What was your biggest challenge in getting this film off the ground?

Shapiro: People were really skeptical. Here were these two Jews who'd never made a film before, coming from the liberal San Francisco Bay Area. What's their agenda? A lot of conservative Jews thought that the film must have a pro-Palestinian agenda because we were liberals, and a lot of Palestinians thought we had no business making the film at all. But one South African woman that we met in 1996 saw our first fundraising clip and thought the film was really important. She donated probably a ninth of our budget, and told us, "You guys are going to win an Academy Award." It's funny, the day the nominations were announced, she was the very first person to call at 7 a.m. and congratulate us.

In terms of funding, were there times when you thought that this just wasn't going to happen?

Goldberg: Were there times when we didn't think that?

Shapiro: You know, it's funny, I'm still close to all the years of struggling to make the film. We had close to 200 hours of amazing footage, but what I didn't know was, how are we going to craft a film that will have the same qualities that make a feature film work. What's our narrative? What will the arc to the story be? How will the characters change? We really wanted the film to work as a cinematic piece, not simply as a worthy social documentary. B.Z. and I had never made a film before. We were just really interested in the subject, and in storytelling, and in the medium of film. So we involved Carlos Bolado, because we needed to work with somebody who really understood cinema. Our intention was that a mainstream audience would respond to this film. And one of the benefits of having to fundraise, and having it be such a hard, long road, is that we ended up staying with the project probably twice as long as we anticipated. It was a gift in a way, because we ended up spending much more time with the kids.

Where was "Promises" first screened?

Goldberg: It was in Rotterdam, and I was sweating bullets. Everything was in a crunch that week. I took the wet print of the film down to L.A. for the subtitles to be done. And everything went wrong at the subtitle house that day; they had just fired their general manager, the account manager had quit, one of the simulation machines was broken. There were spelling mistakes, and I didn't have time to proof. And I think they were working on the Spanish subtitles for "Tarzan" at the same time. I carried the print back up to San Francisco, and it was too late on Friday to go to the lab. Saturday everything was closed. Sunday, first thing in the morning we flew to Rotterdam with the print. So on Tuesday at the festival was the first time anybody had seen the finished film. I was convinced, in my heart of hearts, that the film was going to have the subtitles to "Tarzan" in Spanish. Once the subtitles seemed to be OK, I was then convinced that the audience was about to get up and leave. I was holding onto the chair for dear life.

Shapiro: We had no idea that the film would have such a great reception. We were rejected by Sundance and HBO also turned it down. There are not many venues for documentary film. We never expected it would have a theatrical distribution. I was putting up posters in Rotterdam, the festival was ending in two days and somebody came up to me and said, "Congratulations, your film's at the top of the audience poll." I didn't even know there was an audience poll!

B.Z. mentioned that at first he was uncomfortable being in the film.

Shapiro: B.Z.'s role in the film is sort of tricky. You know, we were all concerned that if his role weren't calculated, he would become a buffer between the audience and children. So the extra time helped us sort out these inherent issues, and persuade him that it would help the narrative work. B.Z. was so connected with the kids, it seemed really silly not to show that to the audience. I think having him talk to them directly also helped the kids express themselves more candidly. It's just more natural.

Justine, you were born in South Africa. Did you grow up there?

Shapiro: We left when I was very young.

Many people compare the historical situation in South Africa, during the apartheid era, with what's happening in the Middle East. Do you feel that, coming from that background, you had a particular sensitivity to these issues?

Shapiro: You know, although I didn't really grow up there, my family is South African and we went back several times. I remember once we had relatives visiting us, and my mom, sister and I were in their hotel room. And my uncle was saying to my mom, "Ach, man, those bloody gorillas, what do they want, eh? They want more, those monkeys, all they do is take, take, take." I was 10 and I remember thinking, which gorillas and monkeys? I couldn't get it, but I knew there was something odd going on, and my mom said, "Girls, I think we're going to go now." She explained it to me later. We were living in Berkeley at the time, so there was a lot of consciousness about race relations. On the other hand, the first time I met Palestinians was in Hebron, prior to making the film. And I remember thinking: Gosh, I've always thought they were terrorists. I don't think so anymore, having met them and got to know them. I realized that we're all so brainwashed, especially prior to Oslo, when the Palestinian Authority and the flag wasn't even relevant. I was thinking the other day about what happened to Vanessa Redgrave. She was practically blacklisted in Hollywood for supporting the PLO.

Goldberg: In some ways she's still blacklisted, even though everyone is talking to the PLO now.

Shapiro: She basically sabotaged her career. And I remember at the time my relatives, and even my 15-year-old self, were like, gosh, how dare she do such a thing?

B.Z., you grew up in Israel. Was this your first time venturing into the Palestinian territories?

Goldberg: No, I had been in a lot of these areas during the intifada with news crews. But it was the first time I stayed for any length of time, talking to people and trying to understand what their lives were like.

Did you have any concerns, as a Jew, before you went or while you were there?

Goldberg: No, I didn't. I was probably stupid. I also tried to be very honest with people about how I felt, and about my own biases.

Did you worry that, with two Jewish filmmakers trying to represent both sides, you might overcompensate for the Palestinian view, so you wouldn't appear biased?

Shapiro: Well, three of us really made this film, and so I think when any one of us had a strong opinion or agenda, we kept each other in check. Every word of the narration was very carefully considered. And the response has actually been amazing from both the right-wing and left-wing press in Israel. It's received nothing but favorable reviews. I mean, if you ask the [Jewish] settlers [living in the West Bank], some of them thought the film was wonderful, but many of them probably don't like the fact that Palestinians are humanized.

Goldberg: They don't like the fact that Palestinians are in it, period. They say the Palestinians have too much airtime.

Shapiro: But the vast majority of Israelis have responded really well. And Arab-Americans have responded well to the film as well.

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