Jerusalem In Line-

Jewish director Amir Har-Gil and Arab assistant director Isfahan Bahalul decided to return and find out what has changed in East Jerusalem.

Follow up film.

13 years after filming “Line Up” that focused on Palestinians possessing blue Israeli identity cards, Har-Gil, a Jewish kibbutz member and Bahalul, an Arab resident of Akko, returned to examine what has happened to the film’s heroes, whether there was a change in the way they were treated; to find out whether the screenings at the High Court of Justice and at the Knesset contributed anything, did any change occur. The new film uses new materials as well as segments of the old one.

13 years ago East Jerusalem residents used to get up early and equipped with food and drinks, they would queue up ahead of time in the line outside the Ministry of the Interior. Women with babies, old and young men waited, crammed side by side in inhuman conditions, for the ministry to open its bureau in the morning. The harsh reality reveals a Kafkaesque picture which reflects the variety of claims and problems Palestinian residents have with Israeli authorities. The film provoked interest.

Entangled-

Israeli Palestinian coproduction, a documentary film attempting to describe the conflict from six different points of view of six different protagonists: three Israelis and three Palestinians. It is a microcosm about the silent majority entangled in a historical condition of ongoing crisis, the majority that pays the full price of the failure of their peoples to change their fate.

The Palestinians were filmed by a Palestinian crew, the Israelis by an Israeli crew. It is an Israeli-Palestinian coproduction that continued for several years, years which were not peaceful: the second intifada, numerous terrorist attacks, targeted killings, military operations, discussion attempts and leadership changes on both sides.

The six protagonists are: Gidi, A combat soldier serving in the Hebron area; Natalie from Sderot in whose courtyard a Kassam missile exploded, Fatma in whose orchard tens of olive trees were cut down by the army’s bulldozer; Shmulik, a vascular surgeon who was badly hurt in a terrorist attack; Sami an orthopedic surgeon who spends five hours every day on the road because of the many roadblocks; Muhammad who participated in a demonstration against the separation wall and was caught by a soldier disguised as an Arab (mistaarev).

A moving, thought provoking film which was acclaimed at screenings in Oxford, England and in Toronto, Canada.