'My So-Called Enemy' Director Shares Story Behind Doc

February 15, 2012


An audience of nearly 90 Muslims and Jews attended a special screening of “My So-Called Enemy” with the director of the documentary, Lisa Gossels. The poignant documentary follows a group of teenage Israeli and Palestinian girls as they attend a joint summer camp in the U.S. and their lives for seven years afterward.

Hosted by NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change at the IMAN Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the screening was followed by a Q&A with Gossels about dialogue in the midst of conflict and reflections from NewGround fellow alumni and board members Nick Merkin and Arash Nematollahi.

The documentary shares moving and complex stories about girls who have lost friends and family members and who bear the psychological scars of living in a war zone.

NewGround began in 2006 as a response to the climate of tension and mistrust between Jews and Muslims in Los Angeles, and has sought to create a national model for healthy relations, productive engagement and social change between American Muslims and Jews.

To transform the landscape, MPAC and the Progressive Jewish Alliance joined forces to create a fellowship for emerging Muslim and Jewish leaders to change the tone of the conversation.

Today, NewGround is an independent group fiscally sponsored by Community Partners and housed at the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission.

- Edina Lekovic
(edina@mpac.org)
Director of Policy & Programming




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