The Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency (MNA) emerged out of the ashes of the second Intifada to become the only independent news network in the Palestinian Territories and an increasingly prominent and influential journalistic force in the wider Middle East.
tells MNA's remarkable story. It chronicles the agency's struggles and successes through the eyes of the station's reporters, producers, and photographers, in the process quietly revealing the humanity of ordinary Palestinians as they go about their daily business. The documentary trains its focus on people more than on abstract issues, yet it never loses sight of the myriad social and political forces and pressures that Ma'an journalists are forced to negotiate as they try to gather and report balanced information. What results is an admirably nuanced portrait of how news gets produced, and how Palestinians live, in one of the world's most troubled regions.
Transcript
Filmmaker Info
Filmmakers: Matt Sienkiewicz and Joseph C. Sousa
Producers: Matt Sienkiewicz and Joseph C. Sousa
Co-Producer: Amira Hanania
Associate Producers: Emily Sienkiewicz, Vera Ventura
Videography: Matt Sienkiewicz
Editors: Walter Blazewicz, Cob Carlson, Joseph C. Sousa
Assistant Editor: Ethan Schwelling
Audio Mix: Joel Schwelling
Colorist: Dave Allen
Translation: Nidal Al-Azraq
Filmmaker's bios
JOSEPH SOUSA | Producer/Director
Joseph Sousa is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, and writer of
non-fiction television and independent documentaries. Sousa has produced
programs for PBS, Animal Planet, The Discovery channel, Spike TV,
Hearst-Argyle, and Portuguese satellite network RTP-International. Sousa
is currently producing a one-hour documentary about Alaska for the
Discovery Channel and recently completed work on the acclaimed Animal
Planet series,
Dogs 101.
MATT SIENKIEWICZ | Producer/Director/Cinematographer
Matt Sienkiewicz is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and documentarian, as
well as a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin. His credits
include the award winning comedy series Windy Acres and the acclaimed
television documentary
Festa. His academic research focuses on
Western involvement in Middle Eastern broadcasting initiatives and
ethnic representation in American media. He has articles forthcoming in
The Journal of Film and Video and
The Community Media Reader.
AMIRA HANANIA | Producer
At the age of 24, Amira Hanania became a reporter at the Ma'an Network.
She now works with Lebanon's Future TV, serving as its correspondent in
Ramallah. She has produced documentaries for Al-Jazeera and Egyptian
satellite stations.
Film Festivals
Watch Docs Human Rights in Film International Film Festival | Dec. 3-12, 2010 | Warsaw, Poland
Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference | March 17-21, 2010
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival | June 26th, 2009
Athens (Ohio) International Film Festival | April 30th, 2009
Rhode Island's Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival | April 28, 2009
Global Visions Film Series, University of North Dakota | April, 21, 2009
Boston International Film Festival | April 20th, 2009
Chicago Palestine Film Festival | April 19 and 20th, 2009
