5 Broken Cameras wins DocFest prize

Audience praises Palestinian film.

by Jennie Kermode

Sometimes ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. Emad Burnat is a farmer who only bought a camera in order to film the birth of his son. Now his personal observations of Israeli occupiers in his home country of Palestine have won him the Sheffield DocFest Audience Award. 5 Broken Cameras has made a big impression.

Emad was helped by professional documentary maker Guy Davidi, who realised the importance of what he was doing. He put his life on the line to make his film, with several cameras getting broken along the way - one of them stopping a bullet that could have killed him. This very personal take on the Palestinian experience has won favourable coverage around the world and is soon to be shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival, with both Emad and Guy hoping it will help to change the attitudes of ordinary Israelis to the occupation.

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