Director: Roy Cohen
Stars: Roy Cohen, Aseel Asleh, Tobias Saumel Stein
Synopsis: Haunted by the killing of his Palestinian childhood friend by Israeli police in 2000, Arab-Jewish, queer filmmaker and activist Roy Cohen revisits their friendship in an intimate cinematic letter written during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Ever since No Other Land snagged that Best Documentary Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, the Israel-Gaza war has become a rich source for people to sink their teeth and dig deeper about the complicated history in the region. All eyes were on Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, the two brave filmmakers. The idea itself fascinated the world; two friends, an Israeli and a Palestinian, both committed to this cause, intent on letting the Western world witness the reality of the drastic situation in Gaza post-war.
Without No Other Land, there wouldn’t be a widely praised documentary on the Israel-Gaza world, created from the empathetic perspective toward Gaza. This is not something that was remotely possible before the existence of this film. Just like No Other Land, Arab-Jewish filmmaker Roy Cohen’s intimate portrayal of grief and lost friendship in a morally corrupt world, Far From Maine, is his love letter to his late friend Aseel Aslih, who was murdered in their youth by Israeli police. But it’s also Cohen’s attempt to find hope amidst the darkness of a hopeless world, shaped by the greed of political leaders and the depravity of war leaders.
The documentary runs like a series of heartfelt poignant letters from Cohen to the deceased Aslih, the fact that Cohen finds no one more fitting than his dead friend to express his raw feelings about bringing his partner to live with him in Tel Aviv and how that reflects on his place in the world as a queer Jewish activist against the genocidal actions of his government. Cohen masterfully weaves situations from his real life, with examples of the hardships that the Palestinians are going through. He compares the safety and comfort of his situation with the fear and instability that Palestinians experience, looking for moral clarity of his decision to stay in Israel, the only home he wants to stay in.
When footage of Aslih appears, our heart shatters. There goes a young man who could’ve lived a life parallel to Cohen, but in a different part of the same country that comprises a home to both. At a certain point, it appears like Cohen has survivor’s guilt. He once described Aslih as someone with far more charisma and talent than him, and one wonders if Cohen is guilty that only because of the toss of a coin, one belonged to Israel, the other to Palestine, and of course, the less privileged and fortunate one was the one to pass away at a very young age, even though he could’ve been the one more deserving of success and spotlight.
Far From Maine is not an easy movie to watch, as is anything about a war that has been going on for three years now. Countless women and children have been murdered, and thousands are in mourning, even non-Palestinians like Cohen, but the bodies keep piling up, and the future looks foggy, with no end to the total catastrophe in sight. But if not for the voices of honest men like Cohen and Abraham before him, the world would lose that silver lining of bravery, courage, and truthtelling. After the unfortunate event at Tribeca Film Festival, bigger and wider release of films like Far From Maine is no longer a luxury, but a must. For the future generations to learn the reality of the situation for the less privileged citizens of the world.
This documentary has never accepted any Israeli investment, public or private. It aims to give voice to the voiceless, even if they are, like Aslih, dead.
