Directors’ Footnote to the film “The Dead of Jaffa”
By Ram Loevy, October 3rd, 2019
It happened on Thursday, May 13th 1948, at noon.
I was standing among others, gazing at the entrance
of No 1. Chen Boulevard, Tel Aviv.
A small group of humiliated Arab dignitaries,
the "Emergency Committee” (Lajnat al-Tawari’)
of Jaffa, descending the staircase.
They had just signed the Surrender Document
on behalf of the Arab city of Jaffa.
Most of Jaffa’s Arab population (about 70,000 people)
fled or were expelled.
I was almost eight years old. A blonde, curious Zionist kid.
I was so very happy. They surrendered. We won.
People around me cheered.
More than 70 years later, three Arab orphans are hiding in
the trunk of a car. They are being smuggled from a poor village
in the West Bank, to their relatives in Jaffa.
The kids are actors. It’s a staged scene which I direct.
The film takes place in todays’ Jaffa.
Nothing is simple. It is not a children’s film. There are no winners.
No one surrenders. I am Searching after traces of humanity
in our savage, merciless Middle East jungle.
George, the central figure of the film, is a grocer
who evolves gradually,
from a frightened soft spoken yes-man
into a hero, who finally
and bravely, is able to utter the word – No.
I wish I could do the same.