Mekudeshet music festival video pays homage to Jerusalem

In honor of Jerusalem Day, the organizers of Mekudeshet, the annual fall music festival run by the Jerusalem Season of Culture, put together “Jerusalem 2017,” a short video documenting the many layers of this complex city. It’s a love letter to the ancient urban metropolis.

The video is a mix of metaphors and virtual reality, examining the layers of the city with its diverse people and neighborhoods. It plays with angles and images, showing a circle of bread dough and a woman wrapping her head in a scarf, a crowd waving at a concert, as well as congregants bowing at the Dome of the Rock or swaying at the Western Wall.

There are flags, the blue-and-white of Israel and the red-black-and-green of the Palestinian Authority; machine guns held by Israeli soldiers and toy guns grasped by Palestinian kids; a boy riding a donkey, while speaking on a cellphone; and a little girl, on a virtual red playground slide poised at the top of the separation wall that divides the city.

The idea, wrote the filmmakers, Danielle Zini, Yair Moss and Udi Kislasi, is to show the relationships developed in Jerusalem, and the inspiration drawn from the city’s leaders who “dissolve boundaries on a daily basis.”

It was created in the backdrop of the 50 years since the 1967 Six Day War, said the filmmakers, but the date is arbitrary, given the ongoing symbolism and relationships of the living, breathing city.

“Take a slightly different look at our city,” wrote the directors, encouraging viewers to elevate their gaze, listen to the voices and sounds, feel empathy and explore, aiming to dissolve physical and conceptual boundaries.

The Mekudeshet Festival will take place from August 23 to September 15, 2017 throughout Jerusalem.