Will Arabs and Israelis Unite in Their Fascination With UFOs?

While presidents and military leaders have never successfully bridged or solved the political and cultural problems of the Middle East, can UFOs and zombies bring Israelis and Palestinians together?

That's the vision of many filmmakers, including Israeli director David Gidali, who, along with cinematographer Itay Gross, just won the top prize in the "Jerusalem 2111" film competition.

The contest was sponsored by the Israel-based Association of Planning and Conservation, which creates architectural models of Jerusalem.

Filmmakers were invited to submit their futuristic sci-fi visions of what Jerusalem might look like 100 years from now, Reuters reports.

An international jury -- including "Avatar" producer Jon Landau -- evaluated the films, which were created by amateur and professional computer-graphics artists, architects and designers. While most of the nearly 100 entries were submitted from Israel, many came from 10 other countries.

On New Year's Eve, the $10,000 first prize was awarded to Gidali's two-minute "Secular Quarter #3," which depicts a couple who live in segregated, dome-covered areas of Jerusalem, finally meeting each other after UFOs lift and carry away the gigantic "cages" that had covered their neighborhoods.

"I ended the movie with an optimistic note, to start a thought process and to get people to ask themselves, 'Wait a minute, do we actually need extraterrestrial vehicles to come and lift the walls between us, or is it something that we can do by ourselves?" Gidali said.

The Jerusalem Development Authority is considering expanding Gidali's UFO-filled vision of Jerusalem into a full-length film.

The competing entries included a portrayal of a nuclear explosion in Jerusalem and its global effects, and an image of a Jew and Arab looking over zombies they've just destroyed.

While some of the short films took obvious jabs at religious and political issues in modern Jerusalem, Gidali's "Secular Quarter #3" may not be the only film that could end up getting the attention of Hollywood movers and shakers.

"It's the job of science fiction to be critical of society, in order to bring about its improvement," said Daniel Wierkin, an organizer of "Jerusalem 2111." "How many times have we seen New York destroyed by disasters, alien attacks, Godzilla?

"Besides, some of the entrants for the competition were positively upbeat, much to our surprise."

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