[CIMC-working] FW: WorldLink TV Announces American Broadcast Premier of Pilger's Documentary, Palestine Is Still The Issue

[Chris Kaihatsu]

------ Forwarded Message
From: steve zeltzer <lvpsf@igc.org>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 16:38:12 -0800
To: UPPNET <lvpsf@igc.org>
Subject: WorldLink TV Announces American Broadcast Premier of Pilger's
Documentary, Palestine Is Still The Issue

WORLDLINK TV ANNOUNCES AMERICAN BROADCAST PREMIERE OF
JOHN PILGER'S DOCUMENTARY, PALESTINE IS STILL THE ISSUE

Emmy Award-Winning Documentarian's Film Rejected by All Other U.S.
Networks

(San Francisco, February 24, 2003)- As The Economist recently reported,
the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian crisis-not Iraq-is "still the
defining issue for the Arab world." Yet news about the continuing
violence in the region has fallen off the front pages of U.S. newspapers
and no longer leads television newscasts. And if it is covered in
America, the Palestine perspective is rarely provided. until now!

Thanks to Emmy-award winning documentary maker, John Pilger and
WorldLink TV, American audiences can-for the first time-see the powerful
new film, Palestine Is Still the Issue on Sunday, March 9 at 9:00 PM ET.

Rejected by all major US networks, including PBS, Palestine Is Still the
Issue documents the plight of Palestinians after 36 years of Israeli
occupation. The film is part of WorldLink TV's Spotlight, a series of
weekly investigative reports from around the world. Palestine Is Still
the Issue has aired in 30 countries all over the world except the US.
According to Spotlight host Mark Hertsgaard, 'If it weren't for
WorldLink TV, this important film would not reach the American public at
all."


In a series of extraordinary interviews with both Palestinians and
Israelis, filmmaker Pilger weaves together the strands of despair
typical of daily Palestinian existence.  He speaks to the families of
suicide bombers and their victims, visits overcrowded, unsanitary
refugee camps, and documents the abuse and neglect of Palestinians by
Israeli guards at the military roadblocks which now proliferate
throughout the occupied territories.  As the film shows, Palestinians
are regularly harassed, beaten, denied passage to hospitals for medical
care, and even murdered at these checkpoints.  In one episode, a
pregnant woman delivers a premature child on the floor of a car after
being turned back on the way to the hospital by Israeli soldiers.  The
child subsequently dies.

The film also recounts how the U.S. has indirectly sanctioned the
Israeli policy of what many Palestinians think of as daily institutional
"terrorism" against them. "Israel, is the American watchdog in the
Middle East..." Pilger says. "Its policies are so integrated with
American policies that they use the same language.  If you read Sharon's
statements and Bush's statements, they are virtually identical."

About John Pilger:
John Pilger is an Australian journalist, author, and filmmaker based in
London who has made 25 documentaries, including films about Iraq, East
Timor, and Cambodia. The Cambodian film, Cambodia: The Betrayal, was
also rejected by PBS for its content but was later picked up by WNET in
New York.  Based on that single airing, the film won the 1990 Emmy Award
for Best International Documentary.  Pilger's films have been shown all
over the world, but rarely in the U.S.    "The censorship on television in
the U.S. is such that films like mine don't stand a chance," he
explains.  Recently, Pilger has been very outspoken in condemning the
Bush Administration's plans for war in Iraq. "September 11 has given
these people, this clique, an opportunity from heaven.    They never
believed they would have the legitimacy to do what they are doing."

WorldLink Spotlight will follow up this controversial film with a
discussion of the issues it raises in the next few weeks. "WorldLink is
committed to fostering dialogue around points of view and ideas not
heard on main stream media," said Jack Willis, WorldLink's Senior Vice
President of Programming.

About WorldLink TV:
Since its inception in December 1999, and especially since September 11,
WorldLink TV, has been making a name for itself as an important
alternative to the mainstream television networks. With offices in San
Francisco, New York, and DC, WorldLink TV is accessible nationwide to
more than 19 million households on satellite channels Direct TV Channel
375 and DISH Network Channel 9410. WorldLink TV also streams select
original programming on its website.  For additional information, go to
www.worldlinktv.org.

To request a copy of Palestine is Still the Issue, please contact
Bullfrog Films: Tel: 610/779-8226 Fax: 610/370-1978

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/pisi.html


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