Atlanta JFF, USA, Official Selection, 2024
Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, USA, Official Selection, 2024
Philadelphia Israeli Film Festival, USA, Official Selection, 2024
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Director’s Statement
There is no doubt that the refugee problem is a rising global issue, but this subject touched us mostly because of the fact that it didn’t touch us at all. A few years ago, I was working in a fancy 21 story building just across from one of the tough, immigrant neighborhoods surrounding the central bus station of south Tel Aviv.The dissonance was blatantly obvious from the get go, but honestly, it did not stop the morning espressos from slipping down my throat. The issue felt so far away and our suppression mechanism, just like our advertising firm: worked extra hours. One day, on a cigarette break you over-hear two Eritrean refugees talking about yesterday’s soccer match in broken Hebrew, or when a mother brings her little boy to kindergarten and he insists on ringing the doorbell just like your son, or a young lady with headphones humming Israeli pop off tune, reality sets in. The more you let yourself see them, the less transparent they become. And that’s when you realize you can’t ignore the fact that their deportation means death.
Our story is about belonging. About what is more important: who you are? Or where you were born? For us as Israelis who were all immigrants two generations ago the issue is closer than ever. We chose to access this complex topic in a realistic comedy, that sheds light on the funny and tragic moments in the life of a refugee, combined with the beloved world of soccer, that will allow audiences to experience a full spectrum of emotions: From Looking at Aumari as a “problem” to seeing him as human whom we as a nation must not send him to his death!
The great American comedian Bill Hicks said: “ The best kind of comedy to me is when you make people laugh at things they’ve never laughed at, and also take a light into the darkened corners of people’s minds, exposing them to the light”
