This Land is Mine, Nina Paley’s Animated History of the Land Called Israel/Palestine/Canaan/The Levant

“This Land is Mine” is an animated musical short by artist Nina Paley that she describes as a “brief history of the land called Israel/Palestine/Canaan/The Levant.” A “who’s-killing-who viewer’s guide” is available on her website. You can make a donation to the Question Copyright project (which “assists artists in creating and releasing works under free licenses”) online. Paley is the project’s first artist-in-residence.

I envisioned This Land Is Mine as the last scene of my potential-possible-maybe-feature film, Seder-Masochism, but it’s the first (and so far only) scene I’ve animated. As the Bible says, ”So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Rusty Blazenhoff
Rusty Blazenhoff