From his parent’s home town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, filmmaker Ido Harr used to watch groups of men frantically crossing the busy highway. It was not clear where these figures came from or where they were rushing to. In 9 Star Hotel Haar sets to find out, as he joins a diverse group of Palestinian construction labourers working illegally on the building site of a new Israeli town, across the road from the West Bank.
With unique access to the daily lives of these young men, and with an intimacy achieved through painstaking filmmaking during police raids and harsh weather conditions, we get to know these men and their respective desires to create a safe future for themselves and their families.
Under the temporary roofs referred to in the ironic film title, with raw images and handheld camera, this touching observational documentary affords us an authentic glimpse into the economic aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the interdependency of the two societies.