Screening and discussion with the film makers(18.05.2005)

The Thirst For Work

A documentary video by Sharon Horodi and Shiri Wilk (Video48)

In the nineties most of the big textile plants in Israel shut down. Thousands of Arab female workers lost their jobs and have had difficulty finding new ones. The increase in unemployment and poverty has led to a situation where more and more women are shut up in their homes.

The Thirst For Work (Poalot)
by Sharon Horodi and Shiri Wilk (Video48)
10 min., Arabic with English Subtitles
2005

Two non-profit associations, Sindyanna of Galilee and the Workers Advice Center, offer a small but important example of what can be done. This example is shown in the film.
A principal purpose in the creation of Sindyanna, which markets olive-oil products on a fair-trade basis, has been to open jobs for women.
The Workers Advice Center has focused for the last three years on the construction industry, where it has organized Arab men. Recently WAC has been finding jobs for both women and men in agriculture too.
The film interviews the women who have found work through these two NGOs and gives a glimpse of the change in their lives.

Video 48, an alternative video group focuses on the problems of Palestinians inside Israel in the areas of civil and human rights. In a global economy, when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the group seeks answers to the widening gaps in society and to the racism that Arabs encounter in Israel. Since 1999 it has produced three full length documentaries. The shortfilm "The Thirst for Work" (10 Minutes) is directed by Sharon Horodi and filmed by Shiri Wilk, both members of Video 48.