Necropolis

A cinematic journey throughout and down the biggest Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, where we'll observe the invisible labourers of death and the constant tensions between tradition and progress, war and peace, hard labour and sacred work.

The “Mountain of Rests”, the main Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, is a location full of life. 
Since there is no more space for graves on top of the mountain, and yet people insist on dying, now even more than ever - deep down in the belly of the mountain a huge burial tunnelling complex is being excavated, expected to hold over 23,000 new “Kosher” graves.
With this spectacular and ambitious construction project as the background, we will embark on a cinematic journey through the “city of the dead”.
We will be exposed to the “behind the scenes” of the Jewish death scene and meet the invisible labourers of death: the Ultra-Orthodox undertakers of the “Sacred Society” and the Palestinian workers constructing the burial tunnels.
Along with the project’s entrepreneurs, the curious visitors, and mourners they create a colourful collage that mirrors Jerusalem as a whole.
In the city of the dead lies constant tension between high and low, tradition and progress, war and peace, hard labour, and sacred work.
“Necropolis” is a film about life and death in a city of contrasts, a city that manages, nevertheless, to contain its internal contradictions.