Short dramas about the Women of Israel

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.

Women Reaching across the Divide

Last night I spoke at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore, Manhasset, Long Island, where the crowd was especially interested in participating, arguing, and offering insights. our subject was Arabs and Jews - Understanding Each Other, and we seemed to focus on the role of women in making a difference in the current "situation".

In addition to other films, we looked at clips from Lemon Tree (directed by Eran Riklis) in which the Jewish and Palestinian women reach out to each other but are stifled by "security considerations" and at clips from Divine Intervention (directed by Elia Suleiman)in which the woman seems to be the voice of criticism, self-confidence, determination and victory.

We also looked at the short film, Bus Station (directed by Lily Sheffy, from the Ir Amim collection entitled Jerusalem Moments. The film portrays an extraordinary encounter between two ultra-religious Jerusalem women, one Jewish and one Muslim.

On the human level of personal encounter, these filmmakers are telling us that women have a unique role to reach out and make a difference.

Ten Short films about Jerusalem

Last night at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, I had the opportunity to view the fruit of an important film project entitled Jerusalem Moments (2008). I was impressed by the entire collection of ten short films, which provide diverse perspectives on difficult issues about living together – Israelis and Palestinians – within the same city.

The project brought together filmmakers from both sides of the divide to provide insight into the complexities of life in Jerusalem through shorts – dramas, docs, and experimental films. The project initiator and producer, Adva Rodogovsky, representing Ir Amim, introduced the screening by talking about the importance of exposing different aspects of Jerusalem, showing the side of Jerusalem which is not holy, and expanding the public discourse dealing with issues of the city.

We have more in common than you might thinkPerhaps the most impressive film in the collection is a film that deals with two families, one is evicted and one is facing demolition. In the opening scene of the documentary Home, directed by Marwah Jbara Tibi, we meet Ilanit, a single mother of four who is lighting Shabbat candles in an Arab home. She was unable to make her mortgage payments and, as a result, was evicted from her home. Ilanit and her children are living with the family of Ahmad in Sur Baher, also a family with four children. Ahmad, who had the compassion to open his home to a woman in need, is himself living under the shadow of losing his home. He built his home without a municipal permit, because it is almost impossible for an Arab family in East Jerusalem to obtain one, and he is living under the threat of a demolition. This is an insightful film into the difficulties of providing your family with a roof over their head.

About women
In the film, Bus Station by Lily Sheffy, 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 about two similar women, each with a son whom she loves – puts a human face to the conflict.

Hardships due to the Separation Wall
In Children’s Stories by Daniel Gal, we meet three youngsters who support their families by selling chewing gum at busy traffic intersections in the Jewish neighborhoods of the city. This is a touching film, told with humor and pathos. Since the construction of the separation wall, the children’s parents are unable to cross the checkpoints in order to find work. So, the boys make the trip alone everyday, illegally crossing fields and crawling through sewage tunnels, bringing home money to their families. This is a hard-hitting film about these kids, who they are, and their dreams and their desires to be like other kids. I don't chew gum, but I certainly will buy gum from these youngsters next time they approach my car at a red light.

House demolitions
The bulldozer has become the symbol of house demolitions, which is a cruel and inhumane form of punishment for Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem -- those who have built without permits, for those who are charged with security crimes, and for the families of suicide bombers. House demolitions are not used against Jewish citizens who build or add on to their homes without permits. The Largest Mammals in Jerusalem by Nitsan Shorf Domidiano is in the style of an ethnographic film that humorously looks at the lives of bulldozers – their courting, their migration, their feeding habits, and how they hunt their prey!

The right of return
In the film, Two Houses and a Longing, filmmaker Dorit Naaman looks at two buildings in Jerusalem. The first, located near the Mandelbaum Gate, used to be called the Turjeman Post and today houses the Museum on the Seam. The house originally belonged to Andoni Baramki who fled in 1948 and lived not far away on the other side of the armistice line, dividing East from West Jerusalem. After 1967, he tried to reclaim his home, to no avail. The narrator suggests a revision of the dedication plaque at the Museum on the Seam, in order to fully recognize the true and historical story behind this building. The second building is located in West Jerusalem and is used as a kindergarten. The building was originally owned by Khalil Sakakini, who was forced to leave in 1948. Although the filmmaker seems to be in favor of the recognition of rightful ownership of these buildings, she skirts the explosive issue of the right of return for the owners themselves.

These films can be used as triggers for discussion dealing with so many of the issues that we face in contemporary Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city that too many of us see in black and white terms. Things are not so simple here! It is important for us to grapple with the hard issues, to understand them in all their complexity, and not to ignore them due to the sensitivities involved. The initiative for this project came from Ir Amim, a non-profit organization working “for an equitable and stable Jerusalem with an agreed political future” with funding from the German government. http://www.ir-amim.org.il/