FAQs

Budrus was created by Just Vision. It was directed by filmmaker Julia Bacha, and produced by Bacha together with Ronit Avni, the Founder and previous Executive Director of Just Vision, and Rula Salameh, a journalist and one of the founders of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation who is currently Just Vision’s Education and Outreach Manager in Palestinian society.

The filmmakers have a personal relationship to the region, and most of Just Vision’s staff has either grown up or lived in the Middle East for a substantial period of time. Some of our families are Palestinian or Israeli and have lost loved ones, homes and freedom to conflict. We are all committed to using independent storytelling and strategic audience engagement to build a pluralistic, just and rights-respecting future in Israel-Palestine.

Budrus premiered in December 2009 at the Dubai International Film Festival, and has since won Audience and Jury Awards at top international festivals, including Tribeca, Berlin and San Francisco. Budrus has screened at dozens of festivals around the world, has had a national theatrical release in multiple countries (including the US, the UK and Germany), and has played before tens of thousands of audience members worldwide. Budrus premiered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel in the spring and summer of 2010, and has since been screened for Palestinian, Israeli, American and international audiences in numerous theatrical, educational and community venues.

Our team began following events in Budrus in 2006, after most of the protests in the village had ended and the movement had largely accomplished its goal. We collected hundreds of hours of footage from Palestinian, Israeli and international activists, who had been present at the protests and who, under the risk of arrest or deportation, filmed the events in the village. Most were filming in order to document human rights abuses and events unfolding on the ground, with no intention of making a film. We are deeply thankful to these activists for agreeing to share their precious footage with us. We then conducted extensive research into the events that occurred in Budrus and interviewed dozens of the village’s residents, activists, Israeli soldiers, military leaders and lawyers who were present at or closely followed the protests. Our production team shot footage of the village and interviews with the protagonists, and wove this material in with archival footage. All in all, the footage in the film was captured from 2003–2009.

Most of the protests shown in the film occurred during the years 2003–2004, at the height of the Second Intifada. However, since similar movements have been gaining ground in many towns and villages across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and often involve some of the same protagonists that are seen in Budrus, we did not want to leave viewers with the impression that Budrus tells the story of an isolated movement. What occurred in Budrus is directly linked to the events unraveling in these villages today. We also wanted the audience to immerse themselves in the story and feel that they were experiencing it in real time.

For private use, the Budrus Home DVD can be purchased at Just Vision’s online store. 

A public screening license or Educational DVD is necessary for any group screening of the film in public. The Educational DVD is available through RoCo Educational, and is licensed for unlimited public screenings. Please use the coupon code ‘justvision’ when checking out to help support our outreach efforts on the ground at no additional cost to you. 

Budrus is also available on Apple TV, Amazon.

Budrus is available in English, Arabic, Hebrew and Portuguese. Please contact us if you would like to help make Budrus available in another language.

Budrus has been screened at dozens of campuses and communities across the US, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In the US and Canada, check to see if your organization or university library already owns a Budrus Educational DVD. If not, purchase the Educational version of the film online through RoCo Educational ($295). Use ‘justvision’ as the checkout code to ensure that proceeds from your purchase are applied toward Just Vision's community and media engagement. The Educational DVD includes both the full-length 83-minute and 58-minute versions of the film. For groups with limited budgets, discounts on the full institutional rate may be available. Contact info@justvision.org for more information. 

The film is entirely subtitled, and it includes violence and language that may be offensive to some. Adults are strongly recommended to preview the film before bringing children or teenagers under the age of fourteen to see it.

Budrus is 78 minutes in total running time in Europe and the Middle East. In North America, it is 83 minutes long. The discrepancy is entirely a matter of formats (PAL and NTSC) – the content is identical.

Digibeta SP, Digibeta PAL, Digebeta NTSC, HDCAM 25PsF, HDCAM 1080/23.98PsF, HDCAM 1080/59.94i, DVD and BluRay. We cannot guarantee that your preferred format will be available due to high demand. We recommend booking as early as possible.

Some rights are still available. Please contact info@justvision.org to inquire about them.