9 Star Hotel

9 Star Hotel documents the intimate life of a Palestinian male community living in hiding in the hills surrounding the Israeli city of Modi’in. At first light they emerge from their hideouts to go to work in the city’s construction sites. The city keeps growing, destined to become one of the largest cities in Israel. With unprecedented access the film portrays life in the hideout of these young men. It focuses on Ahmad (19) and Muhammad (20), providers for their families. The harsh conditions of being “illegal” workers and their emerging national consciousness do not take away their vitality, playfulness and youthful dreams. In the face of repeated persecution, arrest, and ambush, they create a vibrant world-within-a-world where humor mixes with pain mixes with longing. As the Separation Fence under construction in the outlying hills threatens to cut off their only route into Israel reality closes in on them. They get more and more desperate and fearful of the unknown. When the moment of truth hits, they find themselves caught off guard and altogether unprepared.