MOVIE & TALK 'Disturbing the Peace'
Teaching Artist Chen Alon on Artivism
Dr. Chen Alon is a theatre activist, director and scholar. He is head of the Community Theatre and Artivism (Art & Activism) Program in the Theatre Arts Department at Tel-Aviv University. Chen is co-founder of 'Combatants for Peace', a movement of Palestinian and Israeli combatants who have abandoned the way of violence and struggle together non-violently against the occupation. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, with co-founder Suleiman Khatib (2017-2018).
Activism in the complicated reality in Israel/Palestine led him, as a professional actor and director, to search and create new forms of activist theatre with conflicted groups of Palestinian and Israelis, prisoners, drug addicts, homeless people, refugees, people with disabilities, and more. Chen is the founder of Holot Theatre, a company of African asylum seekers and Israeli citizens.
The 'Polarized Model of Theatre of the Oppressed' that Alon has developed in the past two decades is depicted in the documentaries 'Disturbing the Peace' (Stephen Apkon & Andrew Young, 2015), and 'Between Fences' (Avi Mograbi, 2016).
The documentary film Disturbing the Peace depicts the founding of 'Combatants for Peace', and profiles several of its founding members including Alon. This film, directed by Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young, was awarded the first ever Roger Ebert Humanitarian Award in 2016, a recognition for films that exemplify humanity and empathy.
This film screening and talk are part of the research project ‘Teaching Artistry: acting locally, sharing globally’ that Bob Selderslaghs is conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (within research group CORPoREAL) in collaboration with Fontys Academy for the Arts Tilburg.