynne Sachs creates a film on the violence of the Middle East by exchanging letters with an Israeli friend. Together, they reveal Revital's story through her films, news reports, and interviews, culminating in heartbreaking footage of children discussing the violence they've witnessed. Without taking sides or casting blame, the film becomes a cine-essay on fear and filmmaking, tragedy and transformation, violence and the land of Israel/Palestine.

"3 Stars! Presents a mature, artistic meditation on Middle East violence."Video Librarian

"Parallels the layers of history of the Middle East - demonstrating the possibilities as well as limitations of bridging the gap between Palestinians and Israelis engaging the politics of conflict."Dr. Jeffrey Shandler, Department of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University

"Both humanist reverie and implicit cautionary tale."The Village Voice

"Surprisingly beautiful, like the embattled countryside it depicts. War, creativity, beauty—it's a depressingly frequent concatenation, but Sachs makes it sing without glorifying death."The Jewish Week

"Sachs can turn simple ingredients into poetic imagery. [Her] new featurette features more than one instance of this talent. Mixing found footage and her own crisp digital imagery with great success, Sachs' sensitivity towards Ohayon—with whom she identifies—results in the kind of layered story you won't find in any newspaper."San Francisco Bay Guardian

Listed in Top 10 Documentaries of 2005 at Senses of Cinema!

Ways to Watch

Available online from:

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $298.00

Select Accolades

  • Premiere, 2005 Margaret Mead Film Festival
  • Official Selection, 2006 New York Underground Film Festival
  • Official Selection, 2007 Buenos Aires Film Festival
  • Official Selection, 2008 University of Southern California
  • San Francisco Cinematheque
  • Pacific Film Archive
  • Cinequest-San Jose Film Festival
  • Iowa International Documentary Film Festival
  • Northampton Film Festival
  • Big Muddy Film Festival
  • San Francisco States University
  • California College of Art
  • University of California Berkeley
  • Georgetown University
  • XIII Annual Visible Evidence Documentary Conference, Sao Paolo Brazil
  • 2nd Prize Documentary, Athens Film Festival
  • Jerusalem Film Fest 2006
  • Harvard University
  • Cornell University
  • Chicago Filmmakers

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