The College of Arts and Sciences will host filmmaker Shimon Dotan for a special screening of his recent documentary, The Settlers, on Wednesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in Watson Hall Auditorium. Dotan will then join moderator Lester Friedman, professor of media and society at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, immediately following the screening for a discussion of the film.

The event is free and open to the public. The film will be closed-captioned and American Sign Language interpreters will be available during the discussion.

Dotan’s documentary looks at the Jewish settlers that have made their homes in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank, and their allies – Jewish and non-Jewish alike – in Israel, America and Europe. The Settlers examines what brought them to this land to build their homes among a hostile population, and how the rapid growth of this phenomenon became a mass movement.

An award winning filmmaker, Shimon Dotan is a fellow at the New York Institute of the Humanities, recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship-award and of the Cullman Fellowship-award for scholars and writers at New York Public Library. Dotan’s films have been the recipients of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance (Hot House) Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival (The Smile of the Lamb), numerous Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Repeat Dive; The Smile of the Lamb), and Best Film at the Newport Beach Film Festival (You Can Thank Me Later).

Born in Romania, Dotan grew up in Israel. He has taught filmmaking and film studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel, Concordia University in Montreal, and currently teaches political cinema at New York University and film directing at the New School University.

For more information about the film screening contact specialevents@syr.edu.