The hotline for refugees and migrants in Tel Aviv works around the clock for the women. They stand up for the rights of people living without papers, offer legal support, handle official matters and draw attention to their work. The camera shows the action up close. In front of an angry crowd, an activist demands the right to stay for refugees from Sudan and Eritrea who were kidnapped in Sinai by Egyptian human traffickers and are now stuck in Israel. It is meeting fierce resistance, being insulted and almost physically attacked. But the organization has to contend not only with a xenophobic atmosphere, but also with legislation that treats any illegal border crossing as a crime. The refugee prisons near the Egyptian border are getting bigger and bigger. The director is unable to gain access. Silvina Landsmann accompanies the viewers to the different places - offices, courts, the Knesset - and cuts her material in a way that makes clear what the struggle for human rights means: talking, mobilizing, documenting, convincing. "Some things just 'happen.' I'm always excited about it. For example, when I called the hotline to set up a meeting to see if it would be a good idea to make a film about their work, I never thought I would be filming the very next day. In fact, that meeting never happened. I was literally absorbed by the story." (Director Silvina Landsmann)
Documentary
1h 39min
16+
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IT
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Intensely charged in political terms, HOTLINE is not merely revealing but downright shocking in what it conveys about Israel’s policies on outsiders.
The hotline for refugees and migrants in Tel Aviv works around the clock for the women. They stand up for the rights of people living without papers, offer legal support, handle official matters and draw attention to their work.
The camera shows the action up close. In front of an angry crowd, an activist demands the right to stay for refugees from Sudan and Eritrea who were kidnapped in Sinai by Egyptian human traffickers and are now stuck in Israel. It is meeting fierce resistance, being insulted and almost physically attacked. But the organization has to contend not only with a xenophobic atmosphere, but also with legislation that treats any illegal border crossing as a crime.
The refugee prisons near the Egyptian border are getting bigger and bigger. The director is unable to gain access. Silvina Landsmann accompanies the viewers to the different places - offices, courts, the Knesset - and cuts her material in a way that makes clear what the struggle for human rights means: talking, mobilizing, documenting, convincing.
"Some things just 'happen.' I'm always excited about it. For example, when I called the hotline to set up a meeting to see if it would be a good idea to make a film about their work, I never thought I would be filming the very next day. In fact, that meeting never happened. I was literally absorbed by the story." (Director Silvina Landsmann)