Israeli film & filmmakers - updates and analysis

Footnote is nominated for an Oscar

2012-01-26T09:52:00.000+02:00

Joseph Cedar's film, Footnote, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Unlike the other Israeli films of recent years that were nominated for an Oscar -- Ajami, Waltz with Bashir, and Beaufort (also directed by Joseph Cedar) -- this film has nothing to do with the big "issues", no war, no heroes or anti-heroes, and nothing to do with Arab-Jewish relations.

Some have complained that Footnote is about an esoteric subject that won't appeal to many viewers. The opposite is true. Because of its subject matter, it becomes more universal than other Israeli films. Yes, it is a film about strait-laced Jerusalem Talmudic scholars, but is is also about father-son relations and about competition and envy in the academic world. It is also about the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, the akedah, in which the father, if required, is willing to sacrifice his son on the altar, and, at the same time, his grown son is willing to take the step to become the sacrifice!

If you have missed Footnote, read about it in previous postings on this blog.

Best Israeli Films of 2011

2012-01-09T09:24:00.000+02:00

At the end of each year, I like to try to provide a summing-up of the best films of the year – both dramas and documentaries. All of the Israeli films listed below have been previously reviewed on this blog.

DRAMAS

Footnote הערת שוליים by Joseph Cedar

Restoration (Good Morning Mr. Fiedelman) בוקר טוב אדון פידלמן by Yossi Madmony

Dusk בין השמשות by Alon Zingman

DOCUMENTARIES

The Law in these Parts שלטון החוק by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz

The Flat הדירה by Arnon Goldfinger

Ameer Got His Gun בני דודים לנשק by Naomi Levari

The Lost Love Diaries יומני האהבה האבודים by Yasmin Novak

Torn קרוע by Ronit Kertsner

Life in Stills הצלמניה by Tamar Tal

Family Relationships

2012-01-07T17:54:00.000+02:00

The film Off-White Lies אורחים לרגע directed by Maya Kenig, is about family relationships.

The story provides a look at the relationship between an unemployed father (Gur Bentwich) and his 13-year-old daughter, Libby. It is the summer of 2006, just at the beginning of the Second War in Lebanon, which took place both in Southern Lebanon and in the north of Israel.

Libby, who has been living in California with her mother and her mother's new husband, comes back to Israel to be with her father. She slowly discovers things about her father – he's homeless, the car that they've been using is borrowed, and he's penniless. But he's creative and he likes to invent crazy things, and he comes up with a solution to the fact that they have nowhere to live.

They apply and are taken in as "refugees" from the north by an affluent family in a beautiful suburb of Jerusalem with old houses, colorful alleyways and groups of tourists wandering through the streets.

As the film develops, the relationship between father and daughter grows and develops. At the same time, the father begins a professional partnership with the father of the hosting family and a sexual one with the mother. Meanwhile, Libby becomes involved with their 18-year-old son.

The title of the film reflects the father's "creative" use of facts. His lies aren't "white" lies, rather they are "off-white", because he stretches the facts not to hurt anyone but to suit himself. The success and energy of this quirky film is based entirely on Gur Bentwich's charming portrayal of the eccentric father. For his role in this film, he won the award for Best Actor in an Israeli feature film at the Jerusalem Film Festival, July 2011.

Off-White Lies is available from Gum Films, info@gumfilms.com

Tensions and Friendships between Arabs and Jews on the Big Screen at the Jerusalem Cinematheque's upcoming Jewish Film Festival

2011-12-13T16:42:00.000+02:00

The Jewish Film Festival which opens this Saturday evening (Dec. 17) at the Jerusalem Cinematheque is featuring five different films about relations between Jews and Arabs both here in Israel and internationally. These are not political films per se, although they do touch on some political elements, but rather, they are films about personal relationships between human beings.

I previewed all 5 films and have chosen to highlight the following 3 films – one drama and two documentaries. Try to catch these films at the upcoming Festival!

In the slums of Berlin

Kaddish for a Friend (Germany, 2010, directed by Leo Khasin) is a drama about a Berlin slum neighborhood where ironically Arab youth brush up against aging Russian Jews. Ali's family has fled from a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Living near his cousin in Berlin, he gets involved with a tough bunch of Arab kids, and together they trash the apartment of the Jewish man who lives upstairs from Ali. To avoid deportation, Ali is forced to help clean up the old man's apartment. A quirky and compelling story about hatred and the power of reconciliation.

Forbidden Love

Love During Wartime (Sweden, 2010, directed by Gabriella Bier) is a full-length documentary which follows the developing story of a couple who fall in love across the divide. Osama or "Assi" is from a village in the West Bank and Jasmin is a Jewish Israeli. She is a dancer and he is an artist – a sculptor. They can't live in Israel and the authorities hassle them in Palestine, so they must try their luck abroad. But it isn't so easy to get work visas. The personal toll is great but they persevere, searching to find a place where they can spend their lives together.

Bringing Together Arab and Jewish Youth in the Galilee

In a completely different style, Circus Kids (USA, 2010, directed by Alexandra Lipsitz) is a full-length documentary about the potential of circus performance to bring together a diverse group of teenagers. Although the film is a public relations film for the amazing St. Louis Arches group (a black and white, Christian and Jewish, urban and suburban troupe), it is also a heart-warming look at their trip to Israel in 2007, to meet and perform with the Galilee Circus troupe (a mixed Jewish-Arab troupe).

Why circus? Circus art is a performance art, not a competitive sport. One of the St. Louis kids explains that "the circus keeps me focused and keeps me out of trouble." Rabbi Marc Rosenstein, of the Galilee Foundation for Value Education , who hosted the group in the Galilee, explains: "Because it is multi-cultural, without words, based on trust and overcoming fear and on making people laugh."

The film includes the tensions that build, the heartwarming friendships that are formed, and multiple circus acts that are performed! The two troupes perform together at the Jerusalem International YMCA, where I hosted them when I was the director of coexistence programs. It was a memorable performance – because the acts were stupendous and also because of the message!

Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni) is Picking Up Awards

2011-12-09T08:51:00.000+02:00

Dan Wolman's film, Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni), based on the novel by Shulamit Lapid, has picked up 5 awards during the past year. The most recent was received at the Golden Rooster, One Hundred Flower Film Festival in Hefei, China, which took place in October. I am told that 40,000 people attended the opening event in a huge stadium!

Not surprising, the film won the audience award – perhaps due to its humanity, its sensitivity, and its special attention to how human beings learn to adapt to their surroundings and their relationship to nature. It is wonderful to think of far-off Chinese festival goers choosing an Israeli film that really speaks to them!

Check out more on this film, which has previously been reviewed on this blog.

Valley of Fortitude is currently playing in a TV adaptation as a 6-part series on Israeli TV Channel One, on Tuesday evenings. Don't miss it!

The Law in these Parts

2011-12-01T08:50:00.000+02:00

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's most recent film, The Law in these Parts שלטון החוק (previously reviewed on this blog), has been accepted into the competition for documentary films at Sundance next month! A very exciting development! This is an important film for anyone interested in what is going on in the Occupied West Bank and should not be missed!

The Occupied Territories and the Rule of Law

2011-10-28T16:01:00.000+02:00

The Law in These Parts, directed by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, was screened this week to a full house at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The award-winning documentary film (98 minutes) is about the legal system in the Occupied Territories -- an entire legal framework of military orders and legal opinions which were developed since 1967 by the military authorities to deal with the local population. This is a superbly thoughtful film about order and justice, "which do not always go hand in hand".

Check out the website of the film which provides information on more than 30 upcoming screenings in Israel during the coming months.

The film touches on some of the following controversial issues of law:

it was decided that Palestinians who violently opposed the Occupation would be tried as terrorists and not as combatants – because they attacked civilian targets and therefore were not acting according to the international laws of warfare
land confiscations were justified under an old Ottoman law that stated that land which was not cultivated for three years reverts to the "empire"
remand without trial -- during the first intifada in the late 1980s, there was a change in the military orders in the territories and it was no longer a requirement that prisoners be given a hearing or trial in order to be remanded

and more --

housing demolitions
deportations
restrictions of movement.

Using a film set which sets the stage as a mini-courtroom, the filmmaker interviews some of the men who were the military judges during this period. Yonatan Livni speaks frankly about what it was like to be a judge in a military court of law. When you put on the uniform, he says, your alliance immediately becomes subjugated to the needs and requirements of the Israel Defense Forces.

Justice Meir Shamgar was also a judge in the military system and later became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Israel (now retired). Under his guidance, members of the local Palestinian population were permitted to petition the Supreme Court. However, the role of the Supreme Court was not to critique the laws of the Occupation, rather to uphold them, thereby both supervising and confirming laws which deny basic democratic rights which should be available to the occupied population. In one landmark case, however, the Supreme Court did differ with the laws of the Occupation – in its ruling that torture was not acceptable under any circumstances.

In the course of the film, the filmmaker shares with us his thoughts about documentary filmmaking - including his deliberations over who to interview - as well as his thoughts about occupation law.

In the discussion following the screening at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, the director talked about the two different tensions that are highlighted in the film. On the one hand, living in a democratic society, under the rule of law. On the other, the inequalities and injustices of occupation. He asks: how can one expect people to abide by a law when they do not have the basic right to vote and to be involved in the making of the law.

The film was awarded a prize for best documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival (July 2011). These are the comments of the Jury: This is an important achievement in documentary filmmaking. In an even handed way, this film reveals the process through which both the law and documentary are constructed. In doing so it invites audiences to question what we typically take for granted. It is a film for the big screen as well as small.

This is not an easy film. It is both complex and highly critical of the bottom line -- human rights and freedoms are taken away from the Palestinians as a group and as individuals supposedly to provide Israeli citizens with security.

Ra'anan Alexandrowicz is known for his previous ground-breaking, critical and insightful films -- James' Journey to Jerusalem, Martin and The Inner Tour. The Law in These Parts is available from the producer liranatzmor@hotmail.com

Social Crisis, Chauvanism and Anarchy

2011-10-23T22:14:00.001+02:00

Much has been written about the waning of the mythic Israeli chauvinism. Israeli men are now more in touch with their emotions; they are sympathetic and understanding of family issues; they want to just live normal lives, etc. etc. However, Israeli macho chauvinism is alive and well in the new Israeli feature film, The Policeman, directed by Nadav Lapid (not to be confused with the earlier Israeli film of the same title by Ephraim Kishon), which opened at local movie theaters this week.

This new film is about a crisis in society. Produced long before the social protest movement of August 2011, the film reflects a social crisis and portrays a desire to even the playing field when it comes to class issues within Israeli society.

Yaron is a married man. His wife is expecting their first baby. He is a member of an elite anti-terrorist squad. The guys in his unit are committed to each other. They are highly trained assassins and are willing to sacrifice for one another. In fact, one of their own, who is suffering from a tumor in his brain, is asked by the group to take the fall for the killing of civilians who were shot when the unit was on assignment assassinating a terrorist in an Arab village.

About half way through the film, the story switches gears and becomes the tale of a Jewish anarchist group, which is planning to take hostages at the wedding of children of wealthy industrialists. It is quite obvious that the anti-terrorist unit will be sent in to take out these young and naïve believers in class equality. But the ending is not really predictable, in fact, it is quite surprising.

Would it ever be possible in contemporary society for the police and the social activists to come together and to understand each other?

Peace – In our lifetime?

2011-10-11T16:00:00.001+02:00

Today's headline in Ha'aretz says that our prime minister wants to legalize the so-called "illegal" outposts (settled by young people who are often called "hilltop youth"). What is happening in this country? This government is completely apathetic to its responsibilities to the "road map" or to any previous peace agreements with the Palestinians.

We talk about a solution that will include "two states for two peoples". But how can we move forward with peace negotiations if we can't even uproot the illegal outposts!

Evacuation has actually become an ugly word, ever since the evacuation of Gush Katif. In fact, a very large sector of the population, especially the Gush Emunim movement (an extreme wing of the modern orthodox community), has no intention of evacuating anything!

Yesterday, when I was viewing films at the Ma'aleh School of Film and Television, I saw three short, compelling dramas on this subject, all of which provide insight to the plight of the settlers.

Evacuation Order, directed by Shoshi Greenfield, (13 minutes, 2001), is a comic fantasy. Two soldiers, a guy and a gal, are sent to evacuate an illegal outpost -- a caravan on a lonely hilltop. Each one falls in love with one of the hippy settlers living there. Along comes their young commander whose reaction is: What do I care, I think it's immoral to evacuate people from their homes. When more soldiers are sent to evacuate the hilltop, each is quickly married off to one of the girls and the new couple gets a tent on the hillside, until the hill is dotted with tents. A bit over-the-top but certainly a creative way to combat any government policy on evacuation!

The Divide, directed by Tzvi Yehuda Herling (23 minutes), is about a family living at Gush Katif which has received an evacuation order. The father, who was a hero in the army in his day, can't stand the sight of his son's military uniform and he shouts at him and asks him – what will you do if you get a command to evacuate us? The family is modern orthodox and the havdalah ceremony is used to make a metaphorical statement about the holy and the profane – the family life on their piece of land is holy and the army is coming to destroy it.

The Ranch, directed by Ohad Domb (22 minutes), is the story of a father and son, living together in the Wild West. The son rides around on horseback, the father totes his machine gun and takes the law into his own hands against the local Arabs who are stealing their sheep. This family was evacuated from Yamit years ago, and now they are being evacuated from Gush Katif. The father, who had repeatedly shouted his anti-evacuation ideology, realizes that he must accept his fate. But his son is angry and not willing to give up without a fight.

All three short dramas are available from the Ma'aleh School.

Rape in the Modern Orthodox Community

2011-10-10T21:58:00.000+02:00

I went today to view student films at the Ma'aleh School for Film and Television – many thanks to Einat Kapach for inviting me and providing me with a special preview of one of the films that will premiere at the upcoming Haifa Film Festival over Sukkot. The new film that I saw is called In Silence נעלמת , directed by Tom Dadon-Mishaly (short drama, 23 minutes).

The film is about the tragedy of rape and the dangers of not sharing what happens with your family and loved ones. The story is set in the framework of an educated modern Orthodox ("dati leumi") family -- even though the parents are particularly caring and the mother is more attentive than most, they are unable to comprehend the changes that have overtaken their daughter. She is often moody and disagreeable, has suddenly changed her style of dress, and is showing signs of crisis.

This is the tragic story of a bubbly and friendly high school girl who is suddenly transformed. As the fictional story unfolds – and it unfolds in a surprising and remarkable fashion – the tension is heightened and we understand how this could happen in any family.

The Ma'aleh School distributes another film called Cohen's Wife, about rape in the ultra-orthodox community. The film was previously reviewed on this blog.

Next time you are traveling on El Al, keep your eyes open for the possibility of viewing Ma'aleh award-winning films (available only on flights with the small screens).

Both films are available from the Ma'aleh School.

Focus on a short political drama from the Ma'aleh Film School

2011-10-02T08:20:00.003+02:00

Barriers, directed by Golan Rise, is an authentic and realistic portrayal of the issues that Israeli soldiers face at a checkpoint. On the one hand, the young commander of a checkpoint has to deal with really sick people arriving in an ambulance, with the women of Machsom Watch who are trying to tell him what to do, and with the pressures of an intelligence alert which is warning him of a suicide bomber in his military sector.

The film shows the complexity of the situation. As a political statement, it justifies the existence of the checkpoint. But as a human statement, it mourns the death and dying on both sides and it shows the terrible situations that arise on a daily basis. The film is also about mother-son relations. For the first time, the Israeli mother, who usually appears in Israeli films as waiting at home to hear about her son's welfare, now emerges from her home and travels to the checkpoint to confront her son concerning his behavior towards the local Palestinians.

In this short piece on youtube, you can find footage about the making of the film, including comments by the filmmaker which will provide interesting material for discussion following the screening of the film. One of the actresses on the set comments that behind the scenes an interesting triangle was established -- there were the modern orthodox crew members, the secular actors and the Arab actors. An interesting mix in any professional situation!

Barriers (22 minutes), a production of the Ma'aleh Film School , won the award for best short film at the Jerusalem Film Festival, 2011.

Footnote Wins the Israeli Oscar

2011-09-23T17:40:00.000+03:00

Last night, the film Footnote by Joseph Cedar was the winner of nine awards at the Ophir Awards ceremony. The Ophir Awards are tantamount to the Israeli Oscars and the winner represents Israel in the American Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language film.

Footnote won the biggest awards including: best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor for Shlomo Bar Aba and best supporting actor for Lior Ashkenazi.

In addition, it should be noted that Footnote won the prestigious award for best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival this past May.

The award for Best Documentary went to Arnon Goldfinger's The Flat.

Both films have previously been reviewed on this blog.

If you haven't seen either film yet, go and see them!

If you have already seen Footnote, then read on…

I want to share a small story -- on July 15, 2011, at the Jerusalem Film Festival, there was a session called Cinema Jerusalem, moderated by Micha Shagrir. Shagrir interviewed some of the film's professional crew, including the editor of the film, Einat Glaser-Zarchin, who talked about the importance of pacing and construction. As her example, she discussed the sequence in the film when the young female journalist comes to interview the older Prof. Skolnick (Shlomo Bar Aba). Just to review – the young journalist comes to the door to interview Prof. Skolnick who has been notified that he's receiving the prestigious Israel Prize. His wife opens the door and invites the young woman into the house. Prof. Skolnick comes out and leads her into his study to sit and talk. Then we realize that there are two parallel stories here. Skolnick-the-father is being interviewed and he doesn't know the truth about the prize. While that is going on, Skolnick-the-son (Lior Ashkenazi) is writing the false comments from the judges of the prize. The father is saying things against his son, while the son is writing praise and love for his father. This was a superb example of a sequence in which the editing creates the tension between the two heroes, between the two parallel stories.

Dan Wolman's Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni)

2011-09-13T11:53:00.002+03:00

I just returned from the Central European Film Festival that took place in Medias, Romania, where Dan Wolman's latest film, Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni) -- previously reviewed on this blog -- was awarded the Special Jury Prize. The audience loved the film and offered resounding applause for Dan Wolman, and the star of the film, Tamar Alkan, who were both present.

At a seminar on Israeli film during the festival, Wolman talked freely about the difficulties he had in finding an appropriate actress for the lead role. At first he was looking for an actress who spoke with a Russian accent, who knew Yiddish and could play piano. After interviewing 250 young women, he found Tamar Alkan. Her Hebrew does not have a Russian accent; she doesn't know Yiddish, and doesn't play the piano! But Wolman knew immediately that she would be perfect. And she didn't disappoint him! She resonates the innocence, naivety and idealism which are so much a part of the Israel of the early pioneering period. Wolman himself referred to the naivety of that time by saying that it is fading today and Israelis are afraid to think that it might disappear.

Tamar Alkan plays the role of Fanya, a woman who survives a pogrom in Russia at the end of the 19th century and flees with her little baby to Palestine. She goes to live with a group of religious Jews from Tsfat. But she is not from a religious background. They speak a fluent Hebrew, but her Hebrew is broken and stilted, perhaps a reflection of her broken spirit. She was traumatized back in Russia, and as a result cannot touch anyone or be touched. As her Hebrew improves, so does her emotional capacity for love and physical contact.

The film is based on a novel by Shulamit Lapid which was published in 1982 – a hundred years after the immigrants of Rosh Pina came to settle in that valley.

Revolution 101

2011-09-06T12:33:00.000+03:00

Revolution 101 has just won the Grand Prize at the Bosnia International Mediterranean Film Festival last week in Croatia.

Here are the comments of the Jury:

Revolution 101 has offered an excellent picture of a fight of an individual against a corrupt system. The film encourages all those who believe that it is possible to fight for the noble goals fulfillment.

In these days in Israel during the social protest movement, this film deals with corruption at the highest level of the system -- and how to fight it!

The film -- a combination documentary/drama -- was previously reviewed on this blog.

Blood Relation

2011-09-01T20:46:00.003+03:00

In 1940, a 14-year-old Jewish girl named Pnina disappeared. 27 years later, she resurfaces, married with children, living in a refugee camp in Nablus. The filmmaker learns about Pnina, her grandmother's sister, only after her grandmother passes away.

Noa Ben Hagai tells how she found a box of letters, dating from the years immediately following the Six Day War. The letters were written by Pnina who was trying to re-establish relations with her siblings, so many years after they had lost contact. Now, more than 40 years later, the families re-connect via Shmulik and Salma, the children of two sisters. Shmulik, a retired colonel in the Israeli army, is the son of Pnina's sister. Salma is one of Pnina's offspring. Shmulik and Salma live in very different worlds.

The film is told like a thriller – as the reasons are revealed concerning how and why Pnina disappeared so many years ago. We also learn about the difficulties of family relations – Shmulik represents the occupation and Salma is a victim of it. Also putting matters into historical context, the film tells the story of a refugee family from Jaffa who fled to the West Bank and their contemporary difficulties under Israeli occupation. Most importantly, the film is an honest and fascinating look at the complexities – the anguish, dependency, expectations and burdens -- that are created all as a result of the filmmaker's attempt to connect with her long lost family.

The film Blood Relation (documentary, 75 minutes, 2009), directed by Noa Ben Hagai, is available from Eden Productions.

The Flat by Arnon Goldfinger wins the IsraelFilm.blogspot Award

2011-07-19T20:19:00.001+03:00

I've decided to award my own prize for the best Israeli film screened at the recent Jerusalem Film Festival. And the award goes to: Arnon Goldfinger's The Flat which is a triumph of personal documentary filmmaking.

Goldfinger's grandparents, Gerda and Kurt Tuchler, lived in an apartment in Tel Aviv since they came to Palestine in the 1930s. When Gerda passed away at the age of 98, her grandson comes equipped with a camera to document his family as they begin to unravel the contents of the apartment which was stuffed with classics of German literature, heavy European furniture, old carpets, photos, letters, ladies' handbags and dozens of pairs of gloves, old luggage, and more.

Together with the filmmaker and his mother, we embark on a journey that begins in the closets of his grandparent's apartment in Tel Aviv and takes us to Germany to learn about his family history, exposing secrets from the past that are not so easy to deal with.

At the Festival screening, Goldfinger talked about how the film, "which began as a little film about the clean-up of Grandma Gerda's flat", took over his life and took five "exhausting" years to complete.

We follow his research, and like a mystery, a riveting story unravels before us. We learn about his grandparents, meet Gerda's closest friend, and look at photos and letters. Slowly a painful story unravels of a couple who remained tied to their roots in Germany, never fully became comfortable in Israel, and continued to return to Germany to visit with their German friends, even after the war. Why would German Jews renew their deep friendship with a German blue-blood, von Mildenstein, who was a member of the Nazi party already in the 1930s and a member of the S.S. during the war?

The research takes us to Germany and we learn about Grandma Gerda's mother and meet the von Mildenstein family. Slowly we realize that this is not only an Israeli story but also a German story. We learn about the difficulties of the second and third generation in grappling with the past. Are they looking at it honestly or are they still hiding from the truth? The comparison with the second and third generation here in Israel is amazing. Grandma Gerda never talked about her mother to her own daughter, and her own daughter never asked how she died during the war.

At the screening, Goldfinger explained, "I knew from the beginning that this had to be a co-production with a German company, with people of my generation." In the film, he goes to archives to learn more about von Mildenstein, who apparently was quite an important figure in Goebbels' ministry. Goldfinger meets with a German professor who is a specialist in Holocaust studies and asks him why his grandfather, who fled from Germany and raised a family in Israel, would re-establish his friendship with a Nazi friend after the war. The professor explains that, in order to help them confirm their German identity, there were Jews who, after the Holocaust, were unable to negate all of German culture and history and desperately needed to believe that there were some good Germans. This explained the complex identity of his grandparents. Even though they lived in Israel for most of their lives, they remained tied to their German roots forever.

The filmmaker acknowledges having "rediscovered his mother" through making this film and dedicated his last comments to his grandmother and grandfather, expressing his hope that they would like the film, at least parts of it. "If not, please forgive me."

The Flat won an award for best director of a documentary film at the Jerusalem Film Festival last week. The statement of the jury is as follows: "This is a beautifully composed film about uncomfortable truths and the challenge of confronting them. Mr. Goldfinger undertakes expert research and leads us through his findings in a way that is not only gentle and sensitive, but also compelling and creative."

The Flat is available from First Hand Films

The filmmaker, Arnon Goldfinger, is an accomplished documentary filmmaker, best known for his award-winning The Komediant (1999) which documents the story of Pesach Burstein and his wife, Lillian Lux, who together fled Poland in 1939 and were known as a legendary music-dance-comedy-theater team.

The Al-Kuwaity Brothers and Miriam Makeba – on screen

2011-07-18T10:47:00.001+03:00

The following guest posting is from my best film-going partner, my daughter Sari Kronish, an architect working with Bimkom. http://eng.bimkom.org/

Film and music can make for an interesting combination. Two wonderful music documentaries were screened this past weekend, at the Jerusalem International Film Festival, providing the audience with the opportunity to experience renowned talent while also opening a window onto unique chapters of cultural history.

Iraq'n'Roll, directed by Gili Gaon, tells the story of Saleh and Daud Al-Kuwaity through a project undertaken by Daud’s grandson, Dudu Tassa. The viewer is invited to participate in Tassa’s journey as he discovers his roots and struggles while accepting them and incorporating them into his artistic expression. He has finally reached the position in his career where he can allow himself this privilege, he says in the film.

The Al-Kuwaity brothers were famous, even glorious, musicians in Iraq during the 1940s and 1950s. However, their glory comes to an abrupt end upon their immigration to Israel. Combining interviews with family members and musicians alongside live concert footage, the filmmaker exposes the viewer to the deep shame and displacement experienced by Iraqi Jews upon their immigration to Israel. While the third generation, represented by Tassa, can restore some of the lost pride, the second generation, represented by Tassa’s mother and her sisters, still carries the bitter weight of the first generation. Had their father known what it would be like to live in Israel he would not have come, they say.

Watch for Iraq’n’Roll which will be screened on Israeli TV (Channel Two) on July 24^th at 11pm! The film (52 minutes) is distributed by mrd201@walla.com

Mama Africa, a film directed by Mika Kaurismaki, is a German-Finnish-South African co-production about the life and art of Miriam Makeba, who embodies the true spirit of freedom. The deep healing power of her voice, embedding a political message in every sound (or click), is an honest inspiration to humanity. Makeba is lured onto the American stage by Harry Belafonte, and she quickly becomes an international star. But she pays a painful price; the price of forced exile. Returning home to South Africa becomes her life dream. Returning to a better home becomes her life mission.

The legacies of these artists live on in these films.

Restoration

2011-07-17T17:37:00.001+03:00

Restoration (Hebrew title: Good Morning Mr. Fiedelman), directed by Yossi Madmony, is a sensitive and moving look at father-son relations.and at memory.

Last week at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the film won a prize for best Israeli feature film. The statement of the jury was as follows: "For its exploration of fatherhood in its many manifestations – tender, angry and finally hopeful – in a highly original and moving context."

The film also won awards for best editing, music and cinematography.

See my previous review for more information.

Ameer Got His Gun

2011-07-14T21:21:00.001+03:00

In Israel today, Arab citizens of the state are not drafted into the army since it is assumed that this would cause a security problem. Ameer Abu Ria from Sakhnin in the Galilee, however, is different. His grandfather and father and all of his father's siblings served in the Israeli army.

The film, Ameer Got His Gun בני דודים לנשק, directed by Naomi Levari, opens with Ameer about to volunteer for the army. He goes to the induction center to begin the process. We follow him through basic training and then he joins the Border Police and gets assigned to Hebron. Ameer did not want to have to serve anywhere in the West Bank where he would come in conflict with other Palestinians, and the time that he spends in Hebron is not easy for him.

Ameer's family is Muslim but not religious. In fact, there's a scene in the film in which Ameer is kneeling on the rug and the viewer expects him to begin to pray, but instead he leans over and does push-ups, as he is preparing for his upcoming basic training. The viewer meets the family. Ameer's mother, for whom the thought of her son going off to combat is quite difficult, takes time to sit and talk with him. She says she will miss him and when he points out that the house is full with siblings she says that each child has a special place in her heart and in the home. Ameer also talks to his uncle who shares his own experiences, recalling that because he served in the army, people called him a traitor. After his service, he had to work very hard to regain respect in the community and today, the uncle would not want his own son to serve. In a quiet moment, Ameer's father, who is a main figure in the film and very supportive of his son's induction, is troubled by the fact that "the Israeli Jews don't know the Arabs, don't know that we're human beings with feelings."

Although volunteering for the army obviously ostracized his father and his uncle from the community, Ameer believes that this is the only way to achieve true equality and he wants to serve his country. He sings Hebrew songs, did well in Hebrew studies and civics in high school and the family flies an Israeli flag from their balcony.

Real life in the Border Patrol is not so simple. But Ameer is a special young man, filled with optimism, and he takes all of the joking in good spirit and lets all of the anti-Arab feeling that he encounters just roll off him. Even though he realizes that in the future, his children and the children of his fellow combat buddies will not know each other, he concludes the film by saying, "I'm not in the army to kill, I'm in the army to make a change."

Ameer Got His Gun, which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival, is a documentary film (58 minutes) and is available from Black Sheep Film Productions.

Man Without a Cellphone

2011-07-14T12:27:00.002+03:00

Last night at the Jerusalem Film Festival, I attended the premiere screening of Man Without a Cellphone, directed by Sameh Zoabi. The film is a social comedy about a young man and his father who are fighting the system by opposing a cellphone tower that represents Israeli oppression, technology and modernity, all invading village life. They live in the village of Iksal, near Nazareth in the Galilee. Jawdat is just a regular guy, flirting with the girls, hanging out with his friends, studying for his Israeli college exams over and over again!

The Israeli college exams are not only in Hebrew – which make them easier for those who speak Hebrew as their mother tongue – but they also test for cultural material which is unfair to a population that exists and flourishes within another culture. As a result, many Israeli Arabs have gone abroad to study. In fact, Arab Israelis make up only 5% of the student population in Israel, despite their being some 20% of the population.

Jawdat is really interested in girls – doesn't matter if they are Muslim, Christian, or even Jewish! Recently, he has begun courting a girl from Ramallah via cellphone. One day, two guys from the Israeli security services pick him up to scare him. They've tracked his cellphone calls and want to know what he's doing calling the West Bank. Is he planning to assist in a terrorist attack? It doesn't even dawn on them that he might be thinking of moving to Ramallah and studying at Bir Zeit, thus doing their work for them! This scene is a bit forced, but certainly funny. In fact, the filmmaker himself is married to a woman from Ramallah.

Jawdat's father, suspected for having been responsible for destroying the tower, is a bit of an over-the-top irritable type. Together with some of his friends and with the assistance of his son, Jawdat, he plans a demonstration opposing the rebuilt cellphone tower that is standing in the middle of the agricultural lands and poisoning all of them with radiation. This is loosely based on a true story in which two young men, one of whom is still sitting in prison, blew up a cellphone tower that had been built near a school on the outskirts of their village.

Using comedy as its critical tool, the film offers both entertainment and some political/social comment at the same time.

Man Without a Cellphone was produced with financing from France, Israel, Palestine, Belgium and Qatar and is produced by Lama Films.

A Love Story

2011-07-13T09:35:00.001+03:00

I saw a wonderfully romantic and joyful Holocaust documentary, The Lost Love Diaries by Yasmine Novak, at the Jerusalem Film Festival yesterday.

Ellis is an energetic and wonderfully expressive woman. She is full of charm, humor, optimism and loves to tell stories. She says she was a very lucky woman because she had two great loves in her life – Bernie, her first love in Holland before the war, and her husband of more than 60 years, Elmie. She talks wistfully about Bernie and she sings songs that she remembers that they both liked from that period! Such wonderful memories of life right before the horrors.

The Lost Love Diaries is a documentary story about Ellis. She grew up in Holland, survived the Holocaust and came to live in Israel. After her husband passed away, she remembers the diary that was hidden among her possessions – a diary from her teenage boyfriend, Bernie, the love of her life, the man she would have married if things had been different. When she went into hiding, she was separated from Bernie forever.

Together with her daughter, Shula, she goes on a journey to Holland to discover whatever she can about Bernie and what happened to him. They follow the trail from hints in the diary and they learn that Bernie and his parents were deported to Auschwitz. They meet someone who knew Bernie and track down a woman whose parents hid Ellis and her father.

The Lost Love Diaries is not your usual Holocaust film. It is a story of unfulfilled love, but told with great humor. It is about the search for a young man who was wiped from the earth before his time, but he was remembered forever by a woman who loved him dearly. The film is available from July August Productions, noy.orna@gmail.com.

Restoration by Yossi Madmony

2011-07-12T11:31:00.005+03:00

Restoration, directed by Yossi Madmony, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last night. It is a touching and sensitive study of a man and his relationship with his son. A film about our attachment to old things and memory -- Mr. Fiedelman (Sasson Gabai) works at restoring antique furniture. His partner of 40 years dies suddenly of a heart attack after a visit from a prostitute. Previously, Fiedelman worked with the wood and his partner did the dealings with customers and suppliers. Now, he has to handle all aspects of the business and he discovers that the situation is not so good.

His ambitious son, Noah, wants to close his father's shop and instead build an apartment building on the premises. But Fiedelman is not so ready to give up his life work. He pins his hopes on his new, young apprentice, who himself is hiding from the world and running from his family (though we do not learn why). The apprentice, who tries desperately to win Fiedelman's trust and help him raise the cash to keep his business running, is an accomplished pianist. He entices Fiedelman into restoring an antique Steinway piano that they find in the back of the shop. Perhaps this will help them raise the funds needed.

As the rivalry between the two "sons" increases, the apprentice becomes involved with Noah's pregnant wife. Thus the two "sons" are competing for the attentions of the same woman and, at the same time, competing for the father's inheritance and blessing. Note the Biblical theme.

Erez Kav-El won the award for best dramatic screenplay for his script for this film at Sundance. Restoration (Hebrew title: Good Morning Mr. Fiedelman) is available from the producer, Chaim Sharir.

It's interesting to note that two additional recent films deal with father-son relations --
Dusk and Footnote, both reviewed on this blog in the last month.

Lia van Leer

2011-07-10T08:49:00.006+03:00

Yesterday, at the Jerusalem Film Festival, I saw a beautiful documentary film about Lia van Leer, by Taly Goldberg. It is called simply Lia.

Using interviews with friends and admirers, this film presents a romantic and nostalgic look at Lia van Leer -- her life and her great achievements. Winner of the 2004 Israel Prize, she was a pioneer in the field of art film programming and film archiving in Israel. She is the founder of the Haifa Cinematheque, the Jerusalem Cinematheque, the Israel Film Archive and the Jerusalem Film Festival.

During the 15 years that I worked as the Curator of Jewish and Israeli Film at the Jerusalem Cinematheque / Israel Film Archive / Jerusalem Film Festival, I worked closely with Lia van Leer. She is a unique individual who has succeeded in establishing new institutions out of her own vision and passion. In a country where film had been primarily seen as a form of entertainment or a propaganda tool, Lia, through her untiring efforts, has helped change that image and raise filmmaking to a new level. As a result, film is now seen as an expression of culture and art, and is funded as such by government funds for cultural expression. In addition, bringing about this new understanding of the importance of film has also impacted directly on the filmmaking voice of the country and the unique identity of Israeli films as seen today.

Following the screening, Lia van Leer was there, passing around little sachets of lavender to her well-wishers.

The film Lia (65 minutes) was produced with support of the Gesher Multi-Cultural film fund and the Dorot Foundation and is available from Lama Productions, Tel Aviv.

The following biographical information about Lia van Leer is taken from a biography that I wrote a few years ago for the Jewish Women's Encyclopedia.

Born on August 8, 1924 in Balti, Romania (Bessarabia), to an upper middle class Jewish family, Lia van Leer attended a public high school and spent summer holidays in the Carpathian mountains. Highly assimilated, her family attended synagogue only a few times a year, and her father earned his living by exporting wheat.

In 1939, when she was 16 years old, her parents sent her on the long trip to Palestine to visit her sister who was living there. She attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and socialized with other foreign students. The two sisters never saw their parents again.

She married Wim van Leer, the son of a Dutch industrialist, and they made their home in Haifa. Wim was a journalist, playwright and pilot and together they traveled abroad, where they developed their interest in international cinema. The van Leers would regularly invite friends to their home on Friday evenings to watch films which they would screen on their own 16 mm. projector. Thus the first film club in the country was formed – later to develop into the Haifa Cinematheque. During these years, the van Leers also traveled by jeep to the kibbutzim in the new country of Israel, showing films which were otherwise unavailable. The films which they screened were borrowed or acquired from abroad, and slowly they began to build their own personal collection of international film classics. This personal collection grew into the first film archive in the State of Israel, which was formally established as the Israel Film Archive in 1960, and accepted into the Federation Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) in 1961.

The collection grew over the years as Lia approached the international film companies and large Hollywood studios and requested that the distribution prints of their films, already subtitled into Hebrew, be deposited in her collection after the completion of their commercial run in the cinemas. This was a revolutionary idea since distribution prints were regularly destroyed after an average five year period, but Lia persevered and succeeded in receiving thousands of films in this manner. Today, the Israel Film Archive collection holds more than 40,000 films, including the historically important collection of Carmel Newsreels, produced by Nathan Axelrod from 1934 to 1957, and all of Israeli cinema produced since before the establishment of the state.

When the van Leers moved to Jerusalem in 1973, Lia van Leer was able to fulfill her dream of establishing an institution modeled after the Cinematheque Francaise. She established the Jerusalem Cinematheque (which met for many years in Beit Agron downtown) and then built a magnificent, permanent home for the Cinematheque overlooking the walls of the Old City, with the assistance of Mayor Teddy Kollek and the Jerusalem Foundation.

The new premises, called the Jerusalem Film Center, opened in 1981 and house the Jerusalem Cinematheque, the Israel Film Archive and the Jerusalem Film Festival (established in 1984). Each of these institutions was founded and directed (on a full-time volunteer basis) by Lia van Leer. The Jerusalem Film Center has had an impact far beyond its walls. It is responsible for inculcating, in the hearts and minds of thousands of young people, the importance of cinema as a means of communication and understanding; it is a meeting place for Arabs and Jews to discuss cultural issues rather than political ones; the Israel Film Archive provides hundreds of films annually for screenings all over Israel and around the world; the Jerusalem Film Festival attracts distinguished film personalities annually and provides them with the possibility of meeting local audiences and discussing the art of cinema.

Honors and awards:

Jury member at Cannes Film Festival, 1983

President of the Jury, Berlin Film Festival, 1995

Medal of the City of Jerusalem

Medal of the City of Tel Aviv

President’s Citation for Volunteerism, presented by President Chaim Herzog, 1988

Israeli Ministry of Education Medal for Contribution to Cinema

Ordre du Merite, France, presented by President Mitterand

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, France

Honorary Fellow of the Jerusalem Film and Television School

Life Achievement Award, Israel Film Academy Awards

Jerusalem Foundation Prize in Honor of Teddy Kollek, 1999 – Presented to Lia van Leer, in recognition of her life’s work and contribution to the advancement of cinema in Jerusalem and her success in using the medium of film as a powerful educational tool, and as a means for promoting dialogue, creative expression, and understanding that extends beyond all borders.

Israel Prize, 2004

Eran Riklis

2011-07-08T12:23:00.002+03:00

Last night at the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Eran Riklis was presented with a life achievement award! Riklis is one of Israel's most successful directors and all of his films are issue-oriented, offering a critical view into the most important political and social issues of this period.

Born in Jerusalem in 1954, Riklis was educated and raised in Canada, the United States, Brazil and Israel. After he studied film at Tel Aviv University (1975-77), he continued his studies in England and graduated from the National Film School at Beaconsfield (1982).

During his career, Riklis has directed dramas, documentaries and television series. His documentary, Borders, about people who live and work along Israel's borders with its neighbors, won prizes at Munich, Houston and Mexico. Riklis' feature films have won international acclaim by critics, audiences and festivals alike –

On a Clear Day You Can See Damascus (1984) portrays a true story of an Israeli sympathizer who becomes a spy for Syria
Cup Final (1991) explores themes of male bonding during wartime, the relationship between captor and captive, and the possibility of coexistence in the politically tense atmosphere of the Middle East, all on the background of a story about an Israeli soldier who is captured by a PLO unit during the war in Lebanon
Zohar: Mediterranean Blues (1993) tells the tragic story of Israeli singer Zohar Argov
Vulcan Junction (1999) about a rock band on the background of political issues
Syrian Bride (2004) shows a bride as a metaphor for the Druze of the Golan Heights, caught between a rock and a hard place
Lemon Tree (2008) is a story of two women – one Palestinian and one Israeli, definitely a film about vulnerability, victimization and the misuse of power
The Human Resources Manager (2010) is a literary adaptation, based on a novel by A.B. Yehoshua, about the transformation of an Israeli self-centered workaholic into a man of caring and compassion as he tries to make atonement for the treatment of migrant workers.

The impression is often that a life achievement award implies the end of a successful career. But Eran Riklis feels that he has many productive years ahead, and he concluded his remarks at the award ceremony, quoting Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927), "You ain't seen nothing yet!"

Dusk

2011-07-03T13:11:00.001+03:00

Dusk, a new Israeli feature film which opened in movie theaters in Israel last week, is a first feature film directed by Alon Zingman. The film offers four human stories that come together in one day. The title of the film, Dusk, בין השמשות , refers to that moment of the day, when the day is ending and the evening is beginning. All of these four vignettes, a collection of situations on the background of deceit, come together at dusk in a local hospital.

The first story is about a young woman who returns from a trip to Peru. Her father comes to pick her up at the airport and, on their way home, he hits a cyclist on a lonely road.

The second tale is about a mother of a six-year-old girl who goes to get a marriage license. At the licensing office, the bureaucracy spews out a form that tells her that she was adopted. She becomes obsessed with this new piece of information and goes to seek out her biological mother. During the course of the film, we discover that her biological mother is also the mother of the cyclist who was hit on the road.

In the third tale, a very attractive immigrant mother from Argentina takes her 9-year old son to the hospital for him to have a brit milah (circumcision). There, she has a few moments of intimacy and friendship with the doctor while her son has an encounter with a cancer victim.

The fourth tale is about a father-son relationship. A policeman, who abandoned his wife and child many years ago, wants to renew his relationship with his son who is now a doctor at the hospital.

When asked on an interview on Israel Radio (Reshet Bet) about why the film has so many sad plot elements, the director, Alon Zingman, answered: "These are true tales from our lives. I think there's a lot of humanity here." He also talked about the film's autobiographical elements – his own parents came from Argentina in 1964. At first, they couldn't have children. After they adopted their first son, Alon was born. So he grew up with adoption in his family.

Dusk is surprisingly well executed with very good acting, beautifully directed, very human and heart-wrenching tales, some of them with real moments of tension. However, when the stories come together in the hospital, there is no real denouement and no feeling of tying it all together -- like ships passing in the night. Perhaps this is a comment on our existential condition.

Torn

2011-06-24T18:09:00.003+03:00

Please find here a guest posting by my husband, Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel.

Can one be a Jew and a Catholic at the same time? Are there extenuating historical circumstances that enter into this discussion? What happens when a man, who was given to a Catholic family as an infant by his Jewish parents and raised by them during and after the Holocaust, discovers his Jewishness at age 35 after he has been a Catholic Priest for many years, and only lately decides that he wants to come to live in Israel as a Jew and yet maintain his Catholic faith also?

All these questions and dilemmas are portrayed in a sensitive and empathetic way by Ronit Kertsner in a poignant documentary film entitled "Torn" that I saw this week at the Cinematheque in Jerusalem, together with a packed auditorium of sympathetic viewers, both Christian and Jewish.

The film tells the story of Yankela Wechsler, also known as Romuald Waszkinel, who now at age 67 has come to live in Israel. He spent several months studying Hebrew last year in an ulpan at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in the Bet Shean valley, where he was warmly welcomed, albeit with some misgivings, by the kibbutz community (I have always been a fan of the kibbutz hadati movement since they are among the warmest and most open-minded Orthodox Jews in Israel) and now he lives in Jerusalem where he works at Yad Vashem.

Wechsler comes across as a sincere and serious individual, with a good sense of humor, and at the same time very emotional about his mixed Jewish and Catholic identity. He has been struggling to redefine that identity – as an ordained priest and as a man searching for his Jewish roots, as a man of faith, a man who believes deeply in God. He definitely sees himself as a Jew, yet at the same time, he wishes to not totally abandon his Catholic identity, which defined him for most of his life. Nevertheless, he wants to be accepted as a Jew in Israel.

Can the State of Israel accept him as a Jew under the Law of Return? Certainly, the special circumstances of his being born a Jew during the Holocaust should play a central role here. Yet, one finds in the film legitimate debate and discussion of this dilemma—can one be a Jew and a Catholic at the same time?

Near the end of the long question and answer period after the film, I asked him about his application to become a citizen of Israel at the Ministry of the Interior. In response, the director of the film read a recent letter received from the Ministry in which they have agreed to grant him permanent resident status in Israel for 3 years. The letter also states that after the 3 years, he will be permitted to apply to become a citizen. This somewhat positive response, she said, is a result of the publicity surrounding the case in the Israeli press, which followed the premier screening of the film in Tel Aviv at the DocAviv film festival in May.

I first met Wechsler a few months ago when he came to speak at a course on Polish-Jewish Relations that we sponsor at ICCI. I was impressed by his story then, and by the way he told it. And I was glad that someone in Israel has made such a moving and passionate film about this wonderful individual.

"Torn" is distributed commercially by Go2Films

Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish

Jerusalem

rkronish@icci.org.il

"Who Will Build a House in Tel Aviv?"

2011-06-23T11:09:00.002+03:00

מי יבנה בית בתל אביב?

I have already written about two documentary films that I saw at DOCAVIV festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque two months ago – Doma and The Collaborator and His Family. I missed Life in Stills – but so many people have told me about it that I quickly obtained a DVD from Heymann Brothers Films in order to see it!

Life in Stills (הצלמניה), directed by Tamar Tal, is a refreshing film, combining nostalgia and charm! It is the documentary story of a unique relationship between a 96-year-old woman named Miriam and her grandson, Ben, on the background of a family tragedy -- the violent death of Miriam's daughter/Ben's mother. Miriam came to Israel from Czechoslovakia in 1921 and together with her husband (who was a wonderful professional photographer) created a Tel Aviv icon – a photography shop which today houses literally thousands of negatives of classic and historic shots of early Israel. People come to browse through the photos and there are requests from all over Europe for exhibitions based on the materials. Ben travels with his grandmother to Frankfurt for the opening of such an exhibition and she addresses the elegant crowd in German with great humor and personality.

This is a film portrait of a remarkable, highly opinionated, spunky woman, who is willing to fight the Tel Aviv municipality in its efforts to demolish the building which houses her shop. A film of great nostalgia and charm, it lends insight into the developing story of Tel Aviv and the relationship between grandmother and grandson. Life in Stills (58 minutes) is available from Heymann Brothers Films.

Footnote by Joseph Cedar

2011-06-21T09:29:00.002+03:00

Since the year 2000, Joseph Cedar has made four feature films: Time of Favor, Campfire, Beaufort, and his newest film, Footnote, which is currently playing in theaters in Jerusalem – at the Lev Smadar in the German Colony and at the Jerusalem Theater.

Footnote has created quite a buzz here – because it won the prestigious award for best screenplay at the recent Cannes film festival and also because it is a film which portrays life in this city, from the streets and sites of Jerusalem, to cultural events and mostly academic life and political back-biting at the Hebrew University. Cedar, who directed and wrote the screenplay, grew up in Jerusalem and is the son of a scientific researcher, and is therefore certainly familiar with the local multi-faceted academic world.

The film is critical of the way a faculty member might deny a student his doctorate as a way to take revenge on the student's advisor, or how faculty compete in publishing their research rather than cooperating for the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Although the corruption of the academic system is the main topic of the film, it is also about father-son relations. Prof. Skolnick (Shlomo Bar-Aba), the elder, is a researcher of Talmudic texts, whose greatest recognition is that he was mentioned in a footnote in a major tome published by another academic. He has been waiting all of his life for recognition for his research contribution. His son, also Prof. Skolnick (Lior Ashkenazi), on the other hand, is a well-recognized professor in the same field of Talmud research. Skolnick the father is rather bitter and non-socialized, perhaps even autistic, and only interested in his academic research. Skolnick the son teaches and interacts on a more populist level. In fact, his popularity and lack of depth is illustrated in the film by cute pop-ups that show all the places in town where he lectures on the night of Shavuot, when Jewish text learning has become so popular, especially among modern Orthodox young adults.

These cutesy gimmicks – the pop-ups and other graphic techniques -- make the film more entertaining and, at the same time, create a cinematic tool that juxtaposes the serious narrative construct with the comic, poking fun at certain aspects of the academic scene.

There is a third generation here too. Skolnick the father is into academic research; Skolnick the son has transformed academia into something more populist; and his teenage son has turned away completely from study, in fact, he has no life path whatsoever. Although portrayed both humorously and emotionally, this is a shocking denouement for centuries of serious scholarship!

Although I was disappointed in the peripheral roles of the women in the film, I was taken with the melodrama of the central plot element which was intensely chauvinistic and competitive. As in Cedar's previous films, this film deals with issues of masculinity and chauvinism and how they are expressed in the contemporary Israeli scene. Issues of father-son relations were also explored in Time of Favor as seen in the figure of the charismatic rabbi and the obedience that he required from his yeshiva students.

Why did the film win a prize for its screenplay? Certainly because of its unique construct, its mixing of comic elements with the melodramatic, its grappling with issues of corruption in the world of academia, and its reference to an ancient Biblical theme – should a father require sacrifice from his own son?

Ronit Elkabetz

2011-06-14T16:39:00.002+03:00

Ronit Elkabetz is an award-winning actress and film director who works both in Israel and France. Born in 1964 to a religious Moroccan family, she grew up in Beersheba (until the age of 12) and Kiryat Yam (north of Haifa). Her first role on screen was as the Lilith character in Dan Wachsmann's The Appointed and she appeared again as a woman with special powers when she played the mentally challenged sister in Shmuel Hasfari's Sh'chur, a role that won her the Israeli Academy Award (Ophir Prize) for Best Actress. She won the same award for her role in two of Israel's most acclaimed films of the last decade: Dover Kosashvilli's Late Marriage and Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit.

Nir Bergmann's documentary film, A Stranger in Paris, provides a window into the world of this award-winning, exotic and impressive diva and captures the mystery of such a passionate woman. It is wonderful to see behind the scenes in her life and to learn how she became so successful in the acting world in Paris -- from her first acting internship to the brave step she took in putting on a one-woman theatrical show, and finally to her major roles. We learn about her work on stage, her working on her shooting schedule, her talking behind the scenes sharing her thoughts, fears and professional considerations. We meet her in her interactions with her French colleagues and in her work on the two films that she directed together with her brother, Shlomi (To Take a Wife and Seven Days).

A major scene in the film documents Ronit Elkabetz' work with French filmmaker, Brigitte Sy, who directed her in her autobiographical film, Les Main Libres (Free Hands), about a woman who is making a film at a prison where she falls in love with an inmate. At the film's premiere at the Jerusalem Cinematheque just a few months ago, Elkabetz shared with the audience details about her close and intense working relationship with the filmmaker, as she was acting in a role which represented the filmmaker's own story. This relationship is portrayed in no less an intense way in this documentary.

Elkabetz talks, with much emotion, about her childhood, about her fears and distress as a child who was different, and was worried about being accepted as different. Filmmaker Nir Bergman asks her to talk about the myth of her taking the character home with her and she explains that she draws intuition, emotion and identity from all of the parts that she has played and they stay with her. She also explains that she became a filmmaker in order to tell a story, her own story, from her own perspective, the way she sees it and that she writes the script from her subconscious, from suppressed memories.

An extraordinary film about an extraordinary personality, A Stranger in Paris is made by Nir Bergman, acclaimed Israeli feature film director of Broken Wings and the more recent, Intimate Grammar. The film is part of the series entitled Culture Heroes and is available from Ruth Diskin Films.

Amos Gitai

2011-06-12T18:00:00.005+03:00

Filmmaker Amos Gitai (born in 1950) served in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 as a reserve soldier, at which time his helicopter was shot down. In 1977 he began directing documentary films for Israel Television. After his film House was censored by the television authorities, and when his subsequent film Field Diary met with much criticism in Israel, Gitai moved abroad. He trained as an architect at the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1986) and lived in Paris for many years. He returned to live in Israel in 1993. Gitai's films deal with themes of exile, emigration, and political issues relevant to the current reality in Israel.

In addition, his films explore the boundaries of a critical view from within. His film Berlin-Jerusalem is a shattering view of the Zionist dream, and Kippur is a graphic antiwar film (based on some of his own experiences during the Yom Kippur War). His trilogy Devarim, Day after Day and Kadosh takes place in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem and explores, with a critical eye, societal issues in each of those cities.

A prolific and controversial filmmaker, Gitai is one of the Israeli directors who have received accolades worldwide including prizes at Cannes, the distinction of Cavalier of the Arts from the Minister of Culture of France (1999) and retrospectives of his work have been organized in Europe and at the MOMA in New York City. In Israel, however, his films are criticized for being disjointed, non-linear and critical of Israel. Many say this is due to the jealousy of his colleagues due to his critical success on the international level and the resentment of the critics to his having lived and worked abroad. In Israel, he was the recipient of an achievement award from the Jerusalem Film Festival (2002).

A recent documentary film entitled Gitai – In Search of his Carmel by Ran Tal (2009), was shot while Gitai was researching locations and preparing for his recent feature film, Carmel (which premiered in 2009). This documentary is compelling in that it provides the viewer with insight into Gitai's unique way of creating a film -- his artistic process which is always dynamic and the script which is always developing.

We meet Gitai face-to-face and he talks about his films – 25 documentaries and 16 feature films. He discusses the earlier films that have an emphasis on theme and the later films, such as Free Zone, that experiment with the traditional definitions of narrative and form. Gitai talks about people on the move all around the world, and the fact that his parents were immigrants and how the subject of emigration and immigration fascinates him. We watch as he is creating a scene of his mother, reading from her letters to him from London when he was 10 years-old, talking about how she does not feel at home in any of the places that she has lived – not Vienna, Berlin, London or Paris. This theme of people on the move is a theme that can be seen not only in Israeli films but also in American and European films of recent years.

Gitai – In Search of his Carmel is part of a series of documentary films about "Culture Heroes" and is available from Ruth Diskin Films.

For those interested in reading more about Amos Gitai, a new book has become available -- Amos Gitai: Exile and Atonement by Ray Privett, which can be downloaded free from the website of Cinema Purgatorio.

The Collaborator and His Family

2011-06-01T14:36:00.005+03:00

For two years, filmmakers Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash documented the family of Ibrahim. This is a Palestinian family living under terribly difficult conditions in Neveh Sha'anan, a rundown neighborhood in South Tel Aviv. The resulting film which premiered recently at DOCAVIV in Tel Aviv, The Collaborator and His Family (84 min.), is a hard-hitting look at how a man and his family are treated by the Israeli authorities.

Ibrahim has a wonderful wife and five very special children. But he has chosen a difficult path – he collaborated with Israeli security forces and warned them of an upcoming terrorist attack. As Ibrahim puts it, "I saved the life of a Jewish child." In the West Bank, collaborators live in disgrace and are often assassinated. As a result Ibrahim and his family were forced to flee from Hebron and are now living in squalor in Tel Aviv.

This is a family with no identity, no papers and no health insurance. The three teenage boys are constantly getting into trouble with the police, who are harassing them to become collaborators too. They are living on the edge of society and are in and out of schools for juvenile delinquents. The mother returns to the West Bank with her little daughters, but they are not safe there either. When their lives are threatened they return to Tel Aviv and Ibrahim – out of anger and frustration -- hits his wife. The older children are alarmed and they call the police. As a result of the ensuing legal settlement, Ibrahim is forced to live separate from the family for many months; he is not permitted to leave his rooftop apartment and is unable to work.

These are very difficult circumstances. Even today, Ibrahim is struggling to obtain some sort of acknowledgement from the security establishment for what he did for Israel. Instead, he has been shunted aside by the very people who recruited him and exploited him – and, as a result, his children are paying the heaviest price.

Although we can identify with all the members of the family, this is not an easy film to watch. It is a hard-hitting and emotionally draining look at a bleak situation. It is honest and sometimes brutal. But it portrays a difficult situation which could easily be ameliorated by the Israeli authorities. International distribution for The Collaborator and His Family is via Deckert Distribution GmbH at info@deckert-distribution.com and in Israel, the film is available from Fig Films at info@figfilms.com

Doma

2011-05-15T13:48:00.000+03:00

Yesterday at the DOCAVIV film festival, which is held annually at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, I saw an extraordinarily moving and beautiful film about sexual abuse in the Arab community – Doma, directed by Abeer Zeibak Haddad (documentary, 51 minutes).

The title of the film, Doma, means dolls in Arabic and the film opens with a scene from a puppet show called Chocolate that the filmmaker created -- we watch as a strange man approaches a little girl in the park and spins her on the carousel, faster and faster. We don't see what happens after but the pace quickens and we feel actual fear.

The film is about four women who were abused as girls and today they decide to speak up and break the silence dealing with this subject that is so prevalent in the Arab community. This is the story of women who were afraid to speak out as little girls, afraid to shout out, afraid to confront their attackers. A black Bedouin woman, photographed from behind in a moving car, explains, "In our society they always blame the victimized girl."

Only one woman, a sculptor named Manal, speaks directly to the camera about what happened to her. She is creating a sculpture installation incorporating sexual organs and using Christian symbolism. She says, "Women do not own their own bodies." In another scene, she talks about how she didn't want anyone to touch her breast, and as a result was not physically or emotionally able to nurse her twins when they were babies.

Another woman tells that she was repeatedly raped since she was 5-years old by her uncle, her mother's brother. Her grandmother knew, but kept silent. And yet another woman talks about the pain of having been abused by her own father and how she tried to resist it.

Each woman reacts differently. One woman decides that she must confront her rapist and another wants to file a complaint with the police.

This is a film about very brave women who are speaking out about a terrible tragedy in their lives, about a subject that is still difficult for them to confront. For years, they were afraid of speaking out because they could be murdered by their male relatives for bringing disgrace to their families. In fact, similar stories of family honor have brought death to many women. We watch as a Druze father, still in mourning for his daughter, is addressing a crowd at a demonstration and talking about so many girls who have been murdered.

The film is beautifully shot – the women are shot from the back, looking out a window, one is looking out at the sea, or slightly distorted in a window or mirror, or shot from behind in a moving car. One is also shot surrounded by a field of Sabras, a plant that symbolizes the deep contradiction between aggression and nature. This element of anonymity in the film makes it so authentic and emphasizes the fact that these four women are a voice for all those who have suffered similar experiences in their youth.

The film is available from the producer: Suheil Haddad (husband of the director)

suheilh@zahav.net.il

Making a Difference

2011-05-04T11:32:00.001+03:00

The Israeli army still administers a large part of the West Bank – the section called Area C. Conditions are particularly difficult in the area of the southern Hebron Hills where there are approximately 60 Palestinian families who live in tents and caves. It is shocking to see that in this day and age they have no running water and no electricity. All requests for building permits are denied by the Israeli army. The local school is many kilometers away. This is the area of Susiya, which includes a nearby Jewish settlement and an ancient historical site.

In the documentary film, The Human Turbine, skillfully directed by Danny Verete, we meet some of the people who live here: Nasser, 24 years old, wanted to become a vet. Instead, he takes care of the sheep. Another young man learns English literature at Al Quds but he can't study at night because there isn't any electricity in their tent. One young woman dreams of opening a bridal salon. An older woman is attacked and beaten by settlers and hospitalized in Beersheba.

With the help of a small number of Israeli Jews who decide that they want to help to make a difference, they put up a system of solar panels and turbines which will provide each family with light and enough electricity to run a television for an evening. There is no running water, so they clean out the junk from an old water cistern and put it to use again. The Israelis help them obtain a car and pay for gasoline so that they can drive their children to school every morning and they help them to establish a summer day camp.

This film is the beautiful story of the encounter between the Palestinians of this area with these Israelis. In addition to the help that is provided, they discover that the human encounter has been life-transforming for all involved.

The documentary film, The Human Turbine (2010, 54 minutes), is available from Ruth Diskin Films

Divorce, Deadbeat Dads and DVD's

2011-04-13T08:32:00.000+03:00

Please look for my article on "agunot" on the Lilith Magazine website.

The article discusses the modern tragedy of women who are "chained" to their ex-husbands because they refuse to grant them a divorce. In this way, the men are in control and able to exact revenge at the same time.

This article discusses three films --

the new American documentary film Women Unchained by Bev Siegel and Leta Lenik
the Israeli short drama Get by Ayelet Menachemi (from the trilogy Tel Aviv Stories)
the Israeli documentary Sentenced to Marriage by Anat Zuria.

While you are on the Lilith website, check out also their auction. You'll see a "coexistence" quilt that I made which is up for auction! "Coexistence" quilts, which can be seen on my quilting blog , include a central element of Bedouin embroidery made by women in Laqiya in the northern Negev, integrated into a traditional patchwork quilt.

Juliano Mer Khamis

2011-04-05T12:31:00.000+03:00

The Israeli arts community is today mourning the actor, filmmaker, theater director and political activist, Juliano Mer Khamis who was murdered outside of the Freedom Theater, a community theater that he established in Jenin.

Mer Khamis, born in Nazareth, is the son of a Jewish mother and a Palestinian Christian father. He served in the IDF and appeared in numerous Israeli feature films.

His mother, the moving force that brought a children's theater project to Jenin, was documented in the film, directed by Mer Khamis, called Arna's Children. The film provides an extraordinary in-depth look at the boys who participated in the theater group – their dreams, their experiences, and what becomes of them. These boys are Arna’s children. Watch the film on youtube.

In the film, Arna is a Jewish woman with a keffiyeh, a woman who organizes protest marches, a woman who has lost her hair from chemotherapy. She served in the Palmach, then joined the Communist party, where she met her Palestinian husband. In the early 1990s, she received an alternative Nobel Prize from the Swedish parliament and used the $50,000 prize to build some rooms to house a theater group for children in the Jenin refugee camp.

When Arna died, the theater was closed. Years later, her son, Mer Khamis opened the Freedom Theater in an attempt to bring artistic expression, appreciation of the theater, and political awareness to the youngsters of Jenin. See the video clip of Mer Khamis talking about the Freedom Theater.

I am shocked that Mer Khamis was murdered – someone who was working for artistic expression, someone whose very life and body expressed a bridge between Palestinians and Israelis. May his life and work inspire us all.

Israeli Filmmaking - 2010

2011-04-01T12:11:00.000+03:00

Israeli films and filmmakers have been enjoying a tremendous amount of recognition all over the world during these last 15 years. A government increase in funding for filmmaking combined with the establishment of commercial TV have encouraged the growth and development of the industry, leading to a dramatic change in the quantity and quality of the films being produced.

If you are a film-programmer, you might be interested in a listing of my favorite features and documentaries of the past year – many of them are award-winners! The aesthetic of these high-quality, self-critical films, which are characterized by multi-faceted and complex scripts, reflecting a wide diversity of style and substance, have been compared and analyzed on this blog. Check them out using the index.

Feature Films

Maya (Michal Bat-Adam)
Gei Oni – Valley of Fortitude (Dan Wolman
The Matchmaker (Avi Nesher)
Infiltration (Dover Kosashvili)
Intimate Grammar (Nir Bergman)
The Human Resources Manager (Eran Riklis)
Mabul (Guy Nattiv)

Documentaries

77 Steps (Ibtisam Mara'ana)
The Hangman (Netalie Braun)
A Film Unfinished (Yael Hersonski)
Precious Life (Shlomi Eldar)

Documentaries Produced Abroad

Budrus (Julia Bacha)
Strangers no More (Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon)

I Shot My Love

2011-03-30T18:08:00.000+02:00

There have been two important Israeli feature filmmakers who grapple with their homosexuality on screen. Eytan's Fox's films (The Bubble, Yossi and Jagger, Song of the Siren, Walk on Water) have put gay men right in the center of the Israeli screen, and with great success! Amos Gutmann, who died tragically from AIDS in 1993, directed four feature films (Drifting, Bar 51, Himmo King of Jerusalem, Amazing Grace) all of which portray young people suffering from the limitations of a narrow-minded society and depict the director's own background, milieu and sensitivities.

More recently comes a documentary filmmaker, Tomer Heyman, who is willing to expose himself openly and honestly on the screen. His latest film, I Shot My Love, is a striking personal documentary look at family relationships and at his own developing relationship with a German man whom he meets when he travels to Berlin to present a film at the film festival.

This is a film about a relationship between two gay men – but it is about much more. It is also about love, illness, mother-son relationships, family bonds and reaching across the cultural divide in finding love.

A few years ago, Heyman directed a film Paper Dolls about drag queens which was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. His mother, whose parents fled from Berlin in 1936, came with him to Berlin to the festival, for the premiere. After the screening, Heyman went out to celebrate, and that's when he met Andreas.

Andreas is a complicated character, very blond, very good looking and charming. Although he is a German, he is not proud of it. Heyman is one of those filmmakers who has an obsession with shooting everything in his own personal life and the viewer is witness as their relationship grows and develops and deepens – Tomer behind the camera and Andreas on screen.

Tomer also focuses the camera on his articulate mother who is an accepting woman, open-minded, and tolerant of her son's choices vis-à-vis his lifestyle and his partner. She lived all her life in the village of Kfar Yedidya. There she met her husband and they brought up their five sons. After many years, she divorced, her sons moved away, and now she lives alone. She is a strong and compelling character.

The film is obviously about these two important people in the filmmaker's life, but it is also about issues of filmmaking itself. The style is "family cinema verité", exposing personal issues and emotions, as the viewer is offered a chance to watch things develop seemingly in real time. But this style also gets in the way sometimes, creating a barrier between the two men, and Andreas accuses Tomer of only talking to him when the camera is on and of hiding in safe territory behind the camera. Although he sees the camera as a barrier, it does not stop Andreas from revealing deep secrets from his own past.

I Shot My Love (70 minutes) is currently in theatrical release in Germany and is available from Heyman Brothers Films

The Hangman

2011-03-20T11:02:00.000+02:00

The Hangman, directed by Netalie Braun, is a powerful and complex documentary portrait of the man who was Eichmann's executioner. This is a close look at a very special man.

Shalom Nagar is a 75-year-old Yemenite, ultra-orthodox (haredi) man who makes a living as a ritual slaughterer (shochet). As a prison guard, 50 years ago, he was the one who actually pressed the button to open the floor under Eichmann at his hanging. Then he had to lift him and help to remove the body. He says that he had nightmares for a year and that, as a result, he was strengthened in his religious beliefs and he became a ritual slaughterer. It is apparent that this event helped to shape the course of his life. Shalom went on to work at the Hebron prison where he was assistant warden and was one of the founding settlers of Kiryat Arba (the Jewish settlement abutting Hebron).

But this film is about much more – it is about Shalom's very special humanity, his warm and loving personality and his charm and sense of humor. According to the filmmaker, Netalie Braun, who spoke at a symposium following the screening on March 15, 2011, at Mishkenot Sha'ananim: There is much compassion here and also a paradox. Shalom is the hangman and also the ritual slaughterer. But he states clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." Even though he is a Yemenite Jew, he saw himself as if he had been a survivor of the Holocaust, which is one of the most unique aspects of this film, since all too often it is assumed that Sephardic Jews did not see the Holocaust as part of their historical identity.

Another surprising element of his personality was elaborated upon by the filmmaker in her discussion with the audience last week. She told us that Shalom created a revolution at the Hebron prison where he was the assistant warden when he wouldn't permit the guards to beat the Arab prisoners. Also, in a very unusual step, he made special arrangements for the prisoners to cook for themselves since the food being offered was so terrible!

This film presents us with a very authentic and surprising voice of a man who had clearly seen a lot and experienced some traumatic moments in his personal life and in the life of the State of Israel. Previously, Shalom had no voice, since he was not permitted to speak out by the authorities in Israel. Moreover, as a Sephardic and ultra-orthodox Jew in Israel, he was considered to be peripheral, not only in Israeli society in general, but also in respect to the subject of the Holocaust as well as the subject of the treatment of Palestinians under Occupation. But here, in this film, he has the central platform and his humanity, compassion and charm all come through loud and clear.

This is a film about life and death seen through the unique perspective of one man. The metaphor, of course, is the prison guard or hangman who becomes the slaughterer and conducts the ceremony of kaparot before Yom Kippur, helping others with their atonement. (Kaparot is a mystical ceremony practiced by ultra-orthodox Jews in which a chicken is swung over your head, giving you a clean slate as your sins are symbolically transferred away to the chicken.)

Finally, the film has a paradoxical political twist. When the infamous Jewish doctor, Baruch Goldstein, slaughtered Muslims at prayer at the Cave of the Machpelah in Hebron on Purim in 1994, Shalom was no longer capable of living in Kiryat Arba and he moved away in protest. According to the filmmaker, his humanism should be seen in contrast to those celebrating (after Baruch Goldstein's rampage) in Kiryat Arba. This is an amazing political statement--which clearly upset some of the Jews in the audience last week in Jerusalem. Indeed, Eichmann's hangman has trouble with the massacre of Palestinians by a Jewish settler. Clearly, in his view, Jews should not behave this way after what was done to us in the Holocaust!

The Hangman was awarded the prize for best Israeli documentary at the Haifa Film Festival in 2010. Produced with support from the Rabinovich Foundation - Film Project and the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, it is available from Hedva Goldshmidt at Go2Films.

Mabul (The Flood)

2011-03-19T09:45:00.001+02:00

Children with Special Needs on the Screen

In recent years, Israeli society has changed considerably in its acceptance of people with physical, mental and emotional handicaps, and this is reflected on the cinema and television screens. These subjects can present a particular challenge for the filmmaker but many have pioneered in recent years in order to bring the issues of living with a handicap into the social discourse.

In this category, it is worth seeing the following:

A Touch of Magic by Baruch Dienar (1992)
Yellow Peppers by Keren Margalit and Amnon Kotler (2011)
Bena by Niv Klainer (2009)
Mabul (The Flood) by Guy Nattiv (2011)

The pioneering drama, A Touch of Magic (directed by Baruch Dienar), produced by Israel TV, was the first film to touch on this subject. It is a remarkable story about a 16-year-old girl with Down's syndrome.

Also created for TV is the more recent Yellow Peppers (Keren Margalit and Amnon Kotler), a series about a family on a farming moshav in the desert, with a 5-year-old son who is diagnosed with autism. First there is shock and disbelief. In a touching moment, the mother asks the nursery school teacher why she never said anything and the teacher responds, "I said he's 'special'". Typically, it's easier not to tell the family that there's something wrong with their child.

Later, when the family decides to take the child out of the local nursery school and devote time to his education, people on the moshav complain, accusing the parents of insulting the teacher. As if people on the moshav didn't see that the child has special needs. How could they be so clueless? That's Israeli society – not seeing what they don't want to see. It's easier to come to the parents angry and accuse them of not supporting their communal nursery school, rather than admit that the child has a problem. Were they so wrapped up in their own concerns that they were unable to notice what is going on around them?

Still being broadcast, the series also portrayed additional difficult subjects such as foreign workers, issues of the elderly, divorce, parent-child relationships, and more.

Different from the others is Bena (Niv Klainer, 2009), a film about a schizophrenic young adult (Michael Moshonov) who is mixed up in a violent relationship with a foreign worker. [More about this film in a previous posting on this blog. ]

Mabul

Unquestionably the most important production on this subject is Mabul (The Flood), directed by Guy Nattiv, script by Nattiv and Noa Berman-Herzberg. Nattiv and Berman-Herzberg studied together at the Camera Obscura Film School and their graduation film provided the basis for this feature film, Mabul. Guy Nattiv's first feature film was Strangers co-directed with Erez Tadmor [also previously reviewed on this blog.]

Mabul tells the hard-hitting story of the difficulties of a family with a special needs child. The narrative revolves around a 13-year-old boy, Yoni, who is about to become bar mitzvah; his mother (Ronit Elkabetz), a nursery school teacher; and the father (Tzachi Grad) who is keeping it a secret that he has been barred from working as a crop-duster at the nearby airfield. The family is rather dysfunctional, the parents barely speak to each other, and then the older brother, Tomer, comes home from the institution where he has been for the last 12 years. Tomer is severely autistic.

The film is remarkable on three fronts -- cinematography, acting and script.

First the cinematography is superb with an emphasis on close-ups, making the sorrow, the betrayals and the difficulties terribly authentic and in-your-face.

The acting is a tour-de-force for the two brothers – Yoav Rotman as Yoni and Michael Moshonov as his older autistic brother – and the connection that is created between the two brothers is a remarkable one. In a radio interview on Reshet Bet, Moshonov tells how he went to visit many hostels and institutions to learn about autism because he "didn't want the role to be a cliché" and because he wanted to be sure that it would differ from the portrayal that he offered for the schizophrenic son in Bena.

The script is compelling, well-paced and laden with meaning. In dealing with the sea and the story of Noah and the flood, it offers an image for traveling far away, dreaming of a better life and for being washed clean and starting over. According to the scriptwriter, Noa Berman-Herzberg (in a radio interview on Reshet Bet), the central metaphor centers around the theme of the sinners in the story of Noah and the Ark. Everyone in the family is a sinner. The mother is betraying the father. The father has a problem with alcohol. There is the earlier sin of how the parents dealt with their autistic child, letting the shame of it break apart their marriage. Lastly, the younger brother, selling homework to make money, gives voice to terrible resentments against his parents. They all have sins to make up for and here is a new chance for all of them.

Mabul (The Flood) is currently playing in movie theaters in Israel.

Reality and Fantasy

2011-03-15T16:51:00.000+02:00

Please check out my latest article on the Lilith magazine website which deals with Michal Bat-Adam's films, especially her latest film, Maya.

Gei Oni -- have you had the chance to see it yet?

2011-03-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

Dan Wolman's latest film, Gei Oni (Valley of Fortitude), is still running strong at theaters all over Israel.

I highly recommend it!

It's at nine different venues this week!

In Tel Aviv it's in Cinema Dizengoff.

In Jerusalem it's at Beit Moreshet Begin and will be shown at the Jerusalem Theater on the 17^th of March.

In Haifa it's at Café Moriah.

In Modi'in it's at Cinematque Herzliyah.

Also in Nahariah, Hod Hasharon and Beit Gavriel.

Wow!!!

2011-03-09T17:59:00.000+02:00

My big news is that the "stats" page of blogspot shows that this blog has passed 10,000 page views or hits! Readers come mostly from the USA and Israel, but also from the Czech Republic, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, and more! Isn't this fun!

Death and Dying

2011-03-07T14:33:00.000+02:00

Nechama (Consolation), directed by Edit Sheratzki, is a short drama (51 minutes) starring Rivka Michaeli and Gedalia Besser. I love this format of short dramas because after the screening, there is time for comments and discussion. This is a bittersweet and very intense story about the elderly and about our fear of death and dying.

Nechama wakes up one morning distraught and distracted. She is sure that this is the day that she is going to die. When she tells her husband about her premonition, he is sure that she is punishing him for an indiscretion that occurred many years before. But Nechama seems to be a woman who is sure of herself and she knows that today is the day.

Looking for love and consolation, she tries to contact her daughter Ruti, who lives abroad, and her busy grand-daughter Neta. Interning in a mental hospital, Neta works with a woman who wants to die, whereas Nechama is about to die and wants to live.

Instead of the attention that she craves, Nechama is offered disbelief and a request for family stories and insights (as in Tuesdays with Morrie).

Nechama (2010) is available from Hedva Goldshmidt at Go2Films.

Zionist Symbols

2011-03-03T09:00:00.000+02:00

At this time, when the Bedouin village of El Arakib in the northern Negev is continuously being dismantled by the JNF and then rebuilt by the local Bedouin themselves, with assistance from Israeli activists, I would like to draw your attention to the importance of the plight of these human beings, citizens of the State of Israel, many of whom serve in the Israeli army. Please consider previewing and using with your groups, the important film Destiny Hills גבעות גורל by Leeor Kaufman, which I have written about in detail in the past.

Peretz Rodman, an educator and friend, wanted to share some observations about the film. The following is his posting:

I was struck by the plethora of Zionist mythic symbols that appear as part of the life of the Bedouin family:

love of this land and of a particular locale
manual labor
planting trees
awareness and enjoyment of wildflowers
male stoicism and emotional restraint
making the Negev bloom
collective labor accomplishing what individuals cannot
(the pièce de résistance) the blue and white lateral stripe color scheme of tent in which Muhammad wakes up during the Knesset demonstration scene, near the end of the film.

It's so clearly a way of showing an Israeli audience that "they" are so much a mirror image of "us".

Strangers No More

2011-02-28T09:47:00.000+02:00

Big News!

Strangers No More directed by Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon was the winner last night of an Academy Award for best Documentary (short subject). The film presents the difficulties and triumphs of youngsters -- children of asylum-seekers and foreign workers -- at a school in South Tel Aviv.

Click here for a Jerusalem Post article about a screening of the film that took place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque a few months ago.

My Favorite Israeli Films of All Time!!

2011-02-16T08:21:00.000+02:00

Available from sources such as the National Center for Jewish Film, amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, jewishfilm.org, jewishvideo.com, the Third Ear, jewishfilm.com, and Netflicks.

Watch for the more recent ones at your local Jewish and/or Israeli film festival

The Most Recent Israeli Films nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

Beaufort, directed by Joseph Cedar, 2007, based on the bestseller by Ron Leshem -- Very realistic and very powerful film about the absurdity and futility of war, set against the background of the pull-out from Lebanon in 1999.

Waltz with Bashir, directed by Ari Folman, 2008 -- Combining animation with full-length documentary, the film examines issues of memory, trauma and guilt that arise during wartime, with emphasis on the night of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre.

Ajami, directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, 2009 -- about the meeting place between different worlds. A unique film due to its hard-hitting style, joint direction by a Palestinian and a Jew, and its use of a non-professional cast of characters from the neighborhood of Jaffa where the story takes place, which helped to create an atmosphere of authenticity.

The "Matsav" - the Situation

Time of Favor, directed by Joseph Cedar, 2000 - A touching story of young love and a compelling story of the dangers of religious extremism set against the settler movement on the West Bank.

Newly Emerging Images of Women

Noodle, directed by Ayelet Menahemi, 2007 – A wise and funny film about a woman, twice widowed, who is afraid of loving again. Appropriate for all the family.

Love at Second Sight, directed by Michal Bat-Adam, 1998 -The film tells the story of a woman who becomes obsessed with her search for a man whose image she saw only once. An intergenerational and cultural look at the subject of love, mixing the contemporary period with memories of the past.
Song of the Siren, directed by Eytan Fox, 1994 - A romantic and quirky comedy set against the stress and absurdity of the Gulf War of 1991, the film tells the story of an assertive, professional woman. Critical of the superficial lifestyle of the trendy Tel Aviv urban set.
Yana's Friends, directed by Arik Kaplun, 1999 - The film, which takes place against the background of the Gulf War of 1991, portrays a variety of quirky characters, many of whom are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and reflects the difficulties of new immigrants in a foreign land.

Three Mothers, directed by Dina Zvi-Riklis, 2006 – Complex story of 3 sisters, born as triplets in Alexandria. A film of song and music, of rich detail and stunningly complicated in-depth characters.

Aviva My Love, directed by Shemi Zarchin, 2006 -- an authentic film about a woman's attempt to become a writer and break out of the despair of the housing projects of Tiberias, against the backdrop of the beautiful Sea of Galilee.

Blind Man's Bluff, directed by Aner Preminger, 1993 - The portrayal of a young, professional woman who must learn to live not only by the expectations of others, but also according to her own needs.

The Dysfunctional Family, Adolescent Angst

Passover Fever, directed by Shemi Zarchin, 1995 - An in-depth tapestry of psychological obsessions and the typical dysfunctional family at Passover time, with whimsical optimistic elements.

Late Marriage, directed by Dover Kosashvilli, 2001 - About the difficulty of rebelling within the family framework, the film is a very human story of one man still tied to his Jewish mother. The film provides a glimpse into the traditional values and lifestyle of the Jewish community from the Georgian Republic of the former Soviet Union. Includes a love scene of considerable passion and nudity.

Broken Wings, directed by Nir Bergman, 2002 - The film is a touching drama about the disintegration of a family living with loss. The focus of the story is on the relationship between the mother and her teenage son and daughter.

Someone to Run With, directed by Directed by Oded Davidoff, 2006, Based on the novel by David Grossman -- A story set in the underworld of Jerusalem, a world of drugs and teen exploitation, where two young people are able to make a difference.

Turn Left at the End of the World, directed by Avi Nesher, 2004 – the story of the friendship between the daughter of French-speaking Jews from Morocco and the daughter of educated English-speaking Jews from India, all living as neighbors in a desolate development town in the Negev in the 1960s.

Secrets, directed by Avi Nesher, 2007 -- a story of the developing relationship between two religious girls, studying at a midrashah (a girls' yeshivah) in Tsfat. A film of great complexity, about love and forgiveness, life and death, superstition and humor.

Intimate Grammar, directed by Nir Bergman, 2010, based on a novel by David Grossman – about a boy who is dejected and a loner and who has stopped growing since he is not attracted by the world of adults that he sees around him.

Issues of Gender

Walk on Water, directed by Eytan Fox, 2003 - A film about homosexuality, hunting down Nazis, the difficulties that Israeli macho men have in expressing their emotions, and the need for more compassion in our lives.

Yossi and Jagger, directed by Eytan Fox, 2002 – The film deals with issues of gay men serving in the Israeli army.

Army Service

Late Summer Blues, directed by Renen Schorr, 1986 – A coming-of-age story, the film portrays a group of Israeli youth grappling with high school graduation and preparation for military service at a time of ongoing war.

Arab and Jews

The Band's Visit, directed by Eran Kolirin, 2008 – a charming film about human encounter, about loneliness, about Jews and Arabs who pass in the night and reach out to each other, about people who have the opportunity to both give and receive.

Lemon Tree, directed by Eran Riklis, 2008 – tells the story of two women, one Palestinian and one Jewish, victims of the chauvinistic societies in which they live, each trying to reach out to the other across the divide.

Cup Final, directed by Eran Riklis, 1991 – The film takes place during the 1982 War in Lebanon and explores the themes of male bonding during wartime, the relationship between captor and captive, and the possibility of coexistence in the politically tense atmosphere of the Middle East.

Avanti Popolo, directed by Rafi Bukaee, 1986 – A brilliant film which portrays the fine line between the real and the surreal in wartime against the background of the Six Day War of 1967.

Beyond the Walls, directed by Uri Barbash, 1986 – Portrays Arab political prisoners and Jewish hard-core criminals living side by side in a maximum security prison. Challenging political and social stereotypes and portraying larger-than-life characters, the film presents a metaphor of Arab and Jew being locked up together, both victims of the conflict around them, condemned to mutual acceptance.

Urban Alienation

Life According to Agfa, directed by Assi Dayan, 1992 - The film takes place during the course of one evening in a Tel Aviv pub, a microcosm of contemporary society and depicts a violent nightmare that takes place as a result of society's ills - loneliness, despair, suicide, chauvinism, discrimination, alienation and callous relationships.

Jellyfish, directed by Shira Gefen and Etgar Keret (a husband and wife team), 2008 - a quirky and complex film, which is a comment on marriage, memory, alienation in the urban setting, and unfulfilled promises.

Looking Back at the War in Lebanon (1982-2000)

Beaufort – see above

Waltz with Bashir – see above

Lebanon, directed by Shmuel Maoz, 2009 – about the Lebanon War, the viewer experiences the fears, tensions and claustrophobia of the young soldiers within a tank.

Kippur, directed by Amos Gitai, 2000 -- the film is a hard-hitting portrayal of the horrors and unrelenting nature of war, and provides the viewer with a visceral experience.

Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Summer of Aviya, directed by Eli Cohen, 1988 – An intensely human story, originally a one-woman theater production starring Gila Almagor, the film tells Almagor's own personal story, about the shame that she felt as a child, growing up with a mother who was forever tortured by her memories.

And its sequel --

Under the Domim Tree, directed by Eli Cohen, 1995 - The sequel portrays the painful struggles of a group of Holocaust survivor youth all living together in a boarding school during the early 1950s.

How we Treat Migrant Workers

James' Journey to the Holy Land, directed by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, 2003 – A naïve but religious pilgrim from Africa arrives in the holy land expecting to find milk, honey and the chosen people. Encountering the existential issues of living as an immigrant in a strange land, he quickly adapts and learns how to fit in.

The Human Resources Manager, directed by Eran Riklis, 2010, based on A Woman in Jerusalem by A.B. Yehoshua -- An atonement for society's treatment of the foreign workers in its midst. The personnel manager at a Jerusalem bakery learns that one of his employees, a victim of a recent suicide bombing, has been lying in the morgue unidentified for a few days. How could he have missed the fact that she was missing?

Period Pieces

Sallah, directed by Ephraim Kishon, 1964 – A fast-paced musical, combining comedy and social satire, the film takes place during the years of the mass immigration immediately following the establishment of the state of Israel.

I Love You Rosa, directed by Moshe Mizrachi, 1972, nominated for an Academy Award – A love story played out against the strict religious laws of the late 19^th century and against the backdrop of the alleyways of the Old City of Jerusalem. Raises issues concerning traditional Jewish gender roles and the independence of women.

They Were Ten, directed by Baruch Dienar, 1960 -- the heroic story of a group of pioneers who settle a desolate hilltop in the Galilee in the 1880s.

Hide and Seek, directed by Dan Wolman, 1980 – Set against the background of Jerusalem during the British Mandate period, the film portrays the demands of conformity and loyalty when living in a society under siege. The main character, an adolescent boy, represents the society in formation – a closed society that requires maturity in order to understand that things are not so black and white as they seem.

Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni), directed by Dan Wolman, 2010, based on a novel by Shulamith Lapid – Combining historical narrative with romance, the film is about a woman who arrives in Palestine during the late 19^th century and focuses on her strength in the face of much adversity.

Valley of Fortitute (Gei Oni) by Dan Wolman

2011-01-27T20:32:00.001+02:00

Check out my recent posting on the Lilith magazine blog about Dan Wolman's beautiful and sensitive literary adaptation, Valley of Fortitude (Gei Oni), which opened this month at theaters in Israel.

Social Change

2011-01-15T15:23:00.000+02:00

Incorporating both documentary and fiction, Doron Tsabari in his most recent film, Revolution 101, takes the viewer on an odyssey into his fight against corruption, while seeking reform at Israel TV Channel One. Similar to American crusading filmmaker Michael Moore, Tsabari puts himself into the center of the film, so it becomes his struggle and his obsession. Brilliantly, he utilizes the power of film and television in fighting against the deterioration of Israeli public television.

This is an insightful and powerfully critical film of the real Israel – the world of politics and corruption, the world of television broadcasting and the world of lawmakers. Together with his producer, Ori Inbar, Tsabari shoulders the burden of taking on the establishment in an effort to revolutionize the world of public broadcasting. Although the final outcome seems less important than the process itself, one can certainly conclude that social change is possible.

Tsabari's Jewish mother lends humor and charm to the serious nature of the subject matter – she is pushing her son to a different career, anything but filmmaking, one that would lead him to financial success. It is such an irony that one can hardly make a decent living as a filmmaker in Israel today.

Revolution 101 מדריך למהפכה (2010, 85 minutes) is available from Ruth Diskin Films.

Two films by Moran Ifergan

2010-12-29T12:52:00.000+02:00

Today I want to write about Moran Ifergan, a promising young documentary filmmaker who I had the chance to meet as part of a dialogue program for Jews and Arabs that I ran while working at the Jerusalem International YMCA. I have chosen to review here two of her films which were produced while she was studying at the Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television.

Jewish Negroes – KMS (48 minutes, 2010) is a documentary about the members of a rap band from Rehovot, young men of Ethiopian descent. They are the KMS band and they give voice to angry feelings about what it's like being a black Jew growing up in Israel. Their music is really great and the audience loves them!

The viewer gets a sense of the foul language, the petty crime, the violence, the discontent, the poverty and, at the same time, the dreams of wealth and respect. They sing, we are "tired of the struggle, tired of the misunderstanding." This is a tragic story about the younger generation of Ethiopian Jews, growing up with both poverty and racism.

What happens to the members of the band who are unable to find their place within Israeli society?

The film is available for world sales from Cinephil

In her film, My Sister Riki (30 minutes, 2009), the filmmaker turns the camera to her own sister, Riki, who lives in Beersheba, married, with two children. Riki's older son is about to celebrate his bar mitzvah.

Riki is a bright woman who is capable of stepping back and looking at her own life with a critical and insightful eye. She feels that she has made many mistakes, not having had any education and not having a profession. Although she is a good-looking woman and she has a moment of pride as all of their friends and relatives come to celebrate at the bar mitzvah party, Riki expresses despair over the dreams that she seems unable to fulfill. The film provides a glimpse into the everyday life of a woman who married young and is watching as her relationship with her husband is slowly disintegrating.

The film is available from the Sam Spiegel School of Film and Television

Lerner's Revenge

2010-12-26T23:45:00.000+02:00

Lerner's Revenge, directed and produced by Gilad Tocatly, is a newly produced dramatic Holocaust tale, a documentary which tells the tragic story of one family against the background of historical context and documentary footage. There are elements of this story that are particularly tragic, and some that are remarkably unique. This is a story of repeated betrayal, multiple murders, and finally redemption.

Yoineh Lerner was the baker in the Eastern Polish town of Komarovka. He lived with his wife, Gitl, and eight children in a house over the bakery. Their oldest son moved to Israel before the war and their son Yitzhak served in the Polish army at the beginning of the war. At first the town was in Russian hands, but quickly the Nazis came and occupied the town, using the Lerner home as their headquarters.

If you think that you have heard all of the stories and watched all of the horrors that took place during the Holocaust, then you are mistaken. In this small town, the Nazis came up with a shocking and creative humiliation for the Jews – one that I had never heard of before. They forced the Jews to lie down in the plaza in front of the town's church so that the local towns-people tread on them as they came out of church. Who can understand the base and violent nature of human beings?

When the Jewish population of the town was liquidated, their sonYitzhak and his sweetheart Esther fled to Warsaw, leaving Esther's little girl in the hands of some neighbors for protection. Shortly thereafter, these neighbors killed the little girl and paid a murderer to go to Warsaw to kill Esther and Yitzhak because they wanted to take possession of Esther's parents' home. The murderer succeeded in killing Esther and in wounding Yitzhak.

Meanwhile, Yoineh and one of their daughters and grand-daughters were sent to Majdanek, where they met with their deaths. At the same time, Gitl and five of their children were helped by Polish friends to hide out at a nearby farm. They lived in an underground bunker and paid an enormous sum for this each month. When their money ran out, five of the local farmers, in an attempt at extorting more money, raped the daughters and brutally killed all of the family, one by one.

One shouldn't think that all Poles conspired to eradicate this family from the face of the earth. In fact, one Polish woman sheltered Yitzhak and provided him with a place to live in Warsaw -- she was later declared a righteous among the nations.

This is also the story of Yoineh and Gitl Lerner's Israeli grandson, Rony. Decades later he decides to return to Poland and state loudly to the murderers of his family, you didn't succeed in wiping us out! Rony uncovers this story of shocking murder and betrayal; he even encounters one of the Polish farmers who participated in the brutal extortion and murder of his family. But Rony Lerner's revenge is not one of violence; rather he is seeking to dignify the memory of those in his family who were murdered during this terrible period in European history.

Lerner's Revenge is available from Ruth Diskin.

Films of Yulie Cohen

2010-12-23T08:07:00.000+02:00

My latest posting on the Lilith Magazine website is about the personal films of Yulie Cohen -- My Terrorist, Zion My Land, My Brother and My Israel -- all of which reflect issues of Israel of the last decade.

check it out!

Precious Life by Shlomi Eldar

2010-12-16T20:02:00.000+02:00

Precious Life is a remarkably personal and emotional journey of a relationship that is created between an Israeli TV journalist, a pediatrician at Tel Hashomer Hospital, and a young, Palestinian mother from Gaza. Shlomi Eldar is a TV reporter. He reports that in these days, the only connection we still have with the Palestinians in Gaza is at a hospital in Tel Aviv. As a journalist who spent so much time writing about Gaza, going to Tel Hashomer is the only way for him to continue the connection. "So close yet so far," he says.

Shlomi receives a phonecall from Dr. Raz Somach, a doctor at Tel Hashomer, to come and see a child in isolation, a little boy named Mohammed, 4 1/2 months old, who is suffering from a terrible genetic disorder. If he doesn't get a bone marrow transplant soon, he will certainly die by the age of one year.

Since they are desperately looking for funds for the transplant, the doctor asks Shlomi to help raise the funds by publicizing the story via the media. So Shlomi prepares a TV broadcast and surprisingly, one donor calls and agrees to donate the entire sum. He wants to remain anonymous, but we learn that he is a Jewish father who lost a son, willing to donate $55,000 in order to try to make things different.

Ra'ida and Fawzi, the mother and father of Mohammed are cousins. They have already lost two of their children to this disease and Ra'ida lost two of her sisters the same way. The disheartening news is that none of Mohammed's three older siblings are a match for the transplant.

Following this news, there is a touching and emotional scene in the hospital. Ra'ida is weeping under her surgical mask in the isolation room, one of the older children is kissing and playing with the little brother through the plate glass window, and Fawzi is kneeling and praying to Allah in the corner of the room. The scene concludes with the music and lyrics from a well-known Yehuda Poliker song:

אלו החיים שלנו בזמן אחרון

יכול להיות יותר טוב, יכול לבוא אסון

This is our life lately, it could be better, or it could be worse.

Shlomi has a long conversation with Ra'ida who talks about how all Arabs are willing to sacrifice for Al Quds and they are not afraid of dying. When asked, she admits that she would want little Mohammed, if he survives and gets well, to become a shahid, a martyr. In the telling of these thoughts, she has a certain naivety and honesty. But Shlomi has crossed the line between being an objective journalist and he begins to talk about how angry he is. What is the point of doing somersaults in the air to help this child if his mother wants him to be a shahid? Eventually, however, it becomes clear that Ra'ida is in a very complex and difficult situation and she is worried about her reputation back in Gaza. People are talking about her, how she has become friendly with Jews, how her son is getting so much attention from the Israeli hospital, so many donations. She says that she has to please them, while worrying about her child and while collaborating with the Jews.

This is the documentary story of an impossible situation, the story of a relationship between a Palestinian Muslim woman, a dedicated Jewish doctor and an obsessive Israeli journalist. All of this on the background of kassam rockets, war in Gaza, and a bereaved father who wants to make a difference.

Precious Life is available from Cinephil

Uprooted

2010-12-11T17:12:00.000+02:00

I always find films that weave together the personal with the national turn out to be the most interesting. Last week at the Jewish Film Festival at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, I attended the premiere screening of Longing, directed by Effi Banai, a complex film in the style of a personal documentary, telling the filmmaker's own story, and placing it into the national context.

Effi Banai grew up in the neighborhood of Kfar Shalem in southeastern Tel Aviv. His family lived in a housing project, right near a destroyed Arab village which was part of the landscape of his youth. The filmmaker sets out to discover the different elements that make up this landscape: there was the original Arab village whose population was expelled during the 1948 war; on the same land was built the Jewish neighborhood of Kfar Shalem, populated by immigrants from Iran; and today the town is slated for renewal which will force out the old-time residents, many of whom are resisting the inevitable forces that make way for new high rise apartment buildings.

Before 1948, the area was an Arab village called Salameh. One energetic woman tells a story that, when she was 14-years-old, Menachem Begin approached her, because she spoke Arabic, to spy on the local Arab population and to report back. She told him that these local farmers would not cause any problems. But he decided that they needed to be expelled anyway since they lived so close to Tel Aviv. Later, the destroyed Arab village became part of the landscape of the filmmaker's youth, but at that time, he didn't seem to think about who lived in those homes and what happened to them. Today, he remembers that as kids they played soccer in the yard of the deserted mosque, and, working on the film, he becomes acquainted with the elderly Arab man who once again holds the keys to the holy place of his youth.

The filmmaker's mother died when he was 16 and through interviews with neighbors the viewer learns about her and her community. She came from Ispahan in Iran, which was once a flourishing Jewish community, and she longed to recreate the memories and settings of her youth in her new home. It was not easy for these immigrants to become integrated into Israeli society. One old-timer complains that he never learned Hebrew and he eloquently states, "to be an immigrant is to die before your time."

Integrating the creative use of music and beautiful cinematography with vignettes and human stories, this is a personal film about different populations that have grappled with the difficulties of becoming uprooted as our contemporary national identity has been molded and formed.

The film Longing (52 minutes, documentary, in Hebrew and Farsi, with English subtitles), is distributed by Ruth Diskin.

Kippur by Amos Gitai

2010-11-20T21:53:00.000+02:00

In recent years, two anti-war films, Beaufort and Waltz with Bashir, have been big award-winners in Israel. Both were short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and both have been written about on this blog.

During my recent speaking tour to the USA, I was asked in one college classroom to speak about Amos Gitai's Kippur, also a major anti-war film. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to share some of my thoughts and the students' thoughts about the film.

Kippur (2000), produced just as Israel was pulling out of the "mud" of Lebanon, where we had been stuck since 1982, is set during the opening days of the Yom Kippur War of October, 1973. But the film does not provide any historical context about that war and does not explain how it began, so perhaps it should be seen as a film about war in general.

Clearly an anti-war statement – there is no heroism or triumph in this film -- the film is a hard-hitting portrayal of the horrors and unrelenting nature of war, and provides the viewer with a visceral experience. It is based on the director’s wartime experiences as a medic in the reserves on the Golan Heights, as the Syrians pushed forward and used the advantage won by the surprise attack against Israel. The film combines documentary reconstruction with fictional elements to portray the story. The characters’ names are taken from the names of the actors portraying them – adding to the authenticity of the film. Klausner plays Klausner and Russo plays Russo. Weinraub, the alter ego of the director, gets his name from Gitai's family name before it was Hebraized. But the realism needs no supporting elements – the battle scenes, shot in real time, are devastating, traumatic, gritty and grimly realistic.

The narrative of the film opens and closes with an erotic love scene in which the main character, Weinraub, is indulging in art-sex with his girlfriend. They use artist’s colors that blend together to cover each other’s bodies. Here, the filmmaker is framing or book-ending the war sequences with performance art, thereby comparing the two and making a comment about how both are frantic, arbitrary and surrealistic. When the siren sounds, Weinraub departs, driving through the eerie streets of Tel Aviv (the streets are empty on Yom Kippur) in his old fiat. He collects his buddy, Russo, and they drive to the Golan Heights to search for their unit. In the chaos of war, they become disoriented.

Along the way, they stop to help Klausner, a doctor whose car has broken down. He asks them to help him get to his airborne rescue unit. Thus, commandeered to work in a rescue unit for the duration of the war, Weinraub and Russo are given the dangerous mission of entering by helicopter into areas under Syrian gunfire to evacuate the wounded and bring them to Israeli field hospitals. They become involved in very difficult and bloody missions, trudging through the mud, pushed to the very limits of their emotional and physical capabilities.

The scenes are shot in real time and the camerawork often reflects the chaos and the perspective of the viewer – as we frantically run to the helicopter or as we view the battlefield from above. Gitai questions the notion of documentary versus fiction when his camera moves from a long shot to an up-close and personal view of the terrible reality in the trenches. There is no discussion of the politics or context of this war. The enemy is invisible and there are few moments of a human story. Basically, this is an everyman's tale and the viewer is led to realize an objective truth about the unrelenting and traumatic nature of war.

No longer the same person, Weinraub eventually returns to his waiting girlfriend. They make love, again in the wash of colors -- a violence of colors that blend together to become the brown of mud -- the mud that the viewer recognizes as part and parcel of the carnage of war.

Gitai's films deal with themes of exile, emigration and political issues relevant to the current reality. In addition, his films experiment with the traditional definitions of narrative and explore the boundaries of a critical view from within. His film Berlin-Jerusalem is a shattering view of the Zionist dream and his trilogy, Devarim, Day after Day and Kadosh takes place in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and explores, with a critical eye, societal issues in each of those cities. A prolific and controversial filmmaker, Gitai is one of the Israeli directors who has received much recognition worldwide.

Watch a clip from Kippur on youtube

David Grossman on Film

2010-11-17T20:08:00.001+02:00

Check out my latest blog posting on the Lilith Magazine website about two Israeli feature films -- Someone to Run With and Intimate Grammar -- both based on novels by David Grossman and both dealing with the challenges of adolescence.

The Human Resources Manager

2010-10-27T22:33:00.000+02:00

I was recently invited by Lilith Magazine to contribute postings on their film blog.

Please read my posting about Eran Riklis' new film, The Human Resources Manager, which is definitely the most important Israeli film of the year!

It is a film about the transformation of an Israeli self-centered workaholic into a man of caring and compassion as he tries to make atonement for how we treat migrant workers.

Based on a novel by A.B. Yehoshua.

check out my posting at the Lilith Magazine site

Michal Bat-Adam

2010-10-25T13:39:00.000+02:00

Actress, director and scriptwriter, Michal Bat-Adam, has directed ten feature films, all dealing with complex relationships, unique friendships and passionate loves of women. Her most recent film, Maya (2010), is an in-depth look at an aspiring actress and how she becomes emotionally involved with her first major role.

Maya is an acting student. After a major disappointment, she finally succeeds in landing a major role, playing a young woman who goes crazy when her parents force her to have an abortion. The script is written by the director of the play, with whom Maya becomes involved, and this is a story that actually happened to his cousin, whom he loved. As Maya is becoming obsessively involved with her character, she goes to a mental hospital to learn more and she begins to see things radically differently from the director. Slowly, we see that Maya can't stop herself from becoming her character, and from interpreting her role in her own way, thereby offending her lover/director/playwright.

According to an Israeli radio interview with Michal Bat Adam (broadcast on Reshet Bet, May 14, 2010), this film is about the struggle between the truth of two different perspectives. Although the director sets the stage, the actress also is a human being with feelings and interpretations and experiences, and her perspective is also expressed.

However, as Maya becomes more and more drawn into her character, we must ask ourselves: where is the line that delineates between the actress' real self and the role that she is playing?

As the first Israeli woman to direct a feature film, Bat-Adam made her debut film, Moments, in 1979, a prize-winning film which expresses emotions and feelings cinematically rather than through the use of dialogue. Seen in flashback, the story is about Yola (Bat-Adam), a pensive young writer who meets Anne, a French tourist, on the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This chance meeting develops into a complex, intense relationship which includes a powerful love between two women, a love expressed without physical contact, and later through the sexual sharing of the same male partner. By sharing her partner, Yola expresses her love for Anne.

More a love scene between two women than a three-way love affair, this is Yola's unique way of sharing intimacy with another woman. This triangular love scene offended the sensitivities of the 1979 Israeli Censorship Board and had to be trimmed before its Israeli release. In today’s world, it wouldn’t have caused any problems!

A film of telling looks, self-absorption and silences, Moments challenges traditional relationships and portrays more "between the lines", than up front on the screen. It is a story of metaphysical lesbian love which mellows with the years.

Two of Bat-Adam's films, A Thin Line (1980) and Aya, An Imagined Autobiography (1994), portray mother-daughter relationships. A Thin Line, Bat-Adam's second feature film, is a psychological study of a Tel Aviv woman with emotional problems. Similar to Moments in its emphasis on mood, feelings and facial expressions, A Thin Line is an autobiographical film which focuses on a mother's dependency on her 11-year-old daughter who struggles to sustain her in times of need. The girl's story is continued in Aya: An Imagined Autobiography, a more profound look at the emotional turmoil of the girl's life. Combining elements from her previous films, Aya (Bat-Adam), now a grown woman haunted by memories of her past, is making a film about her own life. Moving between past and present, the film does not tell a story as such, but instead provides fragments from Aya's life. "God exists in the little things," says filmmaker Aya, as the film concludes and the pages of her script whirl in the wind around her. Similar to other Bat-Adam films, Aya is a highly touching personal document about relationships between mother and daughter, the hardships of young girls growing up, and the conflicts of mature women as they grapple with memories of their past.

These two films, A Thin Line and Aya, An Imagined Autobiography, portray images of the Israeli/Jewish mother that have shifted from stereotypical portrayals of the overbearing and manipulative mother to rich characters grappling with difficult relationships. Bat-Adam has added more nuance and complexity to the classical stereotype (which originates in Yiddish and Hollywood films) of the Jewish mother.

The feature films directed by Michal Bat-Adam are Moments (1979), A Thin Line (1980), Boy Meets Girl (1983), The Lover (1986), A Thousand and One Wives (1989), The Deserter's Wife (1992), Aya: An Imagined Autobiography (1994), Love at Second Sight (1998), Life is Life (2003) and Maya (2010).

The Human Resources Manager

2010-09-22T16:02:00.000+02:00

Last night, the big winner of the Israeli Oscars (Ophir Prizes) was The Human Resources Manager, directed by Eran Riklis. The film won awards for best film, best scriptwriter and best director. The winner of the Ophir Prize for best film automatically becomes the Israeli entry to the American Academy Awards. The film was also the big winner at Locarno this year.

Riklis is a local filmmaker who has made himself a reputation internationally with Cup Final, Syrian Bride and The Lemon Tree. This time his film is a literary adaptation, based on a novel by A.B. Yehoshua (called Woman of Jerusalem), script by Noah Stollman (who also wrote the script for Someone to Run With).

The film, which tells the story of a form of personal atonement for how we treat foreign workers in our midst, will open to the Israeli public after the holiday of Succot.

The Matchmaker

2010-09-06T16:46:00.000+03:00

Avi Nesher's new feature film, The Matchmaker (Hebrew title: Once I Was), is a story about love – searching for love, coming-of-age love and tragic love, all in the context of post-Holocaust Israel, where survivors were still hesitant to talk about their experiences.

It is the summer of 1968, right after the Six Day War. Arik is 16 years-old. His best friend's cousin, Tamara, comes to visit for the summer. She is an American girl, espousing free love and rock 'n roll.

The film follows two parallel, poignant and intersecting stories – Arik's summer job with Yankele, who works as a marriage broker and deals in smuggled goods; and Arik's first love affair with Tamara.

Yankele is a Holocaust survivor whose office is in the Lower City of Haifa, where Arik quickly learns about prostitution and illegal gambling. Arik is living in two disparate worlds. He is growing up in a middle class neighborhood high up the mountain in Haifa, where he goes to youth movement meetings with Ashkenazi and Sephardi friends; and he has a summer job in the seedy Lower City where he is meeting all kinds of people, learning about love and crime.

Yankele -- whose face is badly scarred – a metaphor for the terrible suffering that he underwent "over there" -- is in love with Clara, a fragile and elegant woman who is so hurt inside by her experiences that she is unable to love. This is the tragedy of Yankele's story.

Arik's father remembers Yankele from his childhood. He too is a Holocaust survivor, but he never talks about it. This is a time when Israelis still think that all survivors obviously did something terrible in order to survive – as if all the women were prostitutes and all the men were kapos. And what if some of them did do terrible things to survive a terrible time and place? Should we respect them any less?

An additional plot element: Yankele's office is located in a run-down part of Haifa behind a movie theater, run by a family of dwarfs, survivors of Mengele's medical experiments. Poignantly, their movie theater plays only love stories. One of them, a beautiful woman named Sylvie, who is short statured and also a Holocaust survivor -- is searching for love through Yankele's matchmaking for unhappy souls.

This is a remarkable coming of age story, filled with emotion – love, despair and malice -- combining young love with Holocaust memory, vivid and quirky characters in a time when Israelis were still unable to grapple with or talk about the Holocaust. Looking back on this, it is amazing to me that in the late 1960's, the Holocaust was still a taboo subject in Israeli culture. So much has changed since then. But this film chose to only hint at the subject without hitting you in the face with it, in a very sensitive and sincere way.

The film is a partial literary adaptation, inspired by When Eagles Fly by Amir Gutfreund, well-known Israeli author of Our Holocaust. Avi Nesher is well-known for his other films: Dizengoff 99, The Troupe (Sing Your Heart Out), and more recently, Turn Left at the End of the World and Secrets.

The Matchmaker is distributed internationally by 6 Sales

A Film Unfinished

2010-09-05T16:34:00.000+03:00

What is history and how does it enter our consciousness and become historical fact? Even documentary films are somewhat "staged", but to what extent does this enter our consciousness when we are viewing them? Our memory of the Holocaust is certainly through films, both drama and documentary, which have engraved on our minds a sort of cinematic memory of that time. But how can we know what is propaganda and what is reality?

Filmmaker Yael Hersonski has taken an otherwise unknown and unfinished Nazi propaganda film about the Warsaw Ghetto, and has created new layers of reality in order to help us remember. Her film, A Film Unfinished, which won a prize for best documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival (July 2010), utilizes the partially edited, never completed film that she found in the archives of Germany, a propaganda film created by the Third Reich, shot in the Warsaw Ghetto during May 1942. In voice-over, she tells the viewer that "the cinematic deception was forgotten and the black-and-white images were engraved on memory as historical truth." This is the story of a propaganda film.

Hersonski combines the footage of the archival film with the story of the Warsaw Ghetto. We see so many faces, so many children, so much suffering. The sound-track includes readings from the daily diary entries of the head of the Judenrat and readings from the diaries of Ringelblum. In addition, she has interviewed survivors watching the footage, looking for people they knew, while their comments and impressions are used to help us identify what we are watching. There is also an interrogation protocol with the man behind the camera, who talks about what he saw and what he filmed, the contrasts and extremes of life in the ghetto – staged luxury versus actual poverty, hunger, dead bodies, and mass graves. There is even some footage shot in color by another cameraman for his own personal collection.

This was May 1942, 30 days of shooting, only two months before the beginning of the deportations to Treblinka.

A Film Unfinished is available from Go2Films and from Cinephil

Refugees

2010-09-01T14:03:00.000+03:00

According to Time Magazine (July 5, 2010), there are 15 million refugees living in limbo in the world today. According to the UN, the number is as high as 38 million. These people are seeking asylum, looking for a secure place to live with their families. In recent years, thousands of asylum seekers from Darfur in the Sudan, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, and the Congo have entered Israel, stealing across the Egyptian border during the night. This wave of refugees began in 2007 when dozens were killed at demonstrations in Cairo. Desperate and scared, the refugees began to move out of Egypt, looking for a safe haven, crossing the desert on foot, fleeing to Israel, even as the Egyptians were shooting at their backs to prevent them from crossing the border.

The Geneva Convention of 1951 states that refugees must not be sent back from where they have come. This is no simple matter for Israel since Israel is a country born of refugees from war torn Europe and refugees from Arab lands.

The film Refugees (directed by Shai Carmeli Polak) tells tragic stories – one woman's children have died because of sickness. One man is separated form his wife and family. In Tel Aviv the refugees live in the Levinsky area, near the Old Central Bus station, where there are shelters that have been set up by non-profit groups that are offering services to the new refugees.

Israeli government policy is not decided on how to deal with these refugees. Some of them are being caught at the border and sent back (a policy called "hot return"); large numbers are being kept in lock up at Ktziot Prison (as an attempt at discouraging others to come); many are finding work in the Tel Aviv area; only those from Darfur are receiving "refugee" status.

This cogent and heart-wrenching documentary asks difficult questions. On the one hand, Israelis and the Israeli government are trying to be sensitive to the pain of these people. But what is Israel to do when thousands – Christians and Muslims – are entering the country? Does Israel have a special responsibility due to the fact that Israel is a country made up of refugees? What about the fact that Israelis are trafficking in arms in Africa, thereby providing the means for the violence from which these refugees are fleeing?

A solution to this worldwide problem has yet to be found.

Refugees (2008) is available in two versions – 52 min. or 67 min. – from Ruth Diskin Films.

Mother-Daughter Relations

2010-08-21T20:58:00.000+03:00

One of my favorite Israeli feature films of all time is about the complexities of the mother-daughter connection. Blind Man's Bluff (Aner Preminger, 1993) deals with a mother's stifling and manipulative demands on her daughter and the daughter's initial striving to comply with those demands. The daughter eventually summons all of her strength to break out of the cycle of expectations, and to assert her own independence, although causing pain in the process.

Blind Man's Bluff, based on a book by Lily Perry, is a rich and sensitive film about a young woman named Mickey, studying to be a concert pianist. Mickey is an only child, a single woman, and a second generation Holocaust survivor. Her overbearing mother is a major obstacle in her path to independence and maturity. Mickey is also frustrated in her relationships with men – a ruthless violinist who uses her to build his own career, a lawyer who leads her on, her aging grandfather, and her weak father.

Mickey's mother has devoted her life to pushing her daughter ahead in her career. She helped her from her earliest piano recital as a child and now, years later, Mickey plays piano for her mother's ballet school. Both Mickey and her mother want more for her, but ironically, the more her mother pushes her, the more Mickey finds it difficult to lead the life of her mother's dreams. She must chart her own path. Befriended by a young prostitute, sporting outrageously flamboyant clothes (a metaphor for the opposite of her mother's dreams for her), Mickey slowly begins to find her own way.

A film of depth, Blind Man's Bluff is about a woman's loneliness, growth and development. As she gains independence and learns not to live only by the expectations of others, she becomes more ambivalent about her own future. According to director Aner Preminger, the title of the film refers to the children's game in which people attack you, use you and exploit you until you gather sufficient strength to break out of the circle. In Hebrew, the title Golem Be'Ma'agal has an additional meaning, referring to Mickey's smashing the cocoon of family and friends as she matures towards independence.

Blind Man's Bluff is available from the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University.

Infiltration

2010-08-11T16:33:00.000+03:00

Dover Kosashvili's new film, Infiltration, based on the novel by Yehoshua Kenaz, is about the hardships of the 1950s, the battle for status between different groups of Jews, and the individual's need to "infiltrate" and become somebody.

The story takes place at a boot camp training base in Israel of the 1950s where we meet a platoon of young men who are in non-combatant basic training. The young men, with different physical and emotional limitations, are recruits from diverse groups in Israeli society. There are Ashkenazim and Sephardim, religious and secular, those from kibbutzim and those from the cities, Holocaust survivors and those born in Israel. The army tries to be a melting pot but these young men on the margins of society, rather than being trained as a team, are battling against each other for status.

The story is about the shame of not having a high enough profile to do combat service and about the terrible discipline and initiation imposed on raw recruits.

The film has a lot of humor and charm, some romance, some pathos, and a fair amount of cruelty inflicted on the soldiers by the young officers. In fact, humiliation seems to be a basic element in their training. Ironically, the soldier who shows the most dedication and motivation and wants desperately to become a combat soldier is humiliated the most.

There have been many military films produced in Israel over the years, and even a few dealing with the cruelty of basic training. This film is different from the others however because here the soldiers-in-training will never become "real" soldiers and the frustrations that flow from that fact (both for the young officers and the recruits) can be devastating.

Kosashvili's previous film, Late Marriage (2001), about the difficulty of rebelling within the traditional family framework, was tremendously successful both locally and internationally. His current film, Infiltration, is available from Transfax Film Productions.

Precious Life

2010-08-10T10:12:00.000+03:00

In my last posting I wrote about 3 films that deal with Palestinians accessing medical care inside Israel. One of the films, Precious Life by Shlomi Eldar, was reviewed by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. The same review appeared today in the International Herald Tribune. Check it out!

Precious Life is available from Cinephil.

When Health Care and Politics Come Together

2010-08-05T12:05:00.000+03:00

This year seems to be the year for films about how Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank access health care in Israel. The basic story is that health care is not up to par in Palestinian hospitals and therefore the Israeli health system steps up to the challenge of treating individuals who come from Palestine -- even without health insurance benefits. It's not enough that these individuals are undergoing a personal trauma because of their medical issues, but they are put through considerable hoops in their attempt to receive medical treatment.

There are two sides to this story. The films show the bureaucracy on the Palestinian side, the long waits and humiliations at the checkpoints, and the terrible fact that the Israeli security forces are doing everything in their power to make it almost impossible to enter Israel for medical treatment. The good news, however, is that Israeli hospitals and non-profit organizations are moving mountains to help these people and the numerous stories that are being told can bring tears to your eyes.

There are two new major documentary films and one animation:

Precious Life, directed by Shlomi Eldar, 90 minutes. The film tells the story of a baby from Gaza lacking an immune system and documents the personal fight that his very brave and articulate mother wages for his medical treatment. Available from Origami, yoav@jasmine.tv

My name is Ahlam, directed by Rima Essa, 75 minutes. Available on the HOT VOD channel. The film portrays the last six months in the life of Ahlam from Hebron, who is a little girl with leukemia.

On this same subject of accessing health care within Israel, I was very impressed with an animated film, which I saw at the Jerusalem Film Festival --
Fatenah, directed by Ahmad Habash, Palestine, 2009, animated, 30 minutes.
Available from the World Health Organization, Geneva. This is an extremely well-made animated story of a 28-year-old woman from the Gaza Strip who lives with her father and sister, and is planning to marry soon. When a lump is discovered in her breast, she goes to the local doctors who don't seem to know anything. It's not enough that she is undergoing terrible emotional stress, surgery and chemotherapy, but she also suffers at the hands of the bureaucrats, at the hands of poor medical professionals in Gaza, and at the hands of the soldiers at the Erez crossing into Israel. She is helped however by Israeli activists in the non-profit organization, Physicians for Human Rights, who assist her in obtaining a permit to go to Tel Hashomer for treatment. Notwithstanding the fact that the film is animated, it is surprisingly human and sensitive!

Short dramas about the Women of Israel

2010-07-21T12:10:00.000+03:00

Here is a selection of some of my favorite short dramas, all produced during the last decade, about the women of Israel – Jews and Arabs, secular and ultra-orthodox, including rape, family honor, the conflict, settlers, Ethiopians, coexistence and even one animated film.

Mulu
Directed by Alamark Marsha
2008, 25 min.

This drama provides a look at the position of women in traditional Ethiopian society by portraying a woman who is unable to break out of the bonds that her marriage imposes upon her. In loving close-up, we watch every step as Mulu prepares Ethiopian bread. She is already a grandmother and discovers that she is pregnant again. One of her grown daughters tells her that she has enough children – but Mulu won’t listen to her. The same daughter wants her mother to sell her handicrafts and maybe even get a job. But Mulu’s husband is unable to cope with such changes in his world. He takes all of his wife’s woven baskets off the wall, down to the street, and lights a bonfire. Watching him from the window, Mulu does not stop him. This is her life and she knows that she cannot change it. But we know that her daughters already live in a different world.

Available from tikshoret@telhai.ac.il

Miracle Lady
Directed by Michal Abulafia and Moran Somer
2010, 10 min.

This is an animated feminist fable. Fortuna is an old lady who waits in her wedding gown for her husband, who died on their wedding day. Her next-door neighbor, Marcela, the servant of Rabbi Toledano, is even older and is awaiting death to come and take her away. One is waiting to live her life, the other is ready to end it. About broken promises and growing old.

available from: Bezalel academy of art and design, Jerusalem
festivals-liaison@bezalel.ac.il

Survival and the Art of the Joystick
Directed by Tsipi Houri
2002, 4 min.

Two sisters are riding on a road in the West Bank, on their way to visit their parents in Beth-El. One sister is experiencing more fear than the other. She says that riding along the road is like playing a computer game – either we’ll get there or we won't. She finds the landscape threatening, everything that she sees screams danger to her, she finds something to be afraid of hiding behind the trees and around each curve in the road. When they arrive at their home, there is fear there too since now they must lock the door. The other sister, who still lives at home with the parents in Beit El, says, you are part of the cult of fear, you can be blown up in Tel Aviv also. Two sisters who seem to be very different from each other.

From the series: Moments 2002, available from the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University

Cohen's Wife (Eshet Cohen)
Dir: Nava Heifetz-Nussan
2000, 24 minutes

A hard-hitting drama about how ultra-orthodox Judaism deals with the rape of a Cohen’s wife. Even though a man who is a "cohen" must divorce his wife if she is raped, this film shows that even this can be interpreted with flexibility and compassion.

The young neighbor, Hannele, is witness to the rape. She is an interesting image – perhaps an image of naivety standing and watching. She symbolizes both knowledge and innocence. She is also witness to the reconciliation at the end.

At the end of the film, the husband returns to his wife, happy that the rabbinic court has permitted him to stay with her. But the woman looks at her husband at the end of the film with sadness. Why is she sad? Because no one has dealt with her trauma, helping her to come to terms with what happened. In fact, the rabbinic court’s “liberal" and "flexible” interpretation of the law has stifled or even denied her experience. Also, perhaps she is sad because her husband even considered leaving her, if need be. Rather, he should have stood up and declared that he wouldn’t turn her away, especially in her time of need.

So, this is a good ending – the court permits them to stay together and she has to forgive her husband for his wavering – instead of him having to forgive her for being impure and for being "guilty" of being raped. He begs her for forgiveness for his silence.

Available from Ma'aleh Film School
Available on streaming from Oomanut

Bus Station
Directed by Lily Sheffy
2008, 5 min.

Two women are at a bus stop – both wear black scarves, both are carrying vegetables from the market, both seem weary. When the tomatoes fall all over the ground, and both women stoop to pick them up, a conversation begins. The ultra-orthodox Jewish woman is interested in tomatoes bought from an Arab vendor because this is the shmita or sabbatical year and she is not permitted to buy fruits and vegetables from a Jewish vendor. She offers her tomatoes to the Arab woman. The Arab woman tries to pay for them and slips some money into the other woman’s bag. Right away, a Jewish man comes running. Having caught the Arab woman with her hand in the other’s bag, he is ready to accuse her of stealing. When matters are straightened out, the two women share pictures of their sons – one is called Ibrahim and one is called Abraham. The film -- a chance encounter on a Jerusalem street between two very different, yet similar women, each with a son whom she loves – puts a human face to the conflict.

Part of the Jerusalem Moments project 2008 -- Available from Ir Amim

Stitches
Dir: Dana Keidar
2010, 24 min.

Nadin is an Arab girl, preparing to be married. Her mother is making her a beautiful wedding dress. At a fruit picking and packing center, she picks berries with her friends and embarks on a sweet love affair with Shahar, the Jewish foreman. Her red nails are like the red berries, blood red, like the blood on her panties when she first sleeps with Shahar, the red of passion. Since she is about to be married, her girlfriend at work pushes her to go to a Jewish doctor to have her virginity restored. As planned, she marries her intended, a boy she doesn't love. A small slice-of-life in the Arab community.

Available from the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School, Jerusalem.

Palestinians and Israelis work together to move the Security Fence/Separation Barrier

2010-07-20T14:54:00.000+03:00

There seems to be a never-ending debate about the separation barrier or security fence. The debate includes two different issues – one is the reason for the existence of the barrier and the other is the actual route that it takes. During the difficult years of the second intifada (2000-2003) when Israelis were living in the shadow of constant terror, the creation of a barrier between Israel and the West Bank was something that Israelis overwhelmingly supported. The government, however, exploited the opportunity that the barrier provided and used it as a land grab. Instead of putting it along the "green" line or border between Israel and the West Bank, the government planned the route through villages, separating people from their olive groves, and children from their schools. In some cases, after many demonstrations and appeals, this has been corrected.

Budrus, directed by Julia Bacha, a USA-Israeli-Palestinian co-production, is a documentary look at the struggle waged by the villagers of Budrus, a small village of 1500 persons in the West Bank. The original route of the separation barrier was to run right through the village and the olive grove. When the Israeli army arrived with bulldozers to begin uprooting olive trees to make way for the fence, Ayad Marrar, a local Palestinian activist, led the villagers in non-violent civil resistance. The film documents that resistance and how it grew and developed. First the men stood in opposition to the bulldozers. Then Marrar's articulate daughter became a leader of the village women, standing in front of the bulldozers, trying to stop them. The next stage was the participation of left-wing Israeli activists.

Not only is the film critical of the Israeli government in its planning of the route of the separation barrier through villages, dividing in many instances the villagers from their fields, but it is also critical of the Israeli army policy of resorting to violence and even brutality when dealing with local Palestinian demonstrators.

With the cooperation and participation of Israeli activists in the demonstrations, the non-violent villagers of Budrus were finally able to achieve their goal of having the separation barrier moved from its planned location to a position almost running along the green line. This method of peaceful resistance on the part of the villagers of Budrus in cooperation with the Israeli left-wing activists can now be seen as a model for other villages in the West Bank that are also trying to move the position of the separation barrier, and perhaps ultimately to end the occupation.

Budrus (2009, 78 minutes) is produced by Just Vision, the same group that produced Encounter Point (2006), the compelling documentary about bereaved families on both sides of the divide. Budrus is available from Just Vision in Washington DC and from Cinephilm in Tel Aviv.

Gei Oni – Valley of Fortitude

2010-07-19T08:01:00.000+03:00

A new artistic film by Dan Wolman premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last week. I have written about Wolman's films many times on this blog – his early films: The Dreamer, Floch, My Michael and Hide and Seek; also his later films: Foreign Sister, The Distance and Tied Hands. His latest film, Gei Oni – Valley of Fortitude, is based on the best-selling novel by Shulamit Lapid.

A period piece, the story takes place during the late 19th century, a period of Jewish history in which waves of Jewish migration left Russia and the Ukraine, mostly for America. A smaller number of immigrants went to Palestine.

Combining the historical narrative with a love story, the film tells the story of Fanya, a young woman who arrives on the shores of Palestine with a little baby, accompanied by her aging uncle and her emotionally scarred brother. They are running from Russia, having lost all of their family in a terrible pogrom.

Yehiel, a pioneering farmer from a tiny northern village near Safed has recently lost his wife to malaria and is looking for a mother for his two little children. Fanya has no real choice and although she is harboring a terrible secret she agrees to the arrangement. Through the warmth of their welcoming neighbors, through her growing connection to their life of cultivating the land and through the love of Yehiel, she is able to rebuild her life and cultivate her capacity to love.

This period piece beautifully reflects the period which it portrays. It is slow-paced, yet sensitive, beautifully directed and acted, and a true pleasure to watch – a small piece of Jewish history.

The film is available from Dan Wolman at danwol@zahav.net.il

Intimate Grammar

2010-07-18T15:14:00.001+03:00

The big winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival is Intimate Grammar, directed by Nir Bergman. According to the jury, the film took the top prize for best Israeli feature film “for its penetrating description conveyed in cinematic language, illustrating the internal world of the youths and adults, while transmitting a strong sense of time and space.” The film is an adaptation of David Grossman's The Book of Intimate Grammar.

It is mid-1960's Jerusalem, in a dreary and seedy housing project. Aaron seems to be an artistic and nerdy boy, poetic and imaginative, but life has him feeling dejected. He doesn't seem to want to grow up into this world. He is very short and is not growing, and his over-bearing mother accuses him of doing it on purpose to spite her! Perhaps he is doing it on purpose. He doesn't seem attracted to the adult world that he sees around him of hairy armpits, loveless marriage and disgusting sex.

Aaron is a bit of a loner and an individualist. In a desperate attempt to get the attention and support of his friends, he tries to lead them on all sorts of escapades. He sees himself as a Houdini character, often having himself tied up and locked up. It is quite obvious how happy he feels each time that his best friend saves him from one of his tricks. But will his friend be there the next time and the next time? According to David Grossman, who spoke at the premiere screening at the Jerusalem Film Festival last week – when the book was published, a critic wrote that the dejected and rejected Aaron could only emerge from his tricks with the help of the empathetic reader.

This is a film about adolescent turmoil. Aaron's stilted growth can be seen as a reflection of his unhappiness, his looking around at the world and not liking what he sees. It is also a metaphor for the State of Israel -- this is a depressing period (before the coming-of-age of the Six Day War) when people didn't have a lot of money, when life was bleak, even going to a concert or the opera was out of the question. Aaron is painfully lonely. His mother (played by Orly Zilbershatz, who also played the mother in a remarkable performance in Nir Bergman's first feature, Broken Wings) is not capable of providing him with the emotional support that he so desperately needs. His grandmother is sent to a nursing home and his sister (who offers him some minimal affection) is leaving him to join the army. When his best friend and girlfriend go off together on a youth movement trip to the Galilee, Aaron is left all alone.

Filmmaker Nir Bergman's previous film, Broken Wings, is a triumph of filmmaking about adolescent bereavement.

Intimate Grammar is available from the producer, Assaf Amir at Norma Productions or write to info@normal.co.il

Yellow Mums

2010-07-15T08:23:00.000+03:00

At the Jerusalem Film Festival this week, I had the opportunity to see an extraordinary short drama, Yellow Mums, by Firas Khoury. The film is a morality tale about Nizar, an altar boy in his village church in the Galilee. He is a loner, persecuted by the other boys in the village because he doesn't wear sneakers like they do, and also because he's quiet and not one of the gang. The other kids call him "sandals" and there is a fair amount of cruelty displayed by the other boys.

Easter is coming, and the priest of his church tells them to give their Easter eggs to Jesus. With the upcoming game of competing with each other to collect eggs by seeing whose painted egg is harder, Nizar cheats just a little because it's very important to him to win the game and give his eggs to Jesus.

Nizar's scheme is finally found out by the other boys, but he's saved by the mob of kids by a woman for whom he once did a good deed.

The title refers to the fields of flowers, and how the children are out picking flowers, while the Israeli jets are flying overhead.

Hopefully, the film, which was beautifully photographed, will have a distributor soon! The film is a short drama, 32 minutes.

The filmmaker participated in a coexistence program that I directed at the Jerusalem International YMCA a few years ago for beginning filmmakers. After the participants took part in a dialogue group, followed by an extended conflict resolution program hosted by the YMCA of Greater Hartford, they were provided with an intensive film incubator program, in cooperation with the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund. This film is the first "fruit" of that program.

Added on July 18 -- The film was awarded a prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2010 for best independent Israeli short film. The remarks of the jury were:
“A well-directed, acted, and filmed movie portraying a beautiful story of redemption and atonement. We identified with the rejected characters who manage to create a world of their own and reach out to one another.”

Rebuilding your Life in a New Land

2010-07-13T14:02:00.000+03:00

Yesterday at the Jerusalem Film Festival, I went to see a Belgian film, Illegal (directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse) about a woman from Russia who is treated badly by the local police because she is an illegal worker. This was a compelling story about a mother and her teenage son and the trials that they undergo in trying to become accepted in their new surroundings. For some reason, this is a subject that has been really bothering me in recent years – as it becomes more and more of a human issue all over Europe, the United States, and certainly here in Israel.

The Israeli features of recent years that deal with foreign workers or visitors and the influence that they have had on us (all of which have been reviewed on this blog) include:

Foreign Sister (Dan Wolman)
James' Journey to Jerusalem (Ra'anan Alexandrowicz)
Noodle (Ayelet Menachemi)
Janem Janem (Haim Bouzaglo)

and documentaries:
The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return (David Ofek)
Children by Remote Control (Nachum Landau)

A Palestinian film that deals with this subject of migration and trying to rebuild your life in a new country is My Father from Haifa by Palestinian-Danish filmmaker, Omar Shargawi. The film, which was screened this week at the Jerusalem Film Festival, is a particularly sensitive and personal look at a father-son relationship and at their journey to the childhood home of the filmmaker's father.

Omar Shargawi, won an award at the Rotterdam Film Festival (2008) with his debut film, a feature about the Arab community in Copenhagen, Go in Peace, Jamil.

Another film about Palestinians who have found their place abroad is Amreeka, directed by Cherien Dabis, about a mother and son who emigrate to Illinois to be with relatives. The film is about finding a place to call home, where we feel comfortable, where we can have friends, where our children will find happiness and educational opportunity.

77 Steps Premieres at the Jerusalem Film Festival

2010-07-11T11:21:00.002+03:00

Ibtisam Ma'arana has a remarkable talent for making documentary films with tension, development and denouement, as was seen in her Lady Kul el-Arab (previously discussed on this blog). She is an outspoken, modern, and articulate woman who is desperately trying to straddle the diverse parts of her identity. Having grown up in a traditional Muslim family in Furadeis (a village on the coast, near Zichron Yackov), she decides to move to Tel Aviv. In her newest film, 77 Steps, she looks specifically at where she fits in as a professional-Israeli- Palestinian-Muslim-woman-filmmaker.

A film which begins as a personal journey to discovering life in Tel Aviv soon becomes a portrait of a love story – a love story between Ibtisam and Jonathan, a Jewish immigrant from Canada. This is the story of two people in love, trying to make it work, who aren't willing to compromise on who they are and what they believe in.

Ibtisam has joined the leftwing political party, Meretz, and is on their list for the Knesset. However, after Israel invades Gaza in January 2009, and her political party supports the invasion, she decides to resign from running for the Knesset. Meanwhile, we are witness to a developing love affair. But things are not so easy with their families. In phone conversations with her mother, Ibtisam reveals some of what she is feeling about how the Arabs of Israel are treated. At the same time, her mother wants her to come home with a nice Muslim boy. Similarly, Jonathan honestly relates that his parents will not be very welcoming to their son's new girlfriend. He explains that they are looking for the ideal girl – white, English-speaking and Jewish.

In discussion with the audience, following the premiere screening of the film at the Jerusalem Film Festival a few days ago, Mara'ana explained "when you fall in love, the heart doesn't ask you for permission. But, I wasn't born white, not Jewish and I don't speak English." Jonathan also spoke at the premiere screening. "The film started out as a film about Ibtisam's moving from Furadeis to Tel Aviv. It became a movie about us, about our relationship, about the things we had in common and we were both opinionated and passionate. Soon, we both realized that our goals, our personalities, who we were, and the gap between us were all too great."

The title of the film refers to the 77 steps that you have to climb to get up to Ibtisam's parents' home in Furadeis, where she grew up. These steps represent her childhood home, her roots. Even though she says she has stopped counting the steps, she can't get away from her identity, her connection to her past, her parents, her upbringing, her belonging, and her roots.

The film is available from Ibtisam Films, or directly from the filmmaker, Ibtisam Mara'ana at mibtisam47@gmail.com

A Fascinating Episode from Jewish History

2010-07-06T11:04:00.000+03:00

A father and son team have made a film about a relatively unknown episode from the Holocaust -- directed by Erez Laufer, script by Nahum Laufer. Combining documentary sequences, interviews and dramatic re-enactments, The Darien Dilemma tells the fascinating story of a group of 1,000 Jews who, fleeing the Nazis, have become stuck in a frozen port in Yugoslavia.

This is an in-depth story of the Aliyah Bet that includes intrigue and romance. In order to save this group, the Mossad has purchased a boat called the Darien. But a serious dilemma arises when the senior Mossad agents who are directing the operation are notified by the leadership in Palestine that the boat has been sold to the British in an attempt to get the British to open the gates to Jewish immigration. A fateful decision must be made by Ruth Kliger the heroic and larger-than-life Mossad agent – should she follow orders or take matters into her own hands?

The film's original music is by Yehuda Poliker, 90 minutes, and is available from Erez Laufer Films

Also note another film by Erez Laufer that has been reviewed on this blog, Rafting to Bombay, which provides insight into his father's Holocaust story. After viewing Rafting to Bombay we can better understand Nahum Laufer's obsession with telling the story as we see him on-screen researching and writing The Darien Dilemma.

Trends in Israeli Film

2010-06-10T22:34:00.000+03:00

Check out this article on Israeli film -- "Neither Hollywood Nor Bollywood: Israeli Cinema Finds a Wider Audience" by Dara Kahn in B'nai B'rith Magazine, p. 36.

The story of two brothers – Menachem and Fred

2010-06-09T17:08:00.000+03:00

Menachem and Fred, directed by Ofra Tevet and Ronit Kertsner, is a documentary of two brothers, spanning decades, 4 generations, different continents, a family that was ripped apart by the Holocaust and eventually re-united and even reconciled with the children of the Nazi perpetrator who was originally responsible for the family's tragedy.

Fred has lived the last 50 years in the USA and Menachem in Israel. This is the story of how they were separated from their parents and from each other, and how difficult it was for them to become reunited.

In the film, the past is interwoven with the present. Their past -- Kristallnacht 1938. The brothers were ages 9 and 6 when they were evicted from their home. Two years later, the family was deported to a concentration camp in southern France where they were imprisoned under terrible conditions by the Vichy government (which was collaborating with the Germans). Their parents were brave enough to separate from their sons and to send them away from the terrible conditions of the mud and diphtheria in the camp to a French children's orphanage not far away. Eventually, everyone in the camp, the adults and the remaining children, were sent to Auschwitz. The boys, however, hiding from the Nazis, were smuggled out of the orphanage and were eventually separated. After the war, Fred, the older, found Menachem and tried to convince him to go the States with him, but Menachem wanted to go to Palestine.

This is an epic family story. After decades of having been out of touch, the brothers re-establish contact. As grown men, they decide to embark on a journey together and return to Hoffenheim, the small German town, where they were born. We follow them on their journey, where we are witness to emotional moments. We meet their children -- they each have a daughter named for their mother -- but their children are very different.

Menachem and Fred write their memoirs together and publish a book that includes the last letters that they received from their parents, so many years ago. The book is eventually seen by the sons of the Nazi who had thrown the family out of its home on Kristallnacht in 1938. After some soul searching, they suggest translating and publishing the book in German, paying for the project, permitting their family name to be included and also offering to sponsor the family unification in Hoffenheim. As a result, the members of the families of both Fred and Menachem, their children and grandchildren, all come together in Germany to meet and interact in the same place that the destruction of the family began so many years before. What a miraculous closing of the circle!

This is the story of Manfred Mayer – who changed his name to Fred Rayme -- and Heinz Mayer – who Hebraized his name to Menachem Mayer. Fred tried to hide from his Jewish past in America. Menachem, on the other hand, says that on every Yom Ha'atzmaut, when he hangs the Israeli flag, he feels a strong belonging to the people of Israel, the country, and the shared history.

Menachem and Fred (90 minutes) is a documentary film of epic proportions that includes historical and dramatic tension. It is available from Go2Films.

Janem Janem ("My Soul, My Soul")

2010-06-03T07:21:00.000+03:00

Similar to the film's disturbing image of the ripped and worn Israeli flag, the hero of Janem Janem (2006), an Israeli high school teacher of history and Zionism, is completely worn out, wondering what it's all about, asking himself what he is fighting for.

Similar to his earlier film, Marriage of Convenience, which explored issues of distrust between Arabs and Jews, veteran filmmaker Haim Bouzaglo has created a new film about the terrible treatment of migrant workers within Israeli society. In both films, the main character's name is Eldi.

The film opens with a hard-hitting beginning – two soldiers are listening to the radio at an army outpost and suddenly they are under fire. One soldier gets killed, the other begins shooting back wildly. Eldi, who has seen some difficult army service, is a 40 year-old teacher who falls into a crisis of meaning and identity. Fed up with everything, he decides to stop teaching -- he calls it a "strike" – and leaves his wife to go on a journey. At the last minute, he decides that he can't get on the plane and he gets back on line to re-enter the country, getting mixed into a group of Romanian and Turkish workers entering Israel, each with his own personal dream.

In a compelling way, the film shows the humanity and camaraderie between the workers --seen in direct contrast to the harsh reality of life in Israel which catches up with them at every turn. There are terrible living conditions, humiliations, regular abuse of the foreign women, pressured work on a construction site and police round-ups.

This is not an easy film. It is hard-hitting and critical. What has happened to the Zionism of the high school teacher? Where is the Israel of our dreams? Instead the Israeli flag, flying in the breeze, is ripped and worn.

The film was produced in 2006, as the violence of the second intifada was just drawing to an end. Certainly in the mind of the Israeli film-going public at that time was the fact that terrorist bombings occurred in the area of south Tel Aviv where these migrant workers were living, linking forever the destiny of these people to the destiny of the entire country.

Janem Janem is available from Dragoman Films

Across the River

2010-06-02T09:27:00.000+03:00

Across the River, directed by Duki Dror, is a documentary film that provides insight into some of the contemporary issues facing the Ethiopian community in Israel, as seen through the eyes and experiences of Moshe Rachamim, who came to Israel in 1973. Born in a small town called Gultosh in the Gondar region, Moshe left at the age of 12. His birth name is Tsegaw Mahari which means Happiness Mercy.

He recalls the terrible insult that he received when he first came to Israel. They took down his pants and drew blood, thereby converting him, without his even knowing what was going on. As a result, he became an activist for the Ethiopians who came in the 1980s – that they should be considered Jewish.

In 1996, there was a Ministry of Health decree that no blood from the Ethiopian community be used in the blood bank as if all Ethiopians have HIV. People were shocked and offended. Soldiers who had served in the army were insulted. This caused rioting and the Ministry turned to Moshe to help with outreach to the community on issues concerning HIV. In the film, he talks to a group of new immigrant Ethiopian women -- in his role as a Ministry of health worker – about HIV, the medication and the shame. He tells the story of Aychu, who had AIDS and helped with explaining the disease to the community. But when he stopped taking his medicine, he died. Moshe is trying to get the community to deal with HIV. He's trying to rescue people, even one at a time, even as the number of people in the community with AIDS grows. He says that the community has to undergo a change because currently it is much too passive.

Moshe goes to visit his roots in Ethiopia, returning after 39 years. Growing up, there was a river dividing his Jewish community from the non-Jews. Children who dared to go across the river had to be purified when they returned. Returning to his village today, he finds non-Jews living there.

In Addis Ababa there are large posters publicizing the need to be tested for HIV. Ethiopia is the third largest community in the world with HIV. He goes to visit a prevention outreach program and realizes that our biggest problem in Israel is the silence and the stigma. Moshe also goes to visit the compound in Gondar where masses of people dislocated from their villages have been waiting for years to go to Israel.

This is the story of one man who is trying to make a difference, taking his beliefs and his background, and actively trying to help immigrants from Ethiopia as they build their lives in contemporary Israel.

Across the River is available from Go2Films.

Watching the Occupation

2010-05-28T17:45:00.001+03:00

The following posting is by my daughter, Sari Kronish, who is an architect working at Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights a non profit organization that provides planning assistance to underprivileged communities. She has recently seen two new documentary films that deal with the harsh reality of what's going on in the West Bank today.

Machsom Watch
Second Encounter: Palestine Archipelago is a documentary film produced by Karin Lindner who is an activist at Bimkom as well as at "Machsom Watch - Women Against the Occupation and for Human Rights." It is part of the series Suspended Life - short documentary films produced by "Machsom Watch" activists.

This new documentary film about Area C, which premiered this week at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, offers a glimpse into the suffering of Palestinian families in the face of house demolitions all over Area C, and it provides a solid explanation about the building regime under the occupation and the difference between areas A, B and C: only the last of which remains under complete Israeli control; area B is under shared control and area A is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. In one case we learn about a village that is divided – part is B and part is C – so that settlers could have safe access through the village to their homes.

The reality is quite depressing. After Oslo, when Israel divided the occupied territories into three areas, the hope was that a temporary stage had been reached which would in turn lead to a final peace agreement. This was prior to the second intifada, when hope was prevalent. So much time has passed since then, and the film demonstrates how, in the meantime, the situation has been manipulated in order to create new facts on the ground in effect deterring the hope for ending the occupation rather than promoting it.

Settlement Watch
Another film, which recently premiered at the DOCAVIV festival (at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque) deals with the same issue from another angle:

The Messiah Will Always Come (directed by Lea Klibanoff, 54 minutes) invites us to join a journey. Hagit – granddaughter of renowned Yeshayahu Leibowitz – is the life behind the Peace Now project called “settlement watch.” She rides around the West Bank in a jeep and literally watches for new facts on the ground as she monitors and documents the settlements, the outposts, the growing number of caravans, the land grabs, and the violence against the local Palestinians by the settlers.

Right off the bat, we learn what it is that guides Hagit in her work: "If we are the Chosen People, then we should behave better than others." She is so saddened and troubled that this is not the case that she sets out to try to make a difference.

The film gives us the unique opportunity to be inside Hagit’s jeep – perhaps too much so, one could argue; we don’t really see enough of the landscape that she sees but we do get a chance to meet her. Hagit is a woman with great humor, very articulate and lots of personality. The film is interspersed with rabbinic and biblical quotes that are read to us by Hagit when they don’t appear on the screen for us to read to ourselves and ponder.

Having grown up within the religious community, Hagit is faced over and over again with reasons that led her to stop being religious. When she was growing up, she tells us nostalgically, Torah and Derech Eretz (ethical behavior) went hand in hand. But now, she looks around and sees how Torah is practiced without Derech Eretz. The essence, as she sees it, is gone. However, she is deeply connected to her Judaism and loves the land of Israel.

Hagit’s journey continues and will most likely continue as long as the occupation does. However, the title of the film is a metaphor for another journey, which – she explains – is endless: "To believe in the coming of the Messiah is to believe in a goal which will always remain a goal."

The Messiah Will Always Come is available from the filmmaker, Lea Klibanoff at tmwac7@gmail.com

Too old to be children – too young to be adults

2010-05-27T15:51:00.001+03:00

Adolescence and Coming-of-age Films

People often ask me if adolescents in Israel are really different from adolescents around the world. The truth is that they are and they aren't. When you take the difficulties of growing up in a society under siege and you combine it with the pressures of youth and adolescent unease worldwide, perhaps you would have a better insight into Israeli teens.

In some ways Israeli youth are living lives in a pressure cooker. They are suffering from uniquely Israeli issues such as the stresses and psychological trauma of life under difficult circumstances. In addition, however, just like young people around the world, they are suffering from urban alienation, identity crises, and family issues such as divorce and blended families.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to generalize about Israeli teens – there are those who run from their upcoming military responsibilities and those who embrace them, there are those who rebel against the religious or ideological paths set by their parents and those who conform, and there are those who stand up and shoulder difficult burdens in an attempt to make this a better place.

Tikun Olam -- Taking Responsibility to make things right

The most important film in this category is Someone to Run With (2006) – directed by Oded Davidoff, script by Noah Stollman, based on the novel by David Grossman. Set against the background of Jerusalem, this is the story of two adolescents, one of whom has the strength and courage to fight back against the world of drugs and teen exploitation, two young people who are able to make a difference.

It is summertime in Jerusalem. Tamar receives a phone call from someone who needs her help, someone who sounds stoned on the phone. She is a 16-year-old girl, who cuts off all her hair, and sets out with her guitar and her dog, to live on the streets of Jerusalem. In her desperate search (for a boy who later turns out to be her brother), she is sucked into the world of a rough gang who exploit street kids and their talents as a front for their drug trafficking.

Parallel to Tamar’s story is the story of Assaf, whose summer job has assigned him to find the owner of Tamar's runaway dog. Taking his job seriously, Assaf obsessively runs after the dog around the city of Jerusalem and slowly unravels the story of Tamar. The two stories run parallel throughout the film and eventually intersect.

Tamar can also sing and play the guitar, and there are a number of very sweet musical numbers.
Combining music and stark, gritty realism, this is a story of strength and commitment. It is also an ode to the city of Jerusalem, and its youth. Jerusalem is an extraordinary part of the film – perhaps one of the protagonists. As Assaf and the dog run from place to place, searching for Tamar, they encounter so much of the city and its life – its alleyways and parks, its shops and outlying districts, and its underworld. Tamar and Assaf have the strength to fight back against the underbelly of the city and to make a difference.

An Adolescent Story

Another recent coming-of-age film, Summer Story (directed by Shmuel Peleg Haimovich), also deals with trying to make things right. It is the summer of 1982 and there is a war raging in Lebanon. Gal (12-years-old), who lives on a Moshav and has a summer job delivering the local mail, finds himself particularly attracted to Chaya, an almost 20-year-old young woman who is at home all the time due to a heart defect.

Writing letters to soldiers at the front, Chaya is particularly pining for one of the soldiers with whom she is corresponding. When he sends her a picture, Gal, as the mailman, intercepts it and rips it up in a fit of jealousy. When Chaya becomes ill, however, and has to undergo heart surgery, Gal decides to make things right and tries to get a picture of the soldier for her, thinking that it will make her happy and help her through the surgery. He travels to Kiryat Shmona, trying to get to the front in Lebanon, in order to find the soldier.

This is a naive and sweet adolescent film. Summer Story is available from Go2Films

Relating to Upcoming Military Service

Perhaps the best known and most sensitive coming-of-age film is Late Summer Blues (directed by Renen Schorr, 1986). The film, which takes place during the War of Attrition of 1968-70, portrays a group of Israeli youths, graduating high school in an atmosphere of ongoing war -- their reactions to the death of a close friend, the needs of their parents and schoolteachers to shield them as if they were still children, and their ambivalent feelings towards army service.

Although the film was produced in the 1980s, it describes a period in Israel's history which was a period of ongoing war and tension, on the background of the student anti-war movement in Europe and the United States. The film's highlight is a protest song that the youth in the film write and perform, in which they sing: “We don’t want them to tell us what’s right and wrong; we don’t want wars, orphans, tombstones”.

During his battle with lung cancer, before he died, Ehud Manor, Israeli lyricist and music historian, began to talk more about his family, his youth, and his own coming to terms with death. He said that after having lost his father when he was young and his younger brother during the War of Attrition, he was finally able to write a protest song against the ongoing wars, death, and also in opposition to the songs of his parents’ generation. He wrote the song "אין לי ארץ אחרת" Ayn Li Eretz Acheret (I have no other land) in the 1980s as a protest song. Just as Late Summer Blues was produced as a protest statement in the 1980s, after the War in Lebanon, about the War of Attrition, this song was also written in the 1980s. Although the story of the film and the background of the song take place in 1968-1970, Manor admits that this is not the kind of statement he could have made at that time. The new feeling of vulnerability, which was an outcome of the Yom Kippur War (1973), and the controversial nature of the War in Lebanon (1982) both created an atmosphere in the 1980s that encouraged and permitted protest.

Universal issues vs. particularistic Israeli issues

Broken Wings (directed by Nir Bergman, 2002) is a film about bereavement, a touching drama about the disintegration of a family living with loss. Many have acclaimed the film for its grappling with a universal issue. However, the film is also uniquely Israeli -- the story takes place following the death of the father from an allergic reaction to a bee sting, something so tragic, trivial and apparently meaningless, that can be seen as a parallel to the senseless deaths that Israelis are facing all too often in reality. See a previous blog posting on this film for more details.

Additional films about youth that can be found on this blog include:

Lost Islands
Sweet Mud
Eli and Ben
Turn Left at the End of the World
Secrets
Intimate Grammar