Meet Just Vision: Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha

image via Flickr (aavarnum)

The Common Ground Awards are coming up (November 11) and if you’d like to come, get your tickets now! 

 

This week we are showcasing Just Vision, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that “[connects] local nonviolent peace workers to audiences in the Middle East and North America” by “creating documentary films about their work, and in-depth educational materials highlighting Palestinian and Israeli individuals…who are working for peace in the region through nonviolent means.”  By producing thought-provoking, non-partisan media that heralds the power of civilians to contribute to lasting peace, Just Vision helps to reframe the conflict for both local and global audiences.  Their feature-length, award-winning documentaries Encounter Point and Budrus have garnered criticalpraise around the world and “created a global platform for [their] subjects.”

Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha are the driving forces behind Just Vision’s groundbreaking look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Ms. Avni founded the organization in 2003 as a response to the lack of media coverage of grassroots leaders in the region.  “Most social change in the world today starts from the bottom up and eventually takes root at the higher echelons to become policy,” she is quoted as saying on the organization’s website.  “Environmentalism, feminism, the civil rights movement—the list goes on. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no different. Politicians will ultimately follow, but I am concerned with who will lead.”  She continues to shape the way the world sees this conflict in her roles as Just Vision’s Executive Director, Encounter Point’s Director and Executive Producer, and Budrus’ Executive Producer.

Ms. Bacha is the Senior Producer and Media Director at Just Vision, dedicated to “providing alternative role models in a complex and changing world” through her roles as Co-Director, Writer, and Editor for Encounter Point and, most recently, Director and Producer for Budrus.  During an interview with Latina magazine, she discusses how her latest film is fostering a new framework for international audiences: “[Budrus] contributes to people understanding what is going on in the ground and can really attract…international attention and support to Israelis and Palestinians working together to really find a way forward.”  Indeed, her films have been embraced the world over, winning awards at film festivals in cities such as San Francisco, Barcelona, and Berlin.

Find out more about Just Vision’s extensive work connecting grassroots peace activists to policymakers, media outlets, NGOs, and an international audience at their website.