Busy work day today. Not much tourism. Pardon the sentence fragments.

I spent the early part of the day interviewing Dr. Aner Preminger, a filmmaker and professor of cinema at Hebrew University and Sapir Academic College.

Preminger’s fiction/narrative, documentary, and short films have screened internationally, and he has also worked in Israeli television.

Preminger was kind enough to meet me at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and answer some questions. I include here a brief (2 minutes) excerpt from our conversation.

MAKING MOVIES, MAKING FRIENDS, MAKING PEACE

In the afternoon, I attended a special screening of films produced as part of the 10th annual “I Am You Are” showcase, which celebrates movie-making collaborations between Jewish and Arab teenagers. Events such as these are always moving for the sense of optimism they instill that future generations in this region will carry the cause of peace forward.

I must admit, though, that the highlight of the event was not a film at all but, rather, a live musical performance by a trio of Arab rappers from East Jerusalem who call themselves G-Town. Individually, they are B-Boy (aka Mohmad Mughrabi), Error (Al'a Barhmieh), and K.O. (Faddi Ammus).

After the event, I asked them if I could post a bootleg recording of their rap to YouTube, and they said sure. Then they sent me to their Myspace page, where I found this much sharper sample of an October 2007 performance of the same song on the same stage.