- Can music overcome borders and walls and bring people together? Prophets of Change tracks musicians, both Israeli and Palestinian, through their unique journeys and commitment to inspire change.
- There is an astounding grassroots network of artists and musicians, Palestinians and Israelis, Jewish and Muslim, straight and gay who constantly call for change and embody a clear message: we wait for no one, we are the change we want to see, and we believe that music is the way! This is despite a world that continues to polarize, policies that continue to divide and segregate, despite the risks and backlash from every side and an ever-growing reality of despair. The protagonists of the film: Chapter I: SAZ, a Palestinian rapper, and SUNTAILOR, an Israeli singer, are a charismatic duo, who come from different worlds, found themselves in an artist retreat coming together in the strangest of circumstance to create a song called Wake Up. Since that moment in time, both lives have changed. Sun Tailor leads retreats with Palestinian and Israeli youth to bring the transformative message of music. Chapter II: MIRA AWAD, a Palestinian-Israeli trailblazer. An outspoken peace/social activist singer songwriter. We track as a young artist in 2009 when she decides to join her friend Noa and represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest (the first time a song will be performed in Arabic) which coincides with the Israeli military operation Cast Lead. Immediately she is called to step down and through the barrage of criticism. Mira learns that she is to pay the ultimate price for her beliefs receiving threats, being ostracized by her community and even having a parliament member demand she be stripped of her passport. Despite all of this backlash, Mira continues to promote festivals of unity, performs with Israelis and Palestinians, and finding inspiration in mentors such as Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary). We follow her visit with him in New York. We continue to track her as the creator of an Israeli TV show promoted in Cannes, France. Chapter III: ABED HATHOT grew up in Acre, in the north of Israel, dreaming that one day he may combine his love of heavy metal and Arab traditional music. After hearing a song by the Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land he is inspired to form the first Palestinian metal group Khalas. Five years later a chance encounter in a rehearsal space begins a friendship with KOBI FARHI, the lead singer of Orphaned Land. Ten years later they embark on the first Palestinian Israeli heavy metal tour in Europe. During the summer of 2013, the two bands shared a bus and traveled around thirteen cities from Holland, through Spain, France, Portugal, and England. Along the way, they provide a blueprint of what it means to exist together. Chapter IV: YAEL DECKELBAUM, is an Israeli lesbian who's had a successful career in music both as a solo artist and part of an all-women band. In 2016, she began an existential journey and was introduced to a peace activist Lilly Weinberg, who told her she has found her tribe. She urged Yael to join her and two thousand Palestinian and Israeli women on a march in an area by The Dead Sea led by Leymah Gbowee - Nobel Prize Winner. One bus after another the women came and inspired Yael decided to write a song for the march called Prayer of the Mothers which became a viral sensation. Chapter V: NETA WEINER grew up in a sheltered kibbutz and, after attending high school in India, returned to Israel to volunteer in a youth program in the mixed neighborhoods of Yaffo on the south side of Tel-Aviv. There he met MUHAMMAD MUGRABI and MUHAMMAD AGAWANI, along with several other young men and women and decided to form an artist collective. Night after night they jammed, rapped, and taught each other music and art in a bomb shelter. When eviction notices were given to Palestinian and Israeli families in the neighborhood the band galvanizes overnight, performing on the rooftop of the bomb shelter, along with ENVER SETIBRAGIMOV, a young Uzbekistan immigrant. The band, SYSTEM ALI, combines Arab, Hebrew, English, Ethiopian and Russian in their sharp and political brand of hip-hop. Chapter VI/Epilogue - the epilogue to the film tracks the network that these and other artists/activists have formed with a final message: no matter the darkness that surrounds us, we can rise and transform our reality together.
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