Filmmakers Shapiro, Goldberg, and Bolado offer an alternative account of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as they follow the lives of seven children of different backgrounds in Jerusalem over the course of three years (1995–98). While the children live only twenty minutes apart, they inhabit completely different worlds and know nothing of each other’s lives: their picture of the world is formed by the adults around them and the circumstances in which they live. Although some promise for understanding is offered by an initial meeting of the children for soccer and conversation, an epilogue to the film reveals the growing physical, historical, and emotional gaps between them. Promises won the Canal+ Audience Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the San Francisco Film Festival.