Spring Break
'Before Sunrise' follows student minority
A student's documentary focuses on the experiences of campus Palestinians.
by Elizabeth Pauker
Staff Writer
Arts | 5/20/08
Posted online at 7:54 PM EST on 5/19/08
/ Last updated at 7:29 AM EST on 5/19/08
We all know the typical remarks about campus life at Brandeis. "There's nothing good to eat in Usdan"; "Construction woke me up this morning." "I spent two hours getting ready for a party in Levin that had closed doors by midnight." But, by far the most overtly discussed point of conversation, I think, is that in culture and atmosphere, Brandeis is a Jewish school. No matter how much the Web site and tour guides advertise our "diversity," there's always going to be one voice louder than the rest. And while there's nothing wrong with having a predominantly Jewish school, it can understandably be hard for those who see themselves as a minority, a fact that Mohammad Kundos '10 hopes to changes with his film, Before Sunrise.
What began as a class project that became a yearlong endeavor, Sunrise is a documentary about the experience of Palestinian students at Brandeis, screened on May 1 in the Heller School. By interviewing both undergraduates and graduates, Kundos hoped to give Palestinian students, a group rarely heard from at Brandeis, an outlet. While Brandeis awards specific scholarships to Middle Easterners (Kundos is a recipient himself), many at Brandeis might still be surprised that there is an Arab minority here at all. "In the end, I guess I just want people to know that Palestinians exist on campus, 'cause some of them don't even know," explains Iyad Abdeen '09, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, in the film.
As members of an ethnic group that is still in a deadly fight over land and beliefs with the Jewish community in the Middle East, the Palestinian students at Brandeis struggle to break down those barriers on American soil. "In a school like Brandeis you don't want to be seen as biased. Even some of the times, … you'll be afraid to be called an anti-Semitic. … we're Semitic people even, so I can't be against myself," says Heller School graduate Abeer Musleh.
Showing scenes from the performance piece "Journey to a Refugee camp," written and directed by Walaa Sbeit '08, which premiered at the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, Sunrise depicts the effect of the conflict in the Middle East on Palestinians civilians. Sbeit, a Theater and Sociology major, was born and raised in Haifa. However, with a father and grandfather who were both refugees, he can't help but identity with the label, which has in turn shaped who he is today. Making a play about his family's and his friends' experiences has been hard for Sbeit, as he is "struggling with my target audience. I can't just box people up. We have to be much more open to them about the affliction, and I'm trying to bring the other. Hopefully it will help people understand," he states in the film.
What began as a class project that became a yearlong endeavor, Sunrise is a documentary about the experience of Palestinian students at Brandeis, screened on May 1 in the Heller School. By interviewing both undergraduates and graduates, Kundos hoped to give Palestinian students, a group rarely heard from at Brandeis, an outlet. While Brandeis awards specific scholarships to Middle Easterners (Kundos is a recipient himself), many at Brandeis might still be surprised that there is an Arab minority here at all. "In the end, I guess I just want people to know that Palestinians exist on campus, 'cause some of them don't even know," explains Iyad Abdeen '09, a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, in the film.
As members of an ethnic group that is still in a deadly fight over land and beliefs with the Jewish community in the Middle East, the Palestinian students at Brandeis struggle to break down those barriers on American soil. "In a school like Brandeis you don't want to be seen as biased. Even some of the times, … you'll be afraid to be called an anti-Semitic. … we're Semitic people even, so I can't be against myself," says Heller School graduate Abeer Musleh.
Showing scenes from the performance piece "Journey to a Refugee camp," written and directed by Walaa Sbeit '08, which premiered at the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, Sunrise depicts the effect of the conflict in the Middle East on Palestinians civilians. Sbeit, a Theater and Sociology major, was born and raised in Haifa. However, with a father and grandfather who were both refugees, he can't help but identity with the label, which has in turn shaped who he is today. Making a play about his family's and his friends' experiences has been hard for Sbeit, as he is "struggling with my target audience. I can't just box people up. We have to be much more open to them about the affliction, and I'm trying to bring the other. Hopefully it will help people understand," he states in the film.
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