Filmmaker Lisa Gossels, director of My So-­Called Enemy, to be Honored

An image from the film, "My So-Called Enemy."

Filmmaker Lisa Gossels

The Charter Oak Cultural Center will present the 2012 Miller Reel Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award to documentary filmmaker Lisa Gossels on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in Wilde Auditorium.

The evening will include a reception with the filmmaker, the presentation of the award, and a screening of Gossels' film, My So-­Called Enemy, followed by a discussion with Gossels. Tickets for the event are $18 general admission. Free to students with current ID.

The event is co-­‐sponsored by the University's Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies.

My So-Called Enemy tells the story of Palestinian, Israeli, and Palestinian Israeli teenage girls who traveled to the United States in 2002 to participate in a women’s leadership program called “Building Bridges for Peace.” The film chronicles six of the girls and how their transformative experience in the program, of knowing their “enemies” as human beings, meets with the realities of their lives at home in the Middle East over the next seven years.

My So-Called Enemy is a timely and timeless film about the human consequences of all conflicts as seen through the eyes of six young women who are thoughtful, intelligent and articulate beyond their years. It is about multi-faith and multi-cultural understanding and the important role of women in the building of peaceful communities.

The Miller Reel Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award is made possible through the support of The Avy L. and Roberta L. Miller Foundation. The 2012 Miller Reel Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award is part of the 8th Annual Celebration of Jewish Arts and Culture presented by the Charter Oak Cultural Center.

Download a flyer about Saturday's program.

Charter Oak Cultural Center, housed in Connecticut's oldest synagogue building, is a nonprofit, multi-­cultural arts center committed to preserving the Jewish Heritage of its building, giving access to the arts to all people, and doing the work of social justice. Charter Oak has long been an arts showcase for the region's ethnically and culturally diverse communities, offering performances, exhibits, classes, after-school programs for inner city youth, lectures and cultural programming. For more information, visit www.charteroakcenter.org.