Press, Information, Show Times & Places

Updates, Future Showings & New Press:

Dear Mr. President continues to garner interesting in screenings throughout the USA in all levels of scholastic environments. From University down to Middle School.
We appreciate your continued interest and support. The ultimate goal has always been, to spread the word of relationship building, in the region, one person at a time.

2008 Maine Jewish Film Festival
http://www.mjff.org/schedule.html
March 29- April 6

Jewcy Article - click here
Please click on link above to read a brief interview regarding Dear Mr. President and some questions answered by me.
There are a few spelling errors and some mis-quoting... the MOST profound misinformation is that my "grandfather" was a settler in Israel... it was my great cousin, Benz...
Anyway, most important is the idea that Dear Mr. President and the idea of co-creating peace, one teenager at a time, is still breathing.

Dear Mr. President and Liquid Sugar Films, LLC is proud to announce the addition of Barbara Wolf of Foster and Gruf Media, as our marketing person. Barbara will continue the arduous path of getting Dear Mr. President into more libraries, schools and ultimately securing further distribution in Europe and the Middle East.
As always you may purchase Dear Mr. President here at our website. We are excited to continue helping the world one teenager at a time.

2007 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival
www.lajfilmfest.org/
We screen on the 25th of April @ 6:45 pm the Wilshire Boulevard Temple/Irmas Campus. 11661 West Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles.
The evening screening will be well attended but seats are still available.
There is a Q & A afterward.
I look forward to seeing you all there.

January 2007
Hello All:
In keeping with our goal to keep interested parties updated a few new notes for Dear Mr. President.
The film is still moving forward and doing really well at film festivals both in the USA, Middle East and abroad. The positive response has helped bolster the life of this small tome for the conflict. Since the making of Dear Mr. President Hamas was voted into power, Ariel Sharon slipped into an endless coma, Northern Israel was hard hit by Hezballah, Northern Gaza was/is being hard hit by Israel and the countless acts of violence continues back and forth, daily. Two of the girls were under fire in the north of Israel. Hawad was in a shelter as was Shir and her mother, brother and father. Amit postponed her travel because of the Hezballah violence but eventually returned home for a visit before leaving college in Scotland. Bessan and her family report that they are all alive despite the many weeks of recent shelling near their homes. I spoke to Bessan on the telephone a month back, she said things were okay. When I asked her how many hours of electricity they were getting a day, she replied "Two hours, but it is okay." My reply; " Two hours of electricity is not okay". Her attitude astounds me. She was accepted to the university nearby where she is studying. Hawad is working and applying to schools in the North of Israel. Haneen is safe but ever vigilant in Ramallah. She is working to keep her A + status in high school. Amit began university in Scotland, as I said before. Shir has been in the USA trying to work on strengthening herself for her return to Israel where she is required to serve with the IDF. When we last spoke her thoughts were similar to the ones in the documentary; she wants to create a "peaceful" army and work with children to teach non-violence. Taking after her amazing mother, Nitsan! I continue to find new ways to get Dear Mr. President screened. Tamara Carlisle has offered to sell Dear Mr. President through her educational website and it is moving like hotcakes! The best thing about Tamara's kind offer is that Dear Mr. President is being bought by countless schools, libraries and institutions of higher learning world wide. Thank you Tamara!
Please email me or call if you have any questions, comments or criticisms.
Safety and peace and health in the new year.
Happy Holidays,
Debra Sugerman, Filmmaker

Past Showings, Reviews & Press:

Video Librarian
September/October 2006
3 stars
Following the journey of five teenage girls from Israel and Palestine on a cross-global trek to meet President Bush, filmmaker Debra Sugerman's documentary begins with the reading of a letter requesting an audience with the president to discuss how America can help resolve Middle East conflicts. The girls' first stop is in Los Angeles, where they board a hug RV bound for Washington, D.C., visiting iconic American sites along the way and talking with people about the struggles back home. The group's encounters with various Americans are often poignant (including visits with a Holocaust survivor, Arab and Israeli immigrants in Dearborn, MI, and African Americans in Detroit), but perhaps the most compelling segment is during a radio interview on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, in which the host explains why a number of Native Americans enlisted in the armed services—despite the fact that their lands were taken from them in the past, many still felt compelled to protect their nation. Although more information about the girls' backgrounds would have added context to their stories (also, the girls never actually meet with the president—scheduling conflicts, natch), this is an insightful and timely documentary on Middle East woes, presented from a teen perspective. Recommended. Audience: High School, Public Libraries. (C. Block)

3rd Annual ARTIVIST film festival
Dear Mr. President announces the wonderful news of it's LA Premiere
November 9-12, 2006
click here for festival information

7th Annual Spindletop Film Festival
November 2006
click here for festival information

19th Annual Dallas Video Festival
click here for festival information

Intellectual Freedom Film Festival
September 29th & September 30th

The 3rd Annual Harlem International Film Festival
October 5-8, 2006
www.harlemfilmfestival.com

Mount Shasta Film Festival
October 13-15, 2006
www.shastafilmfest.com

• Dear Mr. President played at the 12th Annual Franco Arab Film Festival which coincided with The World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, in Amman, Jordan.

21st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival
February 2006
click here for festival information

Booklist August 2006 Review
Dear Mr. President. 2006. 60min. Big Kids, DVD, $29.95. 800-477-7811.

Gr 10-12. This compelling documentary tracks the cross-country journey of five articulate teenage girls (two Israelis, two Palestinians, and a Druze) who travel across the U.S. in an RV on a peace mission. An opening montage of road trip highlights contrasts with an appeal (relayed in voiceover) to President Bush in which the girls request a meeting. The film combines the teens’ thought-provoking discussions with scenery shots and other footage that shows the girls trying to effect changes. When visiting Mt. Rushmore, they enter into a tense dialogue about the Israeli Army. Meetings with Holocaust survivors and Palestinians émigrés capture the complexities of the situation. Views of the changing landscape and original background music highlight the girls’ feelings of sorrow and longing for harmony. A moving depiction of the power and idealism of young adults even as they face divisive political realities. Recommended for adult viewers as well.
— Abby Alpert

Reviews of Dear Mr. President:
Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue
"These teen girls from Israel and Palestine show us just what we need to do for a change, as they join hands on a journey through life.  With great integrity of mind and emotion, they never leave their relationships.  These citizen-leaders reveal publicly to other youth and adults how to communicate, live and learn together.  This is one of the fine how-to movies."
         Libby and Len Traubman
         Co-founders, Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue

" Sugerman's message of forgiveness is universal. This movie is too
important to miss."

" Growing up as an American teenager my biggest worry was getting through high school and dating. For these five women, who live in fear everyday of their lives, their biggest worry is living past the age of 20. This movie puts life in a whole new perspective."
-Rebecca Howes

Updates From the Road:
Dear Mr. President hit the big screen in Santa Barbara at the prestigious Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Amid the usual confusion of documentaries screening up against big star- studded features, Dear Mr. President held up well. The crowd at both screenings was moved to tears.

A man with a thick french accent told me that he fought back his emotions, one viewer who claims she never cries told me she wanted to jump up and down at the end. A woman from the region told me that it was an amazing work and that she too, though challenged not to be cynical living amidst the daily challenges, was moved beyond words.

All of this high praise helps. I will attend to the film further and get it to those who want to see it travel to it's full potential. The world is competitive and so are the documentary lands. I will pursue all I can to get this vital project seen. In the meantime, thank you for your support and time and interest.

I am still raising funds, so in the event you wish, click on the "eye" navigation button to acquire information about how to help this small documentary effort spread ideas and new paradigms toward true coexistence, not just in Israel and Palestine, as one of the stars of the film says, but in the whole world.

Debra Sugerman
Director/Producer

Press Release:
Dear Mr. President
Premieres at Santa Barbara Film Festival
 
********************
 
Austin, TX – January 22, 2006 – Austin filmmaker Debra Sugerman announced today that the documentary Dear Mr. President will premiere at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in a one-time only screening.
 
Dear Mr. President is a feature-length documentary film that looks at the Israeli and Palestinian conflict through the eyes of five teenagers from the region.
 
These five teenaged girls, who met at a peace camp, and Sugerman, a filmmaker who created the camp, feel they can do something to help with this inherited situation… and they are traveling halfway around the world to try.
 
The film chronicles the land journey of these girls as they travel in an RV from the West Coast to the East Coast across the USA.
 
Their main goals: to further break down barriers between their enemy cultures and to meet with President George W. Bush. Their intentions: to make deeper personal connections between “enemies”, and to serve as ambassadors of their region on their way to hand-deliver a joint statement and an art installation to the President.
 
Over the course of their excursion the girls stopped in cities, towns, and rural communities; they held informal talks and interacted with peers and adults from all walks of life. Along the way art was created by the girls not only to link them closer together but to also represent their messages left behind, a signpost, a prayer, a hope… for peace and coexistence.
 
As one of the 16- year- old girl says in the film: “It is pretty obvious that violence is not working.” The goal of these girls, and many in their generation, is to find a way for coexistence to work and to stop the violence, one relationship at a time.
 
Dear Mr. President is filled with epiphanies, forgiveness, friendship, sorrow and hope.