JUNCTION 48. A Film by Udi Aloni. Directed by: Udi Aloni. Written by: Oren Moverman, Tamer Nafar

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1 JUNCTION 48 A Film by Udi Aloni Starring: Tamer Nafar, Samar Qupty, Salwa Nakkara, Ayed Fadel, and Sameh "SAZ" Zakout Directed by: Udi Aloni Written by: Oren Moverman, Tamer Nafar Produced by: David Silber, Lawrence Inglee, Stefan Arndt, Udi Aloni Executive Producers: Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, Gideon Tadmor, Eyal Rimmon, Michael Mailis, Susan Wrubel, James Schamus, Oren Moverman Co-Producers: Yasmin Zaher, Suhel Nafar, Ben Korman, Katie Heidy Festival Screenings: Press & Industry Screening 1 Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 9:15 AM Regal Battery Park Stadium Theater 6 North American Premiere Friday, April 15, 2016 at 5:45PM Regal Battery Park Stadium Theater 10 Public Screening 2 Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 4:00 PM Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea Theater 9 Press & Industry Screening 2 Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 9:00 AM Regal Battery Park Stadium Theater 10 Public Screening 3 Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 5:00 PM Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea Theater 3 Public Screening 4 Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 10:00 PM Bowtie Cinemas Chelsea Theater 9 Running Time: 96 minutes International Narrative Competition North American Premiere Publicist: Sales Contact: Scott Feinstein Lawrence Inglee 42 West Blackbird Scott.Feinstein@42west.net lawrence@thisblackbird.com

2 SYNOPSIS: Kareem leads an aimless life between odd jobs and hanging out with his buddies. He lives with his parents in a crimeridden ghetto of the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Lyd, some 20 minutes from Tel Aviv. Most of his childhood friends have turned to selling drugs through ATMs transaction holes in the walls of dilapidated buildings. Kareem s loving musician parents are constantly worrying about his life choices and they try hard to guide their son on the right path. Kareem is devastated when his father is killed in a car crash. The family tragedy brings him closer to his singer girlfriend, Manar, and motivates him to do something more with his life. Kareem and his group have been performing at small neighborhood gigs and family birthday parties. When they finally get a chance to perform in a Tel Aviv hip-hop club, Kareem s star potential is quickly noticed. The first Arab rapper is asked to appear on a TV news program. As Kareem s talent develops, so does his political consciousness, and the group s lyrics become more defiant. Although he raps I m not political, Kareem and the group use music to express their tough life as Palestinian youth. But the road to success is never easy... Kareem and his group face a violent confrontation with nationalistic Jewish rappers. Their friend Talal, already mixed up with a dangerous drug lord, could lose his home because of governmentimposed gentrification. Kareem s biggest blow could be not having Manar onstage with him for his most important gig yet. Her cousins threaten to harm them if she performs publicly with him, an act which they consider a disgrace to the family honor. The time has come for Kareem to either surrender to conservative tradition or stand up for the woman he loves, the artist he respects JUNCTION 48 *** COMMENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR UDI ALONI The Israeli city of Lod is the Palestinian city of Lyd, which once sat on the main railway junction. In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians were exiled from Lyd in order to resettle the town with Jews. It became a mixed Palestinian- Jewish city located 20 minutes away Tel Aviv. Our protagonist, the first Arab hip-hop artist, lives in the ghetto of Lyd. In one of his lyrics, he writes: Damn this land. Damn Junction 48. The Palestinian citizens of Israel are often referred to as 48ers. JUNCTION 48 is the story of Kareem, Manar, and their particular community: the 48ers. But it s also a universal story, the story of young Arab Muslims around the world who are searching for a unique language of universality. TAMER NAFAR AS KAREEM JUNCTION 48 is a fiction film that was inspired by the real-life experiences of leading actor and co-writer Tamer Nafar, who started the Arab hip-hop scene in I met Tamer two years later, when he appeared in my documentary film LOCAL ANGEL with his rap group DAM. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. After that, he appeared in two 2

3 other films of mine, FORGIVENESS and ART/VIOLENCE. Outside of the realm of film, we ve collaborated on many socialpolitical projects, through which our friendship has grown even further. In a way, against all odds, we created a binational community with its own art and culture, a community that opens the possibility of togetherness while acknowledging the separation in our region. On one of the long nights we spent sitting and talking, Tamer told me his life story from a more personal perspective, and we realized that we were ready to make a feature film. When Tamer started to suggest names of possible actors, I already knew that only charismatic Tamer could play Kareem. I mentioned the project to my good friend, brilliant filmmaker Oren Moverman and he was immediately enthusiastic and offered his support. I never dreamed he would actually become a co-writer. Once Oren and executive producer James Schamus both committed, I knew that nothing could stop us from making this dream come true. TAMER S LYD Tamer has been living in the impoverished and mixed Palestinian-Jewish city of Lyd since the day he was born. There is a scene in the movie where his mother, who has a spiritual awakening and becomes a Quranic healer, cures an adolescent from a traditional Jewish family. This scene, far from being an, impossibility, represents what used to be the very real multicultural relationships among the working classes in Lyd. HIP-HOP IS ART AND VIOLENCE I feel that hip-hop, in a way, is art/violence. It s not art instead of violence, nor is it violence instead of art. Instead, it s the existence of rage and resistance within art itself. A few years ago, I was working in The Freedom Theatre of Jenin Refugee Camp, as seen in my film ART/VIOLENCE (Cinema Fairbindet Prize at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival). In Jenin, my dear friend, the late Juliano Mer Khamis, used to teach his students that high quality art is a form of resistance, and resistance is a form of high quality art. Similarly, in my books and in my lectures, I often deal with the relationship between art, politics and theory. Each one of the three is a means to the others and an end in itself. I feel that the music and lyrics in JUNCTION 48, which we created to tell the story of the new generation of the 48ers, exemplify the interrelationships of these three elements. THE SETS Our sets were a hybrid of authentic locations in Lyd and an old Palestinian house in Jaffa, which we converted into a studio. Salim Shehada, the most preeminent Palestinian art designer, constructed the house that is later demolished from scratch. He also converted different rooms of the house into a Communist gathering place (for the parents musical performance), a concert space (for the hip-hop performances), a drug-dealing base, and even a police station. THE MUSEUM OF COEXISTENCE The Museum of Coexistence project in JUNCTION 48 doesn t actually exist in Lyd. And yet similar sites exist in almost every mixed city in Israel. Tel Aviv University is sitting on the ruins of the Palestinian village Sheikh Mones. In the village of Ein Hod, Israel built a museum for Dada art inside of a Palestinian house, the owners of which were evicted and now live in an unrecognized community three kilometers away. Perhaps the most fitting example is the actual Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, which was built on top of the ancient Mamilla Graveyard of an exiled Palestinian community. It s painful for me to see that so many progressive institutes in my Jewish-Israeli community are really sitting on a razed past. 3

4 A FREE SUBJECT The character of pretty young Manar is extremely important in our story, but the story of the Palestinian woman is very complex. If we look at the 70s, and we have role models like Leila Khaled, we see that women used to be more empowered than they are today, and part of the reason for this is the ongoing occupation and oppression from the outside that doesn t give space for women to fight for their own freedom and identities inside of their own communities. Manar is an example of many young Palestinian women, as she has had to confront a reactionary movement in her own society and to recreate herself as a free subject. In Beckett s Waiting for Godot, Gogo tells Didi, they took our rights. Didi laughs and says, we gave them up. Manar s logic is the reverse; she refuses to receive her freedom from her boyfriend, insisting to attain it on her own terms. SAMAR QUPTY AS MANAR Samar Qupty is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University film school. Originally, she came to work as assistant director while I mentored her own script. But the more she learned about the character Manar, the more she identified with her, and she insisted that I audition her for the role. From the first audition, it was clear that she had star qualities. Because the other actresses auditioning were also extremely talented, it took a month to figure out that there was a perfect match between her and Tamer. I should add that the whole process of the casting was among people I have known for many years. Some of them I ve known as colleagues, like the mother Salwa Naqara, and others I ve known as students, like Ayed Fadel and Mariam Abu Khaled. We expanded the cast as a true community for the coming future. FROM COMMUNIST TO HEALER The transformation of Kareem s mother from communist to Quranic healer is crucial to the film because it challenges the Western gaze that sees a dichotomy between modernity and religion (Islam). The West views the hijab (headdress) as a symbol of patriarchy, only in order to deny and conceal their Western patriarchal values. But feminism with hijab and without hijab can function equally. In JUNCTION 48, we can see it in the sisterhood between the old and new generations, portrayed through the bond of Kareem s mother and Manar. So while the Western audience would like to see hip-hop as contradicting traditional values, we are offering traditional values that have a split within themselves. Before the accident as a secular leftist and after as a traditional healer she remains a figure that her son can rely on in times of crisis. NATIONAL RAPPERS Both actors who play Jewish rappers in JUNCTION 48 are also real rappers, but their characters and names in the movie are fictional. Michael Moshonov (RPG) is one of the most preeminent actors in contemporary Israeli cinema. The other rapper, Babylon (67 Carat), is pretty much playing himself. Some Israeli rappers have used music as propaganda for Jewish nationalism; indeed, one of the leading voices of the extreme right-wing in Israel today is a hip-hop singer. THE JACUZZI SCENE One problem in contemporary Israeli cinema and society is the invention of the phenomenon known as shooting and crying. In many Israeli films that deal with the occupation or with war, the soldier protagonist, who is portrayed as having high moral values, commits a sort of crime, only later to repent so that the audience can forgive him. This ritual can function on the condition that the Israeli soldier is the subject and the Arab/enemy is an object for the soldier s psychological narrative. In contrast, the jacuzzi scene in JUNCTION 48 depicts a person who is not a soldier and who has 4

5 no heroic facade. In his monologue, we experience the removal of the liberal mask from the shooting and crying narrative. Indeed, unlike the image of the suffering soldier who seeks moral redemption, in the contemporary Israeli blogosphere, there are tens of thousands of Israelis calling for pure violence without any shame. For this reason, when the talented Michael Moshonov delivers his monologue in the jacuzzi, I shivered behind the monitor. DEDICATED TO SHULAMIT ALONI I dedicate JUNCTION 48 to my dear mother who I lost two years ago. Shulamit Aloni was an amazing woman who fought all her life to make Israel and Palestine a better place to live in. Everything I know about the struggle for justice and human rights, I learned from her. She single-handedly made homosexuality legal in Israel. She brought the feminist discourse to the front. She fought for Palestinian rights like no other Zionist before her. I wish with all my heart that she could have seen JUNCTION 48. I hope this film will help keep her legacy alive. THE REVOLUTION In the last year, I have been developing a project in relation to refugees and Joseph Beuys in Berlin. At the same time, I m carrying the burden and the love of Israel-Palestine wherever I go. Not one person has asked me why even in this time of despair I m still so active promoting justice, equality, and peace between those two peoples whom I love so much. All I can answer is what the philosopher Alain Badiou once wrote me, after I lost a comrade: The revolution is always a surprise, never a result. TAMER NAFAR (Kareem / Co-Writer) ABOUT THE CAST Palestinian rap artist Tamer Nafar serves as a role model for young Arabs across the globe a generation searching for new meanings, both political and personal. He is credited with reinventing hip-hop in its purest form: rage without hate, social-political awareness without empty materialism, and large audiences without selling out. He imported the style of hip-hop into his Arab Muslim ghetto and exported it back to the world with an Arabic flavor. Tamer was born in 1979 in the city of Lyd, Israel. In 2000, he and his brother Suhell and their friend Mahmoud Jrere became DAM, the first Palestinian Arab rap group. Today, millions of fans worldwide follow DAM, which has released two albums and multiple music videos. Their lyrics are influenced by the Palestinian situation and the struggle for equal rights. SAMAR QUPTY (Manar) Samar Qupty shines in her first leading role as Manar in JUNCTION 48. The 26-year-old actress and filmmaker was born in Nazareth from a Palestinian family. She studied cinema and television at university while working in various projects as assistant director, script supervisor, casting and acting. She wrote and directed the short film HENNA about polygamy in the Arab word. She is currently working on her first feature DUNA which treats another social taboo, sexual abuse. 5

6 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS UDI ALONI (Director) Udi Aloni (born 1959) is an Israeli and American director and writer whose work frequently explores the interrelationships between art, theory, and activism. His films have been presented in the Berlinale and other major film festivals. His past awards include the Berlinale s CINEMA Fairbindet Prize. Aloni s visual art has been presented in leading museums and galleries, including the Metropolitan in New York and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. His most recent book is What Does a Jew Want? On Binationalism and Other Specters (Columbia University Press, 2011). His recent stage work was Anti-Oedipus at the Schillertag Mannheim In recent years, Aloni has mentored young actors from one of the harshest refugee camps in Palestine, helping them reach the world stage. SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY: 2016 JUNCTION 48 Tribeca Film Festival Winner of the Panorama Audience Award (Berlinale) 2013 ART/VIOLENCE (documentary feature) Winner of the CINEMA Fairbindet Prize (Berlinale), the Open Eyes Award (Medfilm Festival Rome), Juliano Prize (Cinema South Festival) 2009 KASHMIR: JOURNEY TO FREEDOM (documentary feature) Berlinale Panorama Dokumente FORGIVENESS Winner of the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival 2004 INNOCENT CRIMINALS (music video) For Palestinian Rap group DAM 2002 LOCAL ANGEL (documentary feature) Screened at the Berlinale Panorama Dokumente LEFT (documentary short) Part of the Re-U-Man interactive presentation at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art DAVID SILBER (Producer) The producer of Forgiveness (2006), Beaufort (2007), and Lebanon (2009), among other leading Israeli films. His past awards and nominations include the Venice Golden Lion award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. 6

7 LAWRENCE INGLEE (Producer) One of Variety's "10 producers to watch." Inglee's films include The Messenger (2009), Rampart (2011), Time Out of Mind with Richard Gere (2014), Swiss Army Man (2016), and The Ticket (2016). He won both the AFI Movie of the Year and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature for The Messenger. STEFAN ARNDT (Producer) The founder of X Filme and producer of multiple award-winning films, among them Run Lola Run (1998), The White Ribbon (2009), Cloud Atlas (2012), and Amour (2012). His many awards and nominations include a European Film Award and a Best Motion Picture nomination at the Academy Awards for Amour. OREN MOVERMAN (Co-Writer & Executive Producer) Oren Moverman is a scriptwriter and director based in New York. His past films include I'm Not There (2007), The Messenger (2009), Rampart (2011), Time Out of Mind (2014), and Love & Mercy (2014). His screenplay for The Messenger received multiple nominations and awards, among them the Berlinale award for Best Screenplay and the Academy Award Nomination for Best Screenplay. JAMES SCHAMUS (Executive Producer) One of the most preeminent producers and scriptwriters in the USA. His many films include The Ice Storm (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hulk (2003), and Brokeback Mountain (2005). He has numerous awards and nominations, among them three Academy Award nominations, the Best Screenplay award at Cannes, and a Writers Guild of America award. 7

8 CREDITS Kareem TAMER NAFAR Manar SAMAR QUPTY Kareem s Mother SALWA NAKKARA Talal SAEED DASSUKI Yousef ADEEB SAFADI Abu Abdallah (Talal s Father) TARIK COPTI Amir SAMEH SAZ ZAKOUT RPG MICHAEL MOSHONOV 67 Carat ELAN BABYLON Maryam MARYAM ABU KHALED Hussam AYED FADEL Sheikh HISHAM SULIMAN Talal s family lawyer MAISA ABD ELHADI DIRECTOR Udi Aloni SCREENPLAY Oren Moverman Tamer Nafar DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAHPHY Amnon Zalait EDITORS Isaac Sehayek Jay Rabinowitz Ace ORIGINAL SCORE Tamer Nafar Itamar Ziegler 8

9 PRODUCTION DESIGNER Salim Sh hade COSTUMES Dany Bar Shay MAKE-UP Dorit Cohen SOUND DESIGN Gil Toren LINE PRODUCER Micky Rabinovitz PRODUCERS David Silber Lawrence Inglee Stefan Arndt Udi Aloni EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Moshe Edery Leon Edery Gideon Tadmor Eyal Rimmon Michael Mailis Susan Wrubel James Schamus Oren Moverman CO-PRODUCERS Yasmin Zaher Suhel Nafar Ben Korman Katie Heidy 9