Skip to main content
2007 | Color | 78 min

In Israel?s occupied territories, thousands of Palestinians work illegally as construction laborers. After an arduous and dangerous journey, loaded with blankets and bags, they cross the hills to the places where they can find employment. At night they sleep on the hillcrests in improvised huts and coffin-like sleeping cubicles, a stark contrast to the luxury apartment complexes they build by day. But they have made homes for themselves, complete with cozy pillows and even power generated by batteries they have scraped together. In 9 Star Hotel, the filmmakers follow Ahmed and Muhammad, one a merry collector of found objects, the other a philosophical criticaster of the Palestinian character (?We think backward. We never think forward.?). Together, they share food, belongings and stories, and live under the constant threat of getting arrested - police, soldiers, and the secret service are all tirelessly on the alert for illegal workers. Through raw images and handheld camera work, this disconcerting yet touching film documents friendship, nostalgia, and the urge to survive


Country: Israel;
Direction: Haar; Ido
Production: Kowarsk; Elinor, Kowarsky; Edna
Photography: Haa; Ido
Sound: Toren; Gil
Participation year at FICM: 2007

Other Movies

The Conformist

El Conformista
In Fascist Italy in 1938, Marcello Clerici is eager to be accepted into the social circles of the regime, which he admires. His opportunity arises when he is ordered to track down, in Paris, a former professor of his—now an opponent of Mussolini—and assassinate him. See More

If I Were Fire

Si yo fuese fuego
Two young lovers wander through an abandoned countryside, where reality is distorted and the ruins of a long-gone village give glimpses of the past. The presence of a mysterious horseman transforms the bucolic landscape into a nightmare. See More

Lives on the Border

Vidas en la orilla
Lives on the border portrays the tragic consequences of an unfair sentence delivered by the U.S. criminal justice system. Through several interconnected life stories, we'll discover what Rosa Estela Olvera, a Mexican woman wrongfully convicted in the U.S. (My Life Inside 2007), endures in prison: a psycho-emotional exploration of the loneliness of confinement; and the long and arduous battle to win back her family and obtain justice. See More

Related News

El michoacano José Rubén Romero
The Michoacan author José Rubén Romero
HASTA LOS ENANOS EMPEZARON PEQUEÑOS: Herzog y la realidad de lo insólito
EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL: Herzog and the existence of the extraordinary
Paul Verhoeven
Tippett Studio and Paul Verhoeven: the end of an era between eroticism and science fiction
RÍO, ZONA NORTE: las razones para sonreír
RIO, ZONA NORTE: reasons to smile