Institute History
Description
In the course of my life, I have been denied my freedom in many ways: as a Palestinian, belonging to a people deprived of fights and dignity; as a woman in a semifeudal, patriarchal society; as a citizen of a territory under foreign military occupation, as an individual in a traditional oppressive environment that restricts individual liberties.
—Raymonda Tawil
My Home, My Prison is based on the autobiography of Palestinian journalist Raymonda Tawil, one of the first Palestinians to engage Israelis in dialogue twenty-four years ago. She was arrested several times by the Israeli military and accused of being a collaborator by some of her own people—yet today, she is considered a pioneer of the peace process in the Middle East. My Home, My Prison is also about the struggle for women's rights. Raised in a misogynistic society that limits the freedom of women, Raymonda grew into a person who dared to speak her mind. Now exiled in Paris, she remains controversial; her daughter Suha married Yasser Arafat this past year.
Directed with intensity by two Jewish filmmakers—Erica Marcus and Academy Award nominee Susan Blaustein Muñoz (Las Madres: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo)—the film, set against the backdrop of the last fifty years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, goes beyond traditional documentary by interweaving archival footage, interviews and reenacted scenes from Tawil's memories, accompanied by dramatized excerpts from her writings.