Jerusalem Cinemateque

In December 1987, the (first) Palestinian Intifada broke out and the Occupied Territories were set alight with a mass wave of demonstrations, protesting the ongoing Israeli occupation – the largest scale, longest-running ones seen in the area since 1967. The IDF was sent in to quash the uprising and before long, TV screens across the country were inundated with footage of burning tyres, stones thrown about, and baton-wielding Israeli soldiers chasing after teens and children. In the face of this new reality that made the question of the Occupied Territories the single most pressing issue of the time, the Jerusalem Film Festival went ahead and commissioned the following project. The result is a classic, Heffner-esque film – an intelligent labyrinth containing the most fundamental of Israeli tropes: The Holocaust; Arabs; us vs. them – all of which find themselves clashing and intermingling, and ultimately rendering the viewers helpless and cringing with awkwardness.

A young Israeli arrives in New York City but the person with whom he was meant to stay goes AWOL. The Israeli befriends a young, American singer and returns her wallet which she had stolen from her on the subway, they hang out and get to know each other in the course of 24 hours. New York City serves as the setting and backdrop to their flash in the pan romance. This was Aner Preminger’s thesis film shot during his film studies at NYU before graduating.