kidnapping Hebron students and civilians Welcome to Hebron Welcome to Hebron Vice: Your intention with this film was to save the world, or something–care to elaborate? Terje Carlsson: Why Jewish fundamentalism? For some reason people, when people think of extremity in religion, they always make the connection with Muslim fundamentalism. In Sweden, we have Christian fundamentalists… I wanted to show that all religious fundamentalism is fucked up. In your film we see kids throwing stones, adults talking shit, GI Joes skipping around with guns the size of farm animals, and graffiti reading “Gas the Arabs”: Is Hebron really this warm and friendly, or are you just trying to make for a good story? I have about 50 sequences where kids are being attacked, but I personally didn’t want to put too much of that in the film since you always see violence with these type of documentaries. [In Hebron] you will have two weeks of no violence, four days of a complete nightmare–you never know… anything can happen at any time. Watching this film, I can see that Leila doesn’t take much shit. It’s nice to see a girl that age holding her own so well, with enough balls to stand up for what she believes in. But why Leila? Why not Leila’s brother? You never get to see females from the Middle East in this manner; she’s such a cool person; she speaks fluent English as well. Her language skills were great. How did you meet her? I can’t imagine that the locals were jumping for excitement to feature in your documentary. Being European and a journalist must have raised a few suspicious eyebrows… Being in very center of social and political chaos must have scared the shit out of you. Did you get your ass kicked by an Israeli soldier? Five-year-old aim a stone at your head? Food tasty in Hebron county jail? I couldn’t help but notice that the final scene of the documentary had so many positive and hopeful qualities: Colorful balloons, laughter, smiles, not to mention Leila talking about how she wanted to “help all the people understand each other.” Do you really think that it can be all rainbows and butterflies? Is there really hope? You spent about three years in the center of one of the most heated conflicts in world, witnessed some fucked up behavior, and tolerated violent military conduct. I assume you’re not teaming up with Vogue for the 2010 trend watch for your next project? Right now I’m working with Israeli peace activists; I’m filming for a year, then editing February, March and April. I believe that these are the truly brave Israelis–they are some of the few that are really courageous and fucking great.