'Slanderous' film wins best fiction award
Israeli winner of Berlin Film Festival brands Netanyahu government ‘fascist’
Israeli director Udi Aloni attends the ‘Junction 48’ press conference at the Berlin Film Festival. Photo Getty Images
The 56-year-old director made the comments just hours before being presented the Panorama Audience Award
By Peter Yeung, The Independent
February 21, 2016
Israeli director Udi Aloni, who won the top audience at Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, has labelled the Israeli government “fascist” and urged Germany to cease its military support of the Jewish state.
At a Q&A session about his award-winning film Junction 48, hours before being presented with the Panorama Audience Award for best fiction film, Mr Aloni said Germany supported the “fascist regime of Israel”, according to a report by Channel 10 News.
The 56-year-old called Israel a “democracy of white people” and criticised German chancellor Angela Merkel’s support for Israel, saying: “Merkel does not mention the occupation and sells submarines to Netanyahu to continue such things.”
But Mr Aloni later clarified to Channel 10 that his comments “were directed against the Israeli government and not against the country, which I love”.
Junction 48 is the love story of two young Palestinian hip-hop artists who use their music to fight against both the external oppression of Israeli society and the internal repression of their own crime-ridden, conservative community. It depicts a new generation of young Arabs who seek normality through their love and music – and against all odds. IMDB summary
“In contrast to the prime minister who spreads hatred, my movie spreads love and co-existence,” he said.
Mr Aloni expressed support and admiration for Tamer Nafar, the Palestinian rapper on whose life his film is based, and who has also previously claimed Israel is a terrorist country.
He said: “What makes Tamer such an amazing man is that he actually grew up in Lod, and from the beginning he sang about the fact that Israel is the real terrorist.”
According to the report, Junction 48 received financial support from Israel’s culture ministry. Miri Regev, the hard-right Israeli minister of culture, said in response that Israel should not fund films that slander it.
Ms Regev said the statements were “clear proof that artists who subvert the state, defame it and hurt its legitimacy should not be funded by the taxpayer”.
“A sane country should not assist slanderers and denouncers who malign it, immediately after drinking from its coffers,” she said.
Last year, more than 3,000 artists, including some of the country’s most prominent actors and directors, signed a petition against Ms Regev’s policies.