52-50 - an activist documentary

52-50 is a documentary of the activist genre, which means that by making the film, there is an aspiration to make a change.
Some activist documentaries aspire to bring a change to the current legislation. Others wish to change public opinion or raise awareness.
This documentary was initiated in order to achieve an immediate effect: to reduce the violence inflicted on its protagonists, foreign workers in Israel, some of them overstayed their visas or infiltrated the country.

During the video-shooting period, volunteers, students of Tel Aviv university, set out to document arrests of foreign workers in Tel Aviv area.
We need to pause here and discuss the term "foreign workers". They are called "asylum seekers", "refugees", "work-immigrants", "illegal residents" etc. - The term chosen, usually gives a hint about the person who uses it and his or her opinion about the topic. 
On this website, we present films who represent opposed, sometimes totally polarized sides. We respect everyone of them. We will be using "foreign workers" here, just the director did.

The creator of the film, filmmakers Uri Bar-On, heard that some of those arrests involve violence inflicted on the foreign workers by the immigration authorities. He knows he cannot stop or prevent the arrests, but wishes to at least reduce or eliminate the apparent violence by being there with a camera. For that, he needs volunteers. 
A group of students from Tel Aviv university agrees to join the mission with cars and video cameras. Of course, there is some apprehension and they fear they would be arrested themselves, although it is totally legal to document police actions in public areas.

The film documents the whole operation, from the recruitment of the students to the actual filming, along with meeting the foreign workers and hearing their stories.