Draw your own conclusions.
As founder of The Warren Report, Warren Etheredge hosts over 250 events every year,
a podcast and television series. The Warren Report promotes "slow culture" through commentary, outreach,
events and education. Our principle: Smarter audiences make a better world!
An Israeli, a Palestinian and a South Korean walk into a gay bar in Jerusalem and… nothing happens. That is the beauty of Shushan, the LGBQT dance club situated in the heart of the traditionally intolerant city. (Heck, when two peanuts walk down Jaffa Street, one is usually a-salted!) CITY OF BORDERS is a testament to this Mid-East oasis, a place where Arabs and Israelis reveal(ed) their identities without fear of fallout, payback or hatred. However, beyond Shushan’s walls, the orthodoxy of ignorance remains and the threat of prejudicial violence reigns.
Director Yun Suh fashions a compassionate and compelling documentary by graciously and inconspicuously providing camera-time to some of the club’s most arresting patrons, the opportunity to share their stories of faith, fatalism and flamboyance in the face of grave danger. Adam, an Israeli, bears his scars as a survivor of a brutal hate crime. Boody, a Palestinian, masks his fears, illegally crossing the border nightly just so he can cross-dress. Samira, a Palestinian Israeli, boldly courts Ravit, a Jewish Israeli, unafraid of retaliation. Love, means more.
Although I could not sway Yun Suh to go dancing, she did agree to sit down with me — at the fabulous Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle! — to discuss her bent on public service, racial profiling and foreign policy. (Special thanks to Simone Nelson, the dynamic yet camera-shy co-producer of CITY OF BORDERS.)
October 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
[...] have been touting CITY OF BORDERS ever since seeing it at SIFF this summer and interviewing the documentary’s delightful and fearless director, Yun Suh. Consequently, I have received many queries from folks as to when they’ll get to see it in [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 11:27 am
[...] hit it full force, push it back ten yards and drive it into the ground. But that’s just what CITY OF BORDERS is doing, hitting more stops on the road than a Big Gulp-addicted [...]