Desert Sunrise

Desert Sunrise, written and directed by Misha Shulman, tells a story about a chance encounter between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian man. Taking refuge in a desert wadi, the two men are initially antagonistic, but each is surprisingly open to the other’s views. Just when they seem to have overcome their distrust for each other, they are joined by the Palestinian man’s beloved, who embodies an odd, impermeable shell of ideology and radical zeal that neither of the men can penetrate. As the three reach into their own pasts, they not only find similarities, but also begin to understand the pyschological and social fabric behind their political beliefs. Over the course of one memorable night the process of mutual understanding and forgiveness begins, halts, gets rejected, but is ultimately embraced by the pained characters.

This production uses English, Hebrew, and Arabic dialogue between the three characters, and employs Indonesian shadow techniques that are shared with Egyptian puppetry.