DVD, Digital Release: A Tramway in Jerusalem

Digital & DVD Release Date: Sept. 15, 2020
Price: DVD $19.99
Studio: Film Movement

From 2018 comes A Tramway in Jerusalem, the latest multi-cultural comedy-drama exploring life in Israel by the celebrated Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai (Rabin, The Last Day).

It focuses, not surprisingly, on Jerusalem’s Light Rail Red Line, the tramway that connects the city from east to west, from the Palestinian neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina to Mount Herzl. It’s a route that comprises the culturally complex makeup of the city.

The film hinges on a series of encounters along the line: simple, almost mundane interactions that reveal the diverse mosaic of humanity that exists in the spiritual center of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There’s a skilled oud player who weaves a spell on two French tourists; two young women – one Palestinian, one Jewish – who bond on the platform, a tired Palestinian worker wrongfully accused of harassment; and a group of Hassidic men, chanting a religious chorus together. While traveling across this vibrant city, the small conflicts and reconciliations of everyday life—heard in an impressive array of languages—provide a kernel of hope in a society so often divided by political boundaries.

Also included in Film Movement’s DVD release is a bonus short film by Gitai, A Letter to a Friend in Gaza, which explores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the reading of texts by Albert Camus and other thinkers and writers.