186: Yousef Srouji on Palestinian Home Movies

During the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Yousef Srouji was a boy living with his family in the West Bank town of Beit Jala. His mother Suha used a camcorder to capture family life including when they were forced to take shelter from gunfire and explosions. Years later, Yousef discovered the footage and turned it into the film Three Promises that won the top jury prize at the Camden International Film Festival. Now the film is opening in New York at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Yousef from his home in Ramallah. They discuss his career as "an accidental filmmaker" and his motives to return to Palestine after his family moved away. On Instagram: @purenonfiction @thompowers1

Om Podcasten

If you love documentary films, hear from the top storytellers on Pure Nonfiction. Host Thom Powers is well-connected in this world as a documentary curator for the Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and SundanceNow Doc Club. He leads conversations that are frank, funny and revealing. Listen to interviews with Oscar-winning filmmakers Barbara Kopple, Alex Gibney, and Roger Ross Williams; as well as the directors of “Making a Murderer,” “Weiner” and “OJ: Made in America.” Often the stories behind the scenes are as dramatic as what’s on the screen. On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @purenonfiction. Subscribe now.