Film on Rachel Corrie in the works

rachel corrie

Rachel Corrie's story has shocked and horrified people across the globe. Now, it will be immortalized in a documentary film expected to air in March on Britain's Channel 4.

Corrie, an Olympia peace activist and senior at The Evergreen State College, was killed March 16 in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli military bulldozer.

Sandra Jordan, a reporter for Channel 4 and The Observer newspaper, is developing the film along with producer Rodrigo Vasquez. The pair recently received acclaim for a documentary first aired on Channel 4 in June titled "The Killing Zone," which tracks ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip. Both filmmakers have been in Olympia this week to capture the city Corrie called home.

"There has been a lot of interest in Britain and around the world about what happened to Rachel," Jordan said Wednesday between filming sessions in Olympia. "I find it highly disappointing that no serious American investigative journalist has taken Rachel's story seriously or questioned or challenged the Israeli Army version of events."

On the scene

Jordan and Vasquez also followed Corrie's parents during their visit to Rafah in September -- the couple's first trip to the place where their daughter had been making a stand for peace. Corrie's father, Craig, said it was amazing to witness the hope and kindness among the people he and wife Cindy met in Rafah despite the continuous violence. He said the film will probably help the couple absorb what they witnessed in Gaza. "You feel all that pain; it's just everywhere," Craig Corrie said. "I think it's a story worth getting out to the rest of the world, and it helps us understand. ... I'm hopeful that when this is done, it's laid out in a fashion that truly reflects where Rachel was."

The filmmakers also contacted officials at Evergreen, who could become part of the documentary. The college was hit hard by Corrie's death, school officials said this week.

"It was a very sad place," said Jim Beaver, the school's director of college relations. "We were a part of her life."

Thursday, October 23, 2003