Palestinian hip-hop drama ‘Junction 48’ a classic example – ‘Dean’, ‘Do Not Resist’ top Tribeca

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NEW YORK, April 22, (Agencies): Demetri Martin’s feature film debut “Dean”, the police militarization documentary “Do Not Resist” and the Palestinian hip-hop drama “Junction 48” took top honors at the 15th Tribeca Film Festival.

The Awards were handed out Thursday at a ceremony in New York. Martin’s autobiographical “Dean,” about the comic dealing with the death of his mother, won best narrative feature. Best international feature went to “Junction 48” Udi Aloni’s film about a Palestinian rapper in Tel Aviv.

Craig Atkinson’s “Do Not Resist” about the militarization of local police, won best documentary feature. Bill and Turner Ross’ documentary of David Byrne’s color guard concert won for both editing and cinematography.

“Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness,” is a virtual reality project about blindness that won the festival’s Storyscapes competition for interactive and transmedia works.

Meanwhile, subtlety was never the strong-suit of helmer-activist Udi Aloni, although his agitprop works have a justifiable righteous anger that gets them touring fests. “Junction 48” is a classic example, starring Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar as a version of himself, naively dreaming of becoming a crossover hip-hop star while facing Israeli bigotry. Once again, Aloni (“Forgiveness”) exposes racism within Zionist ideology, yet again he has trouble integrating his various strands, plus the script, co-written by Nafar and Oren Moverman, veers all over. “Junction” bagged the Panorama audience prize in Berlin, testifying to the pic’s success at energizing viewers looking for an easy reinforcement of their political beliefs.

Kareem (Nafar) lives close to Tel Aviv in Lod, in a drug-infested neighborhood lacking status in Israeli society. His parents are commie musicians in a traditional vein, whereas Kareem isn’t interested in their square music. When he chastely accompanies some friends out whoring rather than being on call to pick up his tired father following a concert, disaster strikes: Dad crashes (in a particularly ham-fisted scene) and dies, leaving mom (Salwa Nakkara) in a wheelchair. The accident causes her to develop mystical healing powers (huh?), ditching communism for Islam-inflected hocus-pocus.

Gig

Sadness won’t stop career pursuits, and Kareem gets a gig in a Tel Aviv club, right after right-wing Israeli thugs RPG (Michael Moshonov) and 67 Carat (Elan Babylon) perform a rap version of nationalist anthem “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The Nation of Israel Lives”). The club kids go wild, but also go nuts for Kareem singing about Palestinian hardship (in other words, they’re idiots). His girlfriend Manar (Samar Qupty), also a singer, is less pleased, furious Kareem is entertaining these racists.

Running parallel to this plot strand is the story of band manager Talal (Saeed Dassuki), whose goat-herd father (Tarik Copti) is threatened with homelessness because the state wants to tear down his house and erect a Museum of Reconciliation (the irony is meant to be thicker than extra-chunky peanut butter). Bringing in this part of the narrative allows Aloni to address not just the present state of disenfranchisement, but also the historic roots of Israel’s land grab, since Talal’s father was kicked out in 1948 but returned to tend to his flock.

It also increases the sense of indignation, which ultimately is what Aloni cares about most: message above craft. Issues are overly simplified and scenes are often poorly constructed (not helped by uneven editing), though Nafar is a charismatic performer. Ditto Qupty, and the energetic hip-hop scenes are welcome distractions. Visuals are spirited.

Owen Suskind had largely retreated into silence in the years after his autism began to manifest, around age 3. Three painfully mute years later, and after countless rapt hours spent watching Disney animated movies, a word broke through.

“Juicervose!”

His parents, Ron (a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist) and Cornelia, initially thought he was asking for juice. But he wasn’t. He was repeating back a line from “The Little Mermaid” a scene he often rewound to watch again, where Ursula the sea witch sings “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” She sings, “It won’t cost you much, just your voice!” (“juicervose”)

It was just the first phrase from a Disney film that Owen would go on to mimic, but it was the first hint of his rediscovery of language. For the Suskinds, it was a life line back to their son. A few weeks later, Ron picked up a puppet of Iago, the parrot from “Aladdin” and had his first conversation with his son in years — albeit one doing his best Gilbert Gottfried impression.

Roger Ross Williams’ documentary “Life Animated,” playing this week at the Tribeca Film Festival, chronicles Owen’s remarkable growth, aided by the colorful, underdog sidekicks of Disney movies. The film, inspired by Ron Suskind’s book “Life Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes and Autism,” is both about Owen’s impressive maturity and the power of movies, of stories, to connect.

The film, which will open in theaters July 8, has been a hit on the festival circuit where 25-year-old Owen has bounded down theater aisles, high-fiving cheering crowds. Williams won the directing award at the Sundance Film Festival, and the film picked up the audience award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Owen, the most ardent of movie lovers, is now a star himself.

“I’ve never experienced anything like I’m experiencing with this film,” says Williams. “What I hope is that it not only gives parents hope, but it inspires everyone to realize the potential of people living with autism. There are all these gifts they have to offer to the world.”

Speaking by phone from Los Angeles, Owen cheerfully greeted this reporter. (In Los Angeles, Owen visited the Disney Animation studios and met animators whose credits he knows thoroughly.)

“Hi Jake,” said Owen. “That’s also the name of the hilarious, awesome, cool, wise-cracking kangaroo rat from Disney’s ‘The Rescuers Down Under.’”

Owen had what’s called “regressive autism,” which only reveals itself once a child is a toddler. “Life Animated” captures Owen at a universal crossroads: He’s graduating from school, moving out of his parent’s house, finding (and losing) a girlfriend and getting a job at (where else?) a movie theater.

He speaks knowingly about why Disney films so resonate for him.

“I live in these characters and they live in me,” he says. “It speaks to me. It helps me with my own life, to find my place in the world, to touch a lot of people.”

At Tribeca, “Life Animated” has particular meaning. This year’s festival has been partly defined by the backlash provoked by its programming of an anti-vaccination documentary, “Vaxxed,” by a discredited British doctor who maintains that vaccinations can cause autism. (Among others, the Centers for Disease Control emphatically state that there’s no link between the two.)

“Life Animated” is a joyful antidote to that episode, which culminated in Tribeca pulling “Vaxxed.” “It says something about the power of story for all of us, that we all need story for us to survive,” says Williams. “It’s kind of the lifeblood of human interaction. These Disney films are basically classic fables and Owen was raised on these fables.”

Owen is a fan of recent Disney films like “Zootopia”, Pixar’s “Inside Out.” But as Williams notes, “Owen likes the classics.” Unquestionably, his favorite is “Aladdin.”

“It’s fun, magical, colorful, musical, kid-friendly, wacky, hilarious, show-stopping and entertaining,” says Owen. “Mostly, it’s about accepting who you are and being OK with that, show them that you are an unpolished gem and a diamond in the rough.”

In “Aladdin,” the title character — a young vagabond — learns that he doesn’t need to be a prince to reach his dreams. “I’m not one either,” adds Owen.

Researchers have begun studying the usefulness of affinity therapy to coax others out from their shell by tapping into their interests.

Owen’s passion has affected others, too. Gottfried and Jonathan Freeman (voice of Jafar in “Aladdin”) are among the Disney voice actors he’s met. Freeman cried.

“He didn’t see the meaning in the film that Owen saw,” says Williams. “He said Owen opened his eyes to the beauty of the film. It’s just amazing how the actual people who work on these films are transformed and enlightened after meeting Owen.”

“Life Animated” has earned Owen’s endorsement, too.

“It was a little different in my head,” he says. “But it was beautiful on the screen.”

 

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