Interview with Directors of Sundance's "Who Killed Alex Odeh?" - William Lafi Youmans and Jason Osder
- Sam Theriault
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Easily one of the most important films at this year's Sundance Film Festival is feature documentary: Who Killed Alex Odeh? A project by filmmakers, William Lafi Youmans and Jason Osder that examines the 1985 political assassination of Palestinian-American activist, Alex Odeh in Santa Ana, California. Four decades later, Odeh and his family have never been given closure or justice despite his suspected assassins living as free men. This week we got the incredible opportunity to speak to Youmans and Osder about their film, its political connotations, and what could happen when the world finally gets to lay their eyes on it.
Theriault: "Thank you so much for being here with us today. I really appreciate you making this film because I assume it was quite risky with our current climate. That actually that leads us right into our first question, after the killing of No Other Land producer, Awdah Hathaleen do you find yourself fearing for your life at all? Because I'm going to be honest, the first thing I did after getting out of the movie was look up to see whether your Israeli journalist, David Sheen was still alive. Because what he did on this film seems like it could put a target on your back."
Osder: "Well, I appreciate the question. I think that we cannot compare our experiences to Palestinians living in the West Bank. I just want to say that off the bat. I think there is a certain amount of risk for everyone involved and the calculation is different for each individual. We also think a lot about David's safety, we think about the Odeh family's safety, and I think we would be naive to think that Will and I are completely in the same category when it comes to our safety. I'll speak for myself then, I guess I would couch some of the decisions I made in the film around privilege and what you choose to do with that privilege. It became clear to me on numerous visits to Israel as well as the West Bank that I had a lot of privilege as an American Jew in that space. And so then the question becomes 'what do you do with that privilege? How can you leverage it?' And so I guess a lot of my personal decision making was based around that calculation, but that's going to be different for David Sheen, and we do have concern for him and the Odeh family. I don't think the calculation is the same for any of us as it is for a Palestinian doing storytelling under occupation though."
Youmans: "Especially in Gaza. I took a lot of inspiration from Alex himself when thinking about this question. When Alex faced threat after threat after threat and his widow Norma expressed concern, he said basically 'what should I do? Be silent?' He approached it with conviction and courage knowing the risks that he faced, and the threats he faced are much more than anything we have. But of course we try to be safe and security conscious. We also feel that because the film is out there is less incentive to use violence, but we fully expect character assassination, reputational attacks, which are really moderate compared to what Palestinian reporters face. I also want to add that with David Sheen, we were trying to be as ethical as possible and make sure that with every step he took there was informed deliberation about risks. This is not his first rodeo, he has brushed up against Israeli authorities many times and faced threats before. So he's gotten support from journalist safety organizations that have given him some assistance in taking necessary precautions. So it's on our radar but we can't be silent because of it."
Theriault: "He's honestly like my new hero. Right after I got out of the film I looked him up because I thought 'this is somebody to watch.' He's really fighting the good fight."
Osder: "And another person who deserves mention is Robert Friedman who did the original reporting in the 80's. There are police reports of him getting beat up in New York and Tel Aviv partly because of Kahanists but he also covered the Russian mafia too. The guy was fearless and we take inspiration from all of that.
Theriault: "Absolutely. That brings me to my second question, as a young American Jew I had no idea who Alex Odeh was and I found myself just in awe of this blind spot of mine after leaving the screening. I just couldn't help but think this should be required viewing for anyone before they attempt to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who is not from the region. Would you agree with that?
Osder: "I guess I would stop short of 'required' because that feels like we might step into an area that is problematic for other reasons. But yes, we hope that this finds an audience in the West, in the United States among people who are open to learning more and seeing things differently."
Youmans: "I would like to add that the reason you didn't know about it is because it's buried history. One thing that I hope that comes out of the film is that there's a revelation by the audience who thinks, 'well, if I didn't know about this, imagine about all the other stories I didn't know about in juxtaposition with what I've been made to think about U.S.-Israeli relations, and how many lives have paid the cost for the maintenance of that relationship?' So Alex's story is really just one in a much larger arc. But you know, we didn't want to be heavy handed about it, we want the audience to get the evidence and draw their own conclusions. One thing that I really was big on was inspiring more research; invite the audience to do their own work, that's what I could hope for."
Theriault: "Yeah I mean, I wrote a little bit about my mother, who despite being alive for all the events in the documentary had never even heard of Meir Kahane. And you know, to some degree it is the responsibility of parents to educate children. So for a good part of my life, I didn't know anything about this either. I was under this false impression that we were unique in that there aren't enough of us to be terrorists. You know, we just kind of keep to ourselves. But I think a lot of young American Jews are beginning to realize that that version of history is not even close to reality. So, my last question is a bit of a hard one: do you see any accountability for the murder of Alex Odeh coming in our lifetimes?"
Osder: "I mean, probably not. At our premiere screening, Alex's daughter, Helena was there, she took the stage and ended up making the final comments. She said that she was pleased because people would now know her father's name. Now, that's not the same as accountability and that's not the same as indictments. However, indictments also don't bring back the loss of a person. So then we look at different forms of justice. In this case, there's no justice but there's a piece of justice."
Youmans: "That's a great response. I mean, just to think about it in terms of the criminal justice system. The key years of investigation were eventually blocked and that creates a vacuum in terms of the evidence needed. I've heard conflicting things from former FBI agents that I'm not at liberty to disclose. It's a question largely of political will, because like what just happened to Nicolás Maduro, when the U.S. decides that they want to make an international arrest, they make an international arrest."
Theriault: "It's all about the will of the people in power and if they want to see justice done."
Youmans: "Absolutely, and that's why this film could generate public pressure that brings about some kind of legal action. We've seen this in other cases involving extraditions so the politics might come from somewhere, but that to me is really the best hope."
Rua: "And I would just like to ask, as documentary filmmakers you know the inherent value of storytelling. So are there any documentaries that comes to mind that you believe everyone should see?"
Youmans: "Can I actually talk about the important of documentary real quick?"
Rua: "Of course."
Youmans: "What we saw in some of the press that we've been getting so far is that there can be a discussion of this case that happens through the film writer that would never happen through any other kind of national reporting position. And so there's a literal power of documentary to sort of circumvent the gatekeepers in a way. That's an often overlooked real power of documentary. I mean it's a very small example but it's about expanding the zones of discourse to allow for more open ideas and knowledge and information to circulate. But I'll let Jason answer the actual question..."
Osder: "Yeah, I mean, I teach this stuff so I certainly have opinions and have the opportunity to make students watch certain films that I think they should see. I can mention a few but the one that I think still screens so powerfully and is still so relevant is Night and Fog, which of course is about the European Holocaust. I think part of what's so powerful about that film is that in its specificity to one event, it calls for our human reaction to all dehumanizing events and asks us to look quite literally in the final lines of that film, 'We survey these ruins with a heartfelt gaze, certain the old monster lies crushed beneath the rubble.' While it's a film about the European Holocaust that so many Israelis will reference in their discussion, and rightfully so, it also serves to draw our attention to Gaza. And I think that's so powerful that there is always the specificity of history and the demanding of our human response to the oppression and inhumanity of war and genocide."
Rua: "Because after all, 'never again' means never again for anyone."
Osder: "Exactly."
We here at Cinemasters.net would once again like to thank Mr. Youmans and Mr. Osder for appearing on our platform and using their voices and art to stand up for justice. We hope their words will inspire others to fight for what's right. Thank you for tuning into Cinemasters and remember to never stop watching!