A film by Yun Suh USA 2009/ Color/ 66 minutes World Premiere at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival Press and Distribution Contact: Yun Suh 001 (510) 295-7588 [email protected] www.cityofborders.com (check for media coverage) “When I read in the bible that I could be killed for being gay, I understood what it was like to be Palestinian.” – Israeli bar patron. SYNOPSIS In the heart of Jerusalem – defying generations of segregation, violence and prejudice – stands an unusual symbol of unity: a gay bar called Shushan. City of Borders goes inside this vibrant underground sanctuary on the East/West border of the Holy City, where people of opposing nationalities, religious affiliations and sexual orientations gather under one roof, to find acceptance and create a community among people typically viewed as each other’s “enemy.” Set against the construction of the separation wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories and the struggle for a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, City of Borders explores this resilient community’s daily fight for dignity and their right to existence. In observing the lives and struggles of the regulars at Shushan, City of Borders highlights the bond forged when people from warring worlds embrace what everyone shares in common—the right to be accepted and belong—rather than be defined by the differences that tear them apart. STORY City of Borders follows the intersecting lives of five bar regulars as they face extraordinary risks and intolerance. Each participant’s storyline chronicles a bittersweet balance between survival against the need to honor his or her true self as well as his or her limitations in transcending barriers between people. “Everyone comes from their own ghetto and meets at Shushan,” says the bar owner Sa’ar Netanel, a secular Israeli and Jerusalem’s first openly gay city council member. Shushan, Jerusalem’s only gay bar, was born out of his struggle for gay visibility and ethnic diversity. His outspokenness has earned Sa’ar the respect and gratitude of the gay community as well as numerous death threats. For devout Muslim Palestinian, Boody, going to Shushan means endangering his life in an illegal nighttime border crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem. He creeps under razor wire; scales cement walls and dodges Israeli soldiers. At home in Ramallah, he risks being shot or arrested for his pursuit of self-expression. He suffers from “Red Death, to die slowly.” Former Israeli soldier and “club kid,” Adam Russo, dances shirtless on stage, displaying visible scars on his chest and arms. In 2005, he was stabbed by an Orthodox Jew while marching at the head of Jerusalem’s gay pride parade. Being a victim of a hate crime has ignited his political purpose – to fight for equal rights. 2 On the dance floor, a Palestinian Israeli, Samira Saraya, kisses her Jewish Israeli lesbian lover, Ravit Geva. Their union breaks two of Middle Eastern society’s biggest taboos: same-sex relations and intimacy between Jews and Arabs. Ironically, these barriers have drawn them closer together, but isolated them from their families. Their relationship complicates over the issue of starting a family of their own. Outside of the bar, Jewish, Muslim and Christian fundamentalists, in a rare show of solidarity, strive to eliminate all demonstrations of gay identity through the reversal of anti-discrimination laws, riots and death threats. City of Borders concludes by showing what each participant has gained from being a member of the Shushan community and the effects of this singular bar upon their lives, inspiring each to move beyond its walls to create a different place of belonging for him or herself. Exhausted from 16 years of fighting against a very conservative local government, Sa’ar compromises his utopian ideals and closes Shushan after four years. But he takes comfort in knowing that he has forever changed Jerusalem to become more tolerant. Seeking release from a life of harassment, shame and persecution, Boody escapes from Ramallah to the United States, but at the cost of losing a part of himself and everything he knows. Cautioned by attacks against himself and Sa’ar for being visible, Adam forgoes his political aspirations, deciding to live a more private life with his partner, whom he met at Shushan. Together, they build a home in the settlement where Adam was raised and plan for a civil union recognized by Israel. Samira and Ravit test their four-year long relationship by Ravit’s desire to conceive a child. Ravit dreamed of raising her children as Jewish and eventually sending them to the Israeli army. Samira, secular and deeply connected to her Palestinian roots, never wanted children. The unlikely lovers choose to respect each other’s differences and create space in their relationship for their conflicting beliefs to coexist, leaving Samira with the option to participate in the child’s life at her own will. 3 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The concept for “City of Borders” began in 2002 while I was producing a series of radio reports in Jerusalem and the West Bank on the clashes during the second Palestinian Intifada or uprising. I’m drawn to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because I intimately understand both sides of the war. Like the Israelis, I grew up in constant fear of my neighboring country, North Korea, coming to attack my small village and family in South Korea. I did not see North Koreans as humans but as demons determined to kill me if they had the chance. My childhood playtime often involved devising escape routes and places to hide in my home if North Koreans ever invaded. Like the Palestinians, I understand the horror and hardships of living under occupation through my parents who survived the Japanese colonization of Korea. Being on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza, I witnessed the daily devastating impact of the Israeli occupation. Finding a bar where Israelis and Palestinians take great risks to meet and connect as human beings amid all the distrust, death and violence renewed my faith in our shared humanity. Sa’ar Netanel’s vision for his bar where people from different worlds can find common ground and be accepted, mirrors my purpose for making films. Therefore, I chose this story as the topic of my first feature- length film despite daunting barriers of budget, bombs, language and culture,. DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/WRITER/CINEMATOGRAPHER’S BIO Yun Suh’s love of visual storytelling sparked at age 8 when she immigrated to Connecticut from South Korea without knowing a word of English. Television and movies became her most important classroom where she learned the language and the American culture. But without role models, she didn’t think being a filmmaker was a career possibility. She studied to become a doctor to fulfill her mother’s dream and kept her passion for film hidden. Her life took a big turn when her mother died during her last year of college. Believing that her mother’s death was caused by her inability to fully express herself, Suh devoted her life to true communication and self-expression. After earning a biology degree from University of California, Berkeley, Suh landed jobs in radio and broadcast television news, where she worked the past eight years, and produced documentary shorts in her spare time. She has extensively covered news on the Middle East and has reported from Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip. Her nominations include Best Radio Documentary from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters for her one-hour long radio report, Sabra & Shatilla (2003), on the survivors of the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps. She has also received a local Emmy nomination for producing a news feature, Comfort Women (2001), a story of an illiterate Korean woman who uses her paintings to break her 50-year silence about being forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. In 2002, she earned the Support, Training and Access for New Directors (STAND) grant from the Film Arts Foundation to pursue her lifelong dream of being a filmmaker. 4 FILMMAKING TEAM Editor: Jean Kawahara won a 2002 National Emmy for editing the feature-length documentary, Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story, which was also short-listed for the 2001 Academy Awards. Other credits include the award-winning documentary, Yank Tanks; the independent feature film, Nail Polish; and the Sundance selection shorts, Rappin’ Gap and Undertaker, which earned a National CableACE award. Jean has also received numerous awards for her commercial work, including a Golden Lion at the Cannes Film Festival and a Clio. Cinematographer/Co-Producer: Karin Thayer is an award-winning filmmaker and video journalist who has been producing, shooting and editing stories for 15 years worldwide, in locations from Brussels to Dubai. Her short films such as Seed (1997) have screened internationally, including at the Sundance Film Festival. Thayer’s recent clients include: Oxygen Media, the Discovery Channels, the History Channel, the Travel Channel and the BBC. She earned the 2005 Concentra European Video Journalism award for producing the BBC TV series, Addiction. Cinematographer: Robin McKenna has worked as a video journalist for CBC programs, including the feature-length documentary Minority Report and directed observational series for Life Network, Oxygen, and Living UK. She served as a cinematographer for numerous documentaries including The Take (American Film Institute Award for Best Documentary 2004) and The Great War Experience, which aired on CBC. Cinematographer: Amir Terkel is an Israeli filmmaker and news videographer with over 10 years of experience shooting in domestic and international news stations in Israel and the United States, including CNN and ABC in Jerusalem.