Two Israeli filmmakers were shocked by the amount of anti-Semitic reactions they received to the heartwarming road trip documentary they released online, so they developed a creative route to confront hate.
Adam Rabinowitz and Roi Maoz are the directors of the road trip documentary “30 KM/H – An Israeli Adventure film.” While the film had been screened in various locations, including France, Ireland, Amsterdam, USA, and Russia, with the filmmakers on hand to answer questions and discuss the film, the COVID-19 outbreak cancelled additional screenings.
The two directors decided to release the film online and spread the word on social platforms such as Facebook.
“30 KM/H – An Israeli Adventure film” is an uplifting, personally moving and optimistic film, so the directors were not expecting what came next: scores of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments targeting the film, the directors, and Jews in general.
Instead of getting angry or engaging in heated online debates with the commenters, Adam and Roi turned lemons into lemonade and filmed a short video reading and responding to the best (or worst) comments.
Among the comments were: a woman who said that she wouldn’t give money to any Zionist, but was happy to watch the film for free, many people who claim that Israel doesn’t exist, and the all-too-common accusations that Israel is an “apartheid state” and a “Nazi regime.”
The two filmmakers managed to take those comments and make a humorous video out of them. Whether the video managed to reduce the commenters’ animosity or just annoy them a little more, it is worth a watch.
In general, it doesn’t seem like the commenters bothered to watch the film or tried to understand anything about it.
The film doesn’t take a political stand and actually includes touching personal stories, as well as examples of peaceful and positive interactions between Arabs and Jews, as well as between Jews of different backgrounds.
The film tells the story of Tzafrir, a released IDF officer who finds a note that he wrote when he was a teenager, with a list of dreams he had for his 30-year-old self. When Tzafrir realizes that he hasn’t fulfilled any of them and is on the precipice of his 30th birthday, he decides to fulfill the only dream he can still reasonably achieve in time – traveling across Israel in an electric toy car.
Israel is famous for being a country full of important landmarks, interesting cultural locations, and a wide variety of scenery, surroundings, and styles of living. At the same time, it’s not exactly suitable for a road trip, being a small country that is approximately a five-hour drive from the northern border with Lebanon to the southern border with Egypt.
Israel’s size doesn’t matter, however, when your vehicle of choice doesn’t go faster than 18 Miles per hour, and you can’t drive much longer than 2 hours a day. And that is how this film was born, which has been hailed as the “first Israeli road trip documentary.”
Through the film, viewers experience a wide variety of Israeli landscapes; the green north and the southern desert, Nazareth, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea — all from an intimate perspective and the point of view of a native Israeli going on a fascinating, emotional and surreal ride.
The film also showcases the different people of Israel — from Haredim to Arab-Israelis and hippie communities.
Through Tzafrir’s interactions with different people during his journey, viewers see an authentic portrait of Israeli society. Perhaps most importantly, the film addresses a topic everyone can relate to — the beauty of childhood dreams and their enduring presence, living deep within us as we mature into adulthood and attempt to push those dreams aside.
So, maybe it all worked out for the best. Thanks to the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel comments, the film is enjoying even wider exposure.
You can watch the film at the link below. By doing so, you’re helping support two independent Israeli filmmakers and spreading the beautiful message in their film.