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In April 2006, The Second Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival honored The Making of a Martyr with the Audience Choice Award for Best Film. Brooke Goldstein and Alistair Leyland were on-site to accept their first award for this film.
On March 24th, 2004, 15-year-old Hussam Abdu was apprehended at an Israeli border checkpoint with live explosives strapped around his waist. Instead of detonating the bomb, out of fear of death and love for his family, Hussam voluntarily surrendered and is now serving time in an Israeli prison for attempted murder. Since the start of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000, an alarming number of suicide bombers have been children aged 18 and under.
To explore this troubling phenomenon, filmmakers Brooke Goldstein and Alistair Leyland risked their lives and traveled to the Palestinian towns of Jenin, Ramallah, Tulkarem and Nablus, seeking out and meeting with leaders of terrorist organizations responsible for recruiting children for suicide attacks. Through a series of first hand and thought-provoking interviews, “The Making of a Martyr” brings its audience into a part of Palestinian culture previously ignored, by uncovering those who are facilitating, teaching and paying children to take their own lives as human bombs.
The film features interviews with wanted leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, families of suicide bombers, Palestinian children imprisoned for participating in suicide missions amongst others, giving its audience a first-hand and troubling insight into the concept of martyrdom as it is being taught to Palestinian children.
Click on this link The Making of a Martyr to view and listen.