The Hats of Jerusalem

“Why did people stop wearing hats? Perhaps if they would wear hats, everything would be better, like it used to be in the past, when everything was simpler.  Everyone had their own hat.” As is becoming of a city painted on a cloud, some of Jerusalem’s residents also seem to be floating in lofty and sweet worlds. They are disconnected from the inanity of the real world—they prefer to live closer to God. The number of people who wear hats has declined all over the world. Nevertheless, in Jerusalem, wherever you go and wherever you look, you will see hats. Why is it that hats are worn in Jerusalem, of all places?

The Hats of Jerusalem is a journey through the theater of costumes worn by the three religions and their believers in Jerusalem. It is the personal log of a secular director who never wore a hat in the city that is “the hat of the world.” The film begins as a colorful trip in the footsteps of what seems no more than a tradition or fad, and it opens up a Pandora’s Box of stories. Can The Hats of Jerusalem tell us something new about this city and its residents, members of the three religions?