Udi Aloni can speak like an M16. But his content is the opposite of the violent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The white bearded director who looks like a mixture between a Harvard professor and a grown up Beastie Boy made the movie "Junction 48", set in the city of Lod and based on a script of Palestine's hip hop star Tamer Nafar. Together with their film crew Udi and Tamer realized a dream in the holy land of no solution.
"I compare us to Noah's Ark. There is a flood there. I cannot stop capitalism, I cannot stop colonialism, I cannot stop the superiour gaze of the jew right on the palestinians right now, I cannot stop the arab spring failed to a winter. I cannot, there is a big tragedy around. In this very pessimistic place, we create our Noah's Ark. Tamer and me, we brought two by two different animals inside. And in this place the language is language of high art, of equality, of justice, of grace, of all that. So when the flood will end - because they have to destroy themselves, this crazyness of the israeli government, of their hypervanity, with the fall of the ISIS that is taking the void that colonialism has created and is taking over, it cannot continue, it has to fail. When this fails, what will wait there? I hope that this, our community is the one that can open then the door of our Ark.
If it's a dream that the entire region of hate, racist judafascist islamofundamentalist, jewish fundamentalist, all those people they are the reality, we are the dream or the other way around, I don't know. What we do, is a community, it's not a dream. We function, it's not just for this film, we are a group of Israelis and Palestinians that function together. And it's true that most of the Israelis that you know, even if they live 15 kilometer away from Tamer, most of them are kind of leftist without being with palestinians. By that they are serving the european ideology of separation. For me separation it's a nightmare. It's all started in my first film, 'Local Angel', when I realized that Tel Aviv is a city clean from Arabs. I've never seen any city in Europe so clean. Israel wants to be so much Europe that it became more Europe than Europe.
And for me this is: are you crazy? My worst nightmare - I spoke with my brother who is a leftist zionist - his dream is to wake up and not to see any palestinian around. But on the other hand he will fight for the human rights. For me the worst nightmare is to come to a society and there are only jews there. It's horror. Or only germans. It's not something against jews. So this is a dream but it's a reality. In an other way I would put it like that. Today with so much hate, it's almost like impossible. I don't think with our art we can't stop what's happening. But as long that we exist, at least my daughter is not racist, at least Tamer's kid is not racist. Because today it's almost like a default to be racist. Also for me to see how even Europe deals with the refugees - you're so confused. You know, as long as it's up to one million people, you're human rights. If there is million point one - poofff, you're racist! You know, because the ideology is so fucked up.
We have to change something from within. We create our own language. Either you join us our you don't join us. Either we fail - it will be a beautiful failure. In the meantime, this amazing reception we had here in Berlin showed us we touched something, also in the youth."
"Junction 48" won the audience award at the Berlin film festival.