From: THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 5, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "At first glance We Too Have No Other Land, may seem like a typical sports documentary. Filmmakers Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler, who have worked together for some 12 years creating segments for CNN, follow the compelling story of Bnei Sakhnin, the little Israeli-Arab soccer team that made good, winning the State Cup in 2004 and working to stay in the Premier League (where it today languishes in bottom spot). For the filmmakers, the people of Sakhnin are members of a minority that has been largely ignored by Jewish Israelis. Kessel describes them as models of coexistence whose wish is to be accepted as loyal Israeli citizens while still having "a place in the character of the state." "We want this to be a film that people enjoy but also a platform for debate in Israeli society. Israelis are ill served by not dealing with the minority-majority issue," Kessel told The Jerusalem Post. To that end, the film shows a more human side to the sport, following Sakhnin players home as they break the Ramadan fast, visiting with various local philosophers and entering the stands with a mini-camera to document the fans in a more intimate way than the wide-angles at which sports fans are usually filmed. Particularly interesting are scenes of the victory celebrations after Bnei Sakhnin defeats its rival, Beitar Jerusalem. Although national flags are usually not flown by Sakhnin fans, the film captures the team's supporters wrapped in Israeli flags, chanting "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great." While the team's supporters do use the Hebrew chants familiar from other Israeli soccer games, their feelings about their Israeli identity are complex, according to the film. Many interviewed say they are deeply proud to have the team as a successful symbol of Israeli-Arabs and yet they also report that life in Sakhnin is full of inequality. The objections range from economic hardship to second-class treatment by Jewish Israelis to that familiar grievance - stolen land. An elderly Arab patriarch, a relative of one of Sakhnin's valuable players, is shown pointing on a map to the land his family occupied before 1948, when the Jewish state was established. " The full article is at... http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498802556&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull