Israeli Winner at Berlin Film Festival Calls Israeli Government 'Fascist' at Movie Screening

While Netanyahu spreads hate, 'Junction 48' spreads love and coexistence - Udi Aloni

Israeli Winner at Berlin Film Festival Calls Israeli Government 'Fascist' at Movie Screening

Actress Salwa Sakkara (left), actor Tamer Nafar, director and producer Udi Aloni and actress Samar Qupty pose at the 2016 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. AP

Haaretz and Reuters Feb 20, 2016

Israeli director Udi Aloni made headlines in Berlin when he called the Israeli government "fascist" at a Q&A session about his award-winning film "Junction 48."

Aloni, whose Arabic-language hip-hop film featuring mostly Palestinian actors, said that Germany shouldn't supply Israel with submarines because of its fascist government. He also mentioned at the session Palestinian hunger-striker Mohammed al-Qiq as an example non-Jews' lack of rights in Israel, saying that Qiq was dying in administrative detention without being accused of committing a crime.

Udi Aloni - Israel film director 'Junction 48'

Aloni, who is the son of Meretz founder Shulamit Aloni, responded to comments on his statements by saying that he was addressing his criticism toward the Israeli government and not the state, and added that his film spreads love and coexistence, as opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who spreads hate.

"Junction 48" took the Panorama Audience Award for best fiction film. The film "Who's Gonna Love Me Now?" by Tomer and Barak Heymann was voted best Panorama documentary.

"Junction 48" tells the story of a Palestinian rap star and his girlfriend who live near Tel Aviv in the mixed Jewish-Palestinian city of Lod, known until recently as one of the main drug-running centers of the Middle East. 

Scene from Junction 48

Actress Samar Qupty said it should be easy for Palestinians to identify with the movie, even though it depicts people living lives that are radically different from strict Muslim traditions. 

Her character, for example, allows a picture of her face to be used on a poster advertising a hip-hop concert, prompting members of her family to say they plan to injure her if she performs.

"It's still a revolutionary movie because it doesn't talk about the way we Palestinians are usually represented in the world," Qupty said.

"We are representing ourselves by the new generation without trying to prove anything to anyone, with our 'goods' and 'bads'," she told Reuters in an interview. "We are trying to present what is the real new generation trying to do without making the reality looking any better or any worse." 

Director Aloni was pleased with audience reactions. 

"We are all so optimistic because we also brought some young kids that we gave them tickets, you know, 20 years old that don't know anything about us and they adore it. 

"So probably the choice of having Tamer [Nafar], he is so charismatic, and hip-hop that is so universal, it was a very good move." 

Singer Nafar doesn't expect everybody in the Middle East to love the film but he is confident it will open up a debate. 

"It's going to open a stage and I think it's very important and the movie is not here to give solutions, the movie is here to raise the right questions," he said.