The Viewing Booth
What if we could see how we see?
THE VIEWING BOOTH explores a space ostensibly off-limits to cinema – the internal experience of the viewer. In a lab-like space, Maia Levy, a young American woman, watches videos portraying life in the West Bank city of Hebron, while verbalizing her thoughts and feelings in real time. An enthusiastic supporter of Israel, the images in the videos, disseminated for the most part by the Human Rights organization B’Tselem, contradict some of Maia’s deep-seated beliefs. Empathy; anger; embarrassment; innate biases and healthy curiosity – all play out before our eyes as we watch her watch the images created by the Occupation. As Maia navigates and negotiates the images, which threaten her worldview, she also reflects on the way she sees them. Her candid and immediate reactions form a one-of-a-kind cinematic testimony to the psychology of the viewer in the digital era.
Director
Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Producer
Ra'anan Alexandrowicz and Liran Atzmor
Runtime
71 minutes
Rights Represented
Educational Rights, International Rights
Captions Available
English
Language
English, Arabic, Hebrew
Press
“An outstanding probe into not just how people think about a conflict in the Middle East, but the limits of nonfiction films regarding their ability to persuade and explore reality as it is — and whether such a thing is even possible.”
- Vox
“One of the most provocative of the films at True/False… this film speaks not only to issues but to the function of documentary itself.”
- Documentary Magazine
“‘The Viewing Booth’ stood out as one of the [Berlin] festival’s best documentaries… a meditation on the power of images to convey reality and influence systems of belief.”
- Tablet Magazine
Festival & Awards
WINNER Critic’s Choice Award – Hot Springs Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION -True/False Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION – CPH:DOX Changemakers
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Berlinale Forum
OFFICIAL SELECTION – First Look
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Museum of Moving Image
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