Two businessmen foster peace in the Middle East by starting a company that uses Israeli solar technology to provide electricity to indigent areas of Palestine. The utopian premise of this Israeli-Palestinian coproduction is that humanity can achieve much-needed progress in areas of geopolitics, economics, and environmental protection all at once, if only different societies learn to work together and think creatively. This is more interesting to think about than it is to watch, in part because it feels less like a narrative movie than an illustrated business plan. Still, you can’t blame writer Yossi Aviram and director Sameh Zoabi for bad intentions. Also on the program is Corner Stores, an impressive short documentary (25 min.) about a Palestinian convenience store owner in Englewood and the various customers he’s befriended. In English and subtitled Hebrew and Arabic.
Under the Same Sun
1 hour 15 min • 2014