directed by Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf, Israel, 2022, 94 min., original version with Italian subtitles

H2 is the name given to the eastern part of Hebron, the only Palestinian city with a Jewish settlement. The Cave of the Patriarchs, where Jews and Muslims believe that their common father Abraham is buried, is situated along a street one kilometre long in the city. This was the site of the massacre of 1929, considered by many to mark “year zero” in the conflict; this is where the Jewish settler movement first saw the light of day and where the army enforced the policy of ethnic segregation for the first time. Using archive footage and interviews with the military commanders and the local people, H2: Occupation lab tells the story of a place that is at once a mirror and a microcosm of the entire conflict, and a laboratory for the methods of control that Israel is enforcing on the whole of the West Bank.

Idit Avrahami is an acclaimed documentary film director. She is the director and co-author of the documentary series entitled The Barnoar for Keshet and Ki on a series of murders in a bar frequented by young homosexuals in Israel. Her other projects include Fabric Stories (yesDocu series), Selfies (Channel 8), The Journalists (yesDocu series) pre-premiered at the DocAviv Festival, and The Boy Who Died of Fear (yesDocu documentary). Her short documentary entitled Institutional Abduction was pre-premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2019. Idit graduated with honours from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem, where she currently lectures in documentary film directing.

Noam Sheizaf has been working for years in the world of political journalism and documentary filmmaking. He was in charge of research and content for director Dror Moreh’s films The Corridors of Power and The Human Factor, he wrote the script for Lieberman directed by Nurit Keidar, and he directed Meshulam for Channel 8. His responsibilities as a journalist include the post of research editor and deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine Ma’ariv, and he cooperates with Ha'aretz, Yedioth Ahronoth and other mastheads. Sheizaf has also been editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine, a web magazine of news and opinions that adds a young voice to the international political debate.

Statement from the directors

The event that first drew our attention to Hebron occurred on 24 March 2016, when two Palestinians attempted to knife Israeli soldiers on duty at the entrance to a complex inhabited by settlers. One soldier was wounded and his comrades opened fire on the attackers. Ten minutes later, while one of the wounded Palestinians was lying on the ground, an Army medic went up to him and shot him at close quarters. The event was filmed by cameras and it triggered a political storm that only ended when the Defence Minister resigned after insisting that the medic should be brought to trial. The “Azaria affair”, as it is known in Israel, took place in the old city of Hebron nicknamed H2. While researching the story, we realised that on account of its history and location it was for years the most-filmed place in the Middle East, where a surreal reality has become the norm. Our attempt to understand it led us back and forth from its past to its present, through the incredible events that this place and its people have to recount. The entire story of the Israeli-Palestinian clash is reflected in this street one kilometre long in the heart of Hebron. We believe that films can help to impart meaning to the world and to change it for the better, and Hebron is the key to understanding the failures of the past and the risks for the future. In a world that manipulates and controls people with technology, military might, fences and walls, H2 seems to be a message coming to us from a dystopic future, and a message addressed not only to Israelis and Palestinians. It shows us what happens when the institutions fail, when the rule of law gives way to the principle that might is right, when religious extremism becomes a political resource and when equality gives way to ethnic control. And it shows the urgent need for a new kind of political thinking based on equal rights, respect and cooperation.

Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf

Informazioni

ADMISSION FREE WHILE PLACES LAST; RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED You may reserve your place on line from 9.00 am the day before the performance until one hour before the event, on www.palazzoesposizioni.it. If you can't come, please remember to cancel your reservation in your private area on the website so that someone else can take your place. Please show up at the door at least 10 minutes before the event starts, otherwise your reservation will no longer be considered valid and your place will be given to the next person in line waiting at the door.

Sala Cinema

Admission via the steps in Via Milano 9a