2008: For some, it is the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel; for others, the state of Nakba.

Is it still possible today to speak of an Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to try and understand how so much could change without much changing at all?

Is it possible to distance ourselves from the incessant flood of images and daily dispatches without the excesses and assumptions taking over? Is it still possible to show what’s happening in another way ?

It is the result of working together with the Israeli producers Arik Bernstein (Alma Films) and Osnat Trabelsi (Trabelsi productions) and Palestinian producers Abdelsalam Sheada et Yousef Atwa (Ramattan Studios) that an idea came about to devote daily chronicles to the two cities of Gaza and Sderot.

This kind of daily chonicle documentary has been existing for a long time and was inaugurated by Patrice Barrat in Sarajevo in 93/94, in Belfast in 1995, in Algiers in 1998 and in Ramallah in 2003. Today, Gaza Sderot is emulating it, tomorrow... In these unique cities struck by civil and religious war, experience shows us that being aware of everyday life allows us to change the viewpoint of outside observers. It also allows us [to get at a more truthful angle]/[to provide a more accurate account] in order to explain some of the most inextricable situations, by revealing the lives of ordinary people day to day, the lives of citizens who simply want to live. Another way to analyse the political and socio-cultural context of the hot spots of this world.

With this Gaza – Sderot project we are placing these two cities in parallel; [in the same plane]/[on the same page]. The habitants of two cities so close and yet so distanced from each other. Brothers as inseparable enemies, linked by the destiny of the region.

We are trying to make them talk, to tell their stories side by side. Because the banalities of everyday life say more than all of the hardships they are living through. If such a direct dialogue is still possible today, it may not be tomorrow. Here there is no unnecessary babble, no false pretences, only fair words. Uncalculated and spontaneous words spoken in the present. This is what documentaries via the internet allow.

Gaza-Sderot 2008: A daily meeting with habitants of Gaza and Sderot who will be followed over the course of these few weeks. A few weeks during which anything might happen. Between the sad and the happy. Anything between laughter and tears, hope and despair, optimism and pessimism...

Writer Emile Habibi invented a fictional character Saïd who was nick-named: The Optissimist.

One word in summary that links Gaza and Sderot.

Alex Szalat
Head of the Current affairs, Society and Geopolitics Unit of Arte-France

Arte

Director of the Unit Current Issues & Society and Geopolitics
Alex Szalat

Web-director
Joël Ronez

Web editor
Susanna Lotz

Bo Travail

Executive Producer
Serge Gordey
With Georges Bonopéra and François Fèvre

Production director
Cyrille Benchimol

Production administrator
Fanny Liszka

Sderot

Producers
Arik Bernstein – Alma Films
Osnat Trabelsi – Trabelsi Productions

Content Editor
Ayelet Bechar

Director
Robby Elmaliah

Line Producer
Avi Abramov

Cameraman
Ronen Kruk

Soundman
Ori Chechik

Editor
Kobi Plomnik

Researcher
Michal Lavi

Associates from Sapir College, TV & Cinema School
Hagar Saad Shalom, Sapir Coordinator
Rimon Levi, Chief Information Officer
Meital Abekasis, Assistant to Content Editor
Sigal Golan, Sapir PR
Shlomo Avital, Chief of Technical Department
Damian Kitaigrodsky, Post Production Officer

Gaza

Producer
Yousef Atwa - Ramattan news agency

Cameraman and producer
Ibrahim Yaghi & Ahmed Shehada

Soundman
Moumen Awadallah

Director
Khalil al Muzayyen

Editor
Abed Hussein

Coordinators
Lana Matar & Hala Nasrallah,s

UPIAN

Producer
Alexandre Brachet

Executive Production
Gregory Trowbridge
assisted by Alexander Knetig

Design and graphic conception
Sebastien Brothier & Eric Drier

Flash Production
David Després
with Denis Chiron

Technical Direction
Nicolas Menet & Maxime Quintard

Technical Team
Hans Lemuet, Remy Vuong

Flash and webdesign team
Jerome Goncalves, Thomas Deyries, Pauline Schleimer

Translation platform
Overstream

Translators
Gérard Eizeinberg
Roy Jreijiry
Rachid Akel
Yael Lerer
Alexander Knetig

Sound Design
Greg Corsaro

Hosting
Jules Vo-Dinh et Arnaud Lavrard / Typhon

Upian deeply thanks Benjamin Bejbaum for his precious support.
Upian thanks especially Sarah Herz for her essential help

Upian thanks Adrian Gandour, Caspar Sonnen, Cecile Cros, Chryde, Denis Hovart, Don et Teboho Edkins, Frederic Bourgeais, Guillaume Blanchot, Karim Moreau, Laurence Bagot, Laurent Cairoli, Laurent Mauriac et Rue89, Le CRED, Linn Sackarnd, Manuel Schapira, Marc Eychenne, Max Rozenoer d'Overstream, Ouriel Ohayon, Philippe Couve, Philippe Lacour, Thomas Baumgartner, Vadim Dumesh, Valerie Bourgoin, Vincent Moon, Yann Ulrich.