Roy Cohen, an Israeli of Arab-Jewish descent, and Palestinian citizen of Israel Aseel Asleh met in the 1990s as teenagers at a peace camp in Maine, USA. They became close friends and advocates for a shared future without violence. In 2000 Aseel was killed by Israeli police, leaving Roy with a wound that never healed. Since then, he has never stopped speaking to Aseel, seeking his moral clarity amid escalating injustice. Far from Maine is Roy’s personal letter to Aseel. The film stands as a testimony to Cohen’s grief, sense of responsibility and shattered sense of belonging amid the devastating war in Gaza and the extreme radicalisation of Israeli society after October 7. Cohen captures this reality with honesty and clarity qualities increasingly marginalised in an age defined by rupture and refusal.
