Fakes De Paty Manterola

In the first decade of the new millennium, both religion and intolerance and terrorism seem to have become synonymous. This documentary asks if this has been so long, only in the Middle East, or in the world ... or if, on the contrary, religion can have a positive influence for world peace and progress.

"The Elders of Cordoba" takes us from New York in the hours following the attacks of September 11, 2001, to Jerusalem, passing through Spain, Morocco, Paris, Venice or Cairo , a journey that seeks traces of dialogue and coexistence in a mythical Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived in mutual respect and tolerance. In this search we follow two geniuses medieval Maimonides and Averroes, both born in Córdoba Andalusian and, each from their own faith, had the courage to try to harmonize religion and science, reason and revelation.

While her controversial ideas led them to be rejected by their communities (culminating in the burning of the books of both), his writings are a crucial link between classical Greek philosophy and Western thought, and were instrumental to open way from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and the twentieth century.

This trip between the Past and Present is led by Jacob Bender, American Jew who, in addition to his experience as a filmmaker and director, has a strong record worldwide as an activist for peace and interreligious dialogue. Throughout the documentary, Bender meets people from different communities and traditions that live in the midst of contradiction and conflict to reconcile their faith with modernity, democracy and tolerance (as Averroes and Maimonides eight centuries ago.) These characters often arouse the hostility of those among his followers who advocate a strict or literal interpretation of scriptures.

These meetings on the first line of the "clash of civilizations" are combined with expert commentary in Al-Andalus, and world authorities in favor of the "Alliance of Civilizations" as well as the personal quest for Bender on the meaning of religion in the world after the 11-S, which are aimed at dismantling the very idea expanded in certain books or speeches, that religion should lead to hatred, or justification for building walls-real or symbolic-that separate us.

A journey of hope and poetry from the center of the world, New York, shaken at the beginning of this new era, to the capital of the three major religions, Jerusalem, symbol of the clash that crystallizes the wall and the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Inspiration comes in this magical tour of the medieval past, the two Andalusian scholars, whose heritage is still alive in the early twenty-first century.