Srdan Golubovic, Director, Circles

Is being a hero meaningless? Do we need superheroes or normal people who are doing good things every day? Who are they? Our neighbors, friends, people we know? 

That’s the question I asked people from the audience at Circles screenings over my four days in San Diego and Tijuana, during which we discussed our need to be good humans. I spoke with different people–young people from the public high school Lazaro Cardenas in Tijuana, people of all ages in Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego, and people who came to watch Circles at the San Diego Public Library. 

Together, Hilla Medalia (Dancing in Jaffa, director) and I had an interesting and lively workshop with film school students. We talked about storytelling, about how we are searching for our new stories, about our process of work, and mainly about our need to promote human values through art. Most importantly, we talked with people on both sides of the border and with people of different ages, social classes, educations, and interests.

One of the discussions at Lazaro Cardenas in Tijuana was one of the best I’ve ever had. It was a pleasure to talk with such clever and educated young people. I was impressed with the comments of an Iraqi immigrant woman at Joan B. Kroc Institute and was deeply touched at the San Diego Public Library by the words of a Serbian man who has lived in San Diego for the last 35 years. They all talked about Srdjan Aleksic’s heroic act and they all were celebrating humanity and heroism–heroism of an ordinary man.

We also talked about the nearby border, which is separating two countries but mainly separating and splitting two completely different worlds. I was fascinated and distressed by that contrast when we were crossing the border and entering Mexico. We were curious to hear how that border has affected their lives. I think that art can break the borders, can open horizons to people, and teach others that we are all the same.  That’s what Hilla’s amazing film Dancing in Jaffa is teaching us. It’s also something that we heard from all people from both sides of the border–from ordinary people who still believe in humanity and heroism.