Wild Things (Stav) opens the Women's Intl Film festival

This week, I attended the opening ceremony of the Women's International Film Festival at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.  It was an exciting event because it is a festival directed by two young women – Lihi Sabag and Shira Meishar -- and it celebrates films by up-and-coming women filmmakers in Israel.  An award was given to the theater and film actress Hannah Azoulai-Hasafari (well-known for her roles in Nadia, Sh'chur, Lovesick on Nana St.), who spoke candidly about her beginnings in Beersheva, about her Moroccan mother who was illiterate but filled with wisdom, and about her own filmmaking.  She is well-known for her activism concerning issues of social justice. Her mother was forced into a marriage at the age of 13 and Azoulai-Hasafari’s feature film, The Orange People, is a condemnation of child marriage. The audience loved her, myself included!

A new Israeli film was chosen for this opening night.  The film, Wild Things (Hebrew title: Stav), by Klil Kovesh, is a debut film about compassion, friendship, and hope for the future.

Stav, a young woman who lives on a kibbutz in the north of Israel, was recently released from prison for having a stash of weed.  She is unable to find anyone willing to employ her on the kibbutz, so she takes a job as an assistant teacher, helping a boy named Yonatan, whose mother has had a breakdown and is living in an institution. Stav and Yonatan do some crazy things together, drawing them closer, all of which helps Yonatan to come out of his shell.  

No spoiler intended, but the ending is highly unexpected and adds a surprising critical element to the film. Although not a complex story, the film is well done—it should be commended for its directing, pacing, and compelling characters.

Wild Things is available from Go2Films.

 

New Israeli Film, Kissufim, Now Available on Netflix

Kissufim 77, directed by Keren Nechmad, is a coming-of-age film, set in 1977, just when Sadat came to Jerusalem and extends his hand in peace. 

After their military service, the Kibbutz Kissufim Garin Nahal members return to the kibbutz for a few months of service. 

The kibbutz is located on the border with the Gaza strip and was violently attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7^th, 2023.  22 persons were massacred including 6 Thai agricultural workers.  Four members of the kibbutz were taken hostage that day. Although the viewer cannot help but think about that terrible day while watching the film, the film was actually shot before October 7^th, but it is dedicated to the victims of the atrocities of that day.  In addition, the narrative takes place in 1977, so the film is actually a period piece – both in story and in style.

Yoav and Ron are friends, and are both vying for Eli’s attention.  Eli is still a virgin and is not so sure that she’s so interested.  Meanwhile, a bunch of German volunteers arrive to work on the kibbutz.  Add into that a bit of Israeli dancing, late night partying, and visits to the Gaza beach.  There is also one flashback to their army service, when all the guys were on a patrol, waiting on a hill for an enemy unit.  As the enemy passes by, Yoav decides not to engage.  Was he a coward or was it the right decision?

The young members of the group are given a number of rules – no fraternizing between boys and girls; no taking food out of the dining hall; no taking kibbutz vehicles off the kibbutz.  Needless to say, they succeed in breaking all the rules!  There is the inevitable pairing off, drinking, partying, jealousies and the dangers of living on a border kibbutz. 

Kissufim 77 is a film that takes us back to when kibbutzim were actually kibbutzim and there was hope that because peace with Egypt had arrived, perhaps we would be able to live in peace with our neighbors.

 

 

A New Israeli Musical Film: Victory

 Victory (Hebrew title: The Victors המנצחים), directed by Eliran Peled, is a musical which takes place in the period following the Six Day War of 1967. The film is a parody about war, about bereavement, and about post-trauma. The musical style parodies the euphoria of the post Six Day War period.  The film uses a number of strategies to emphasize the parody – stylized sets, soundstage musical numbers, black and white period footage, some of which is shot with the actors in the scenes, and clips from an historical anti-war cabaret number (by Hanoch Levin) which was performed to an angry audience at Kibbutz Netzer Sereni in 1968.

Neta (Yael Stollman) is a kibbutznik who decides to leave the kibbutz, with her husband, to move to Tel Aviv to become an actress.  As her star rises, and she gets some big parts, her husband returns from the war with PTSD and her best friend’s husband is killed.  She becomes absorbed in his illness, but the euphoria after the great victory of the IDF in this war wins out.

The film was made last year, but is now showing in Israeli cinemas.  It was particularly difficult watching it during this period of the war in Gaza.  We are so far from being in a euphoric state at this time. Watching the soldiers in this film dancing and singing, seeing the suffering of one soldier with post trauma distress, viewing the brit of a baby born to a newly widowed woman, and watching the anti-war cabaret scene, were all difficult in these troubled times.

DocuCorona

This is a new website (in Hebrew) -- DocuCorona -- offering Israeli documentaries, available for free or almost free viewing during this period.

You can choose from the literally tens of films on a wide array of subjects.  I have chosen the following two documentaries (both include English) to highlight --

The Holy Gathering, directed by Nahum Grinberg and Naamit Mor Haim (64 minutes, documentary), is a fascinating look at the phenomenon of young men, brought up on Kibbutz Bet Zera, which is a Hashomer HaTzair kibbutz, who have become newly religious in recent years. The kibbutz originally subscribed to an anti-religious ideology, and it seems that perhaps as a result of that, these young people are searching for meaning, and eventually finding their way to religion.  The older generation is quite disappointed and even outraged as a result. Among other subjects, the film describes the experience of growing up in the children’s house, which created a void in the lives of the young people. 

You can watch the film on Youtube!

Dancing in Jaffa, directed by Hilla Medalia, (previously reviewed on this blog), is a touching full-length (87 minutes) documentary about breaking barriers between Jewish and Palestinian youngsters in Jaffa.   The film Is available for streaming for 48 hours for a small fee

Leaving the Ultra-Orthodox World Behind

Apples from the Desert, directed by Matti Harari and Arik Lubetzky, is a modern morality tale. 

Rivka is a 19-year-old girl from a Jerusalem haredi (ultra-orthodox) family.   She is a rebellious daughter, interested in seeing the world, making a difference, and not just marrying and having children.  Her strictly religious, Sephardi parents have a love-less relationship and her authoritarian father has a cruel streak.  She finally breaks and runs away when he insists that she marry an older widower with children.  The film is an adaptation of the story bySavyon Liebrecht.  

A wonderful comic element is provided by Rivka's Aunt Sara who is the spinster aunt and has more compassion and love of life than any of the others surrounding her in her ultra-orthodox community where women are judged by the length of their skirts rather than by their good deeds. 

Rivka is helped in her escape by an intriguing young man who raises organic apples in the desert.  He brings her to his kibbutz in the Negev desert, where she slowly comes out of her shell and learns about a more open, tolerant and accepting world.  We watch as she blossoms, much as the apples growing in the desert climate.   

In this story about how an ultra-orthodox young woman breaks from her cloistered and traditional family life and chooses to live a secular, modern lifestyle, we learn about issues of family, tradition, love, compromise and acceptance.

Apples from the Desert was produced by United King Films.

Personal Documentary Filmmaking

My favorite documentary genre is "personal documentary" and Photonovela by Chen Shelach stands up to my expectations!  This is no dry documentary -- it is a personal story filled with skeletons in the closet.

Chen Shelach grew up on Kibbutz Mizrah and this is a compelling personal documentary about the story of his family. 

Shelach's  12-year-old daughter, Shir, is doing a family roots project for school, but she's more interested in "telenovelas" (hebrew for soap operas).  Little does she know that her father is hiding his own story from her and that a soap opera could be produced based on the story of his family.  

When he approaches his mother to talk about the story, she tells him, "The best is to live in the present."  She came as a Holocaust refugee to the kibbutz where she has lived her entire life.  Here everything is like a pressure cooker -- everyone knows everyone's business.    No wonder she prefers to dwell in the present.

The film asks the question -- is it better to tell children everything or to protect them by keeping secrets from them? 

 

Shelach's family seems to be a normal family - he and his wife and their 3 children -- living on the kibbutz.  Slowly the dramatic story unfolds.  This is the stuff that soaps are made of.  While researching her family's past, Shir learns about the kibbutz, the Holocaust, romance, and scandal -- up close and personal!

Photonovela (documentary, 52 minutes, 2013) is available from Go2Films.

Description of a Memory

Description of a Memory, directed by Dan Geva, is a poetic essay using references to the original Chris Marker classic film, Description of a Struggle, winner of the Golden Bear at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.

In this updated version, Dan Geva succeeds in creating a dialogue with Chris Marker, using grainy images from then compared with the new, remarking on the sights and sounds, bringing us the protagonists of 30 years before and helping us to understand where Israel is going. This is a look at Israel today, through the lens of yesterday. Questioning, critically probing, seeking memory.

Who are we? What are our dreams? How have we changed since the original film in 1960?
The film includes signs and cryptic images from then and now. Then: a burnt tank, concrete walls, an Arab boy on a cart, a camel, a coin. Today: McDonald's, a road blocked by a wall "born of hatred and of living in fear", disengagement, land confiscation.

The film is made up of 13 memories or sequences. Just a few of them --

Assassination in the name of God
A weekly meeting of a kibbutz, a utopian society which was "meant to counteract all the axioms of the old world." The meeting is presided over by the kibbutz general secretary, Rachel Rabin, sister of Israel's later-to-be prime minister. Now that the utopian society is no more, the filmmaker revisits Rachel. In that original scene, she was wearing a pin that her brother Yitzhak brought her from a secret mission outside the country. Interestingly, he was talented and experienced in protecting himself from without, "but not from the dangers lurking within."

The Urgency to Make Peace not War
At the Wailing Wall, soldiers swear an oath and are inducted into the army. The narrator states: "Stronger than their will to die for their country is someone else's will to sacrifice them." The other side of the coin: A youngster pushing a cart in East Jerusalem dreaming of blowing himself up. Why are both sides so willing to sacrifice their sons in the name of country?

Materialism
In the original film, Noah Rosenfeld, chess champion at the age of 11, grew up on a kibbutz, "in a world where money had ceased to matter." Years later, we see him as a high school teacher, living in the city, criticizing the materialism that he sees around him.

The Disengagement – A Moment of truth
Two sides of the coin. The filmmaker's closest friend from childhood is being uprooted from his home as part of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. He sees his home as part of a "divine promise" whereas the filmmaker sees it as "tragic hubris." Two childhood friends -- "to each his own memory".

Description of a Memory is bookmarked by pictures of an artist. As a young girl in the original film, Chris Marker saw her as the "swan girl" (because of her stunningly beautiful and long neck) and his film portrayed her as an image or sign of Israel for the future. Dan Geva finds her today, living and painting in London, and sees her not as a swan or a sign but as a human being. And that is the crux of the film -- Israelis are not symbols or metaphors. Israelis are real people living real lives, grappling with issues and sometimes messing up.

Photographed with a fisheye lens causing a distorted, hemispherical image, the film is strikingly compelling and lyrical (2006, 80 minutes). It is available from JMT Films.

Looking back at the phenomenon of Kibbutz Volunteers

During the 1960s and 1970s, many European non-Jewish volunteers came to work in Israel. They went to kibbutzim, where they worked a little and partied a lot. Some came for the fun, some for the ideology, and some for the sun. Now, years later, Mooly Landesman has created a particularly poignant and insightful documentary, The Volunteers, which looks at what has happened to those volunteers.

The film features five young women from Denmark, Holland and Germany, all of whom fell in love with Israeli men. They were naïve and young, and by marrying Israeli men, they created an upheaval in their lives, each having to redefine her own personal identity. Brigitta from Denmark marriedYochi from Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar. Nana married Haim. Margaret married Gabi. Angelika, a daughter of German royalty, married Yackov from Moshav Habonim. Dina married Yossi.

Have these women become "Israeli" in their souls? Margaret who continues to live on the Golan Heights, even after her husband has passed away, feels that this is her home and that she has no other. For Brigitta however, things are different. Today, she and Yochi live in Denmark, where they are bringing up their children. Brigitta says honestly that she would not be willing for her children to risk their lives for the State of Israel.

What about the fact that some of the women are from Germany? The film confronts this head-on. Margaret recalls how hard it was for her as a young volunteer on the kibbutz when one of the veteran members harshly told her that he speaks German, but would not speak it with her. A daughter of one of the couples, at the age of 14, was shocked to discover a photo in a family album of their beloved ancestral home back in Germany decked out with a Nazi flag. Angelika's father, who was drafted as a young man in 1941, rose to become a Nazi officer. In a moving and startling scene, he admits that he supported Hitler and his great shame is that he never did anything to oppose him.

The stories of these five couples and their children, now grown, reveal a lot about the complexity of changing your identity and your homeland, about the difficulties of intermarriage, and about attempts at atonement for the sins of the German people.

The film (54 minutes) is available from Ruth Diskin Films.

"Sweet Mud" by Dror Shaul

The kibbutz movement was meant to be a utopian society where people lived and breathed the ideology of equality in social, educational and economic terms. It was supposed to be a paradise on earth, especially for children. What could be better than to grow up in a truly socialist society, living in a children's house, where all the adults on the kibbutz relate to you as your parents! But alas, individuals get in the way of the best laid plans. According to filmmaker Dror Shaul, kibbutz members were so intent on living their ideology that they were not capable or even interested in dealing with the individual and his special needs.

This film is a study of kibbutz members' difficulties in coping with one woman's weakness and instability. It also provides a glimpse at the suffering of an adolescent boy in trying to walk the tightrope between being part of the collective and trying to cope with his mother's unique issues.

It is 1974 and Dvir is 12-years-old. His mother (Ronit Yudkeviz) is alone and lonely and has moments that show that she is not quite stable. His father died in an "accident", which we learn is a euphemism for suicide. This is Dvir's bar mitzvah year, and the youngsters are pushed very hard to accomplish a whole string of challenges. Part of Dvir's coming of age, however, is coming to terms with his mother's mental illness, and his learning to cope with their complex relationship.

Dvir's mother is treated badly by the kibbutz -- she has to ask permission when she wants to invite a man whom she met to visit her for a prolonged stay on the kibbutz. The indignities continue when one of their neighbors kills Dvir's dog (because he has impregnated his dog one time too many), and Dvir's mother has no power to take steps. The kibbutz secretary yells at her, in essence saying that she is not a strong worker, does not contribute her share and therefore cannot make complaints. She has been humiliated one time too many and she has a breakdown and is hospitalized.

Comments from the Filmmaker
At a workshop held at the recent Jerusalem Film Festival (July 15, 2008), filmmaker Dror Shaul (Sweet Mud, 2006, Vaknin the Witch, 2003, and Operation Grandma, 1999), talked about the making of the film and about his experiences developing the script at the Sundance filmmakers lab.

This is a film with young actors. In fact, the young actor playing Dvir (Tomer Steinhof) was in just about every scene of the film! It is also about Dvir's special relationship with a girl. Shaul told a funny story about the difficulties of working with young actors -- the two adolescents didn't want to kiss, it's 15 minutes before sunrise, and we were pressured for time, so I told them you don't have to kiss. So they relaxed and I told one to lie down, then the other to lie down, one to turn to the other, then the other to turn, come closer together, touch your lips together, then come apart and laugh – can you do that instead of the kiss? Yes, they said! So we filmed it before the sun came up!

The results were a very touching scene between two adolescents, growing up together in the same children's house, reaching out to each other in their loneliness.

When asked how did you make a culturally specific film that talked to an international audience, Shaul remarked that the kibbutz is a unique and closed community, but the kibbutz is not the only subject of the film. The film is also about a relationship between a son and a dysfunctional mother and in the end the son gives up his desperate attempts at helping his mother and instead helps her to die. This is an international subject.

Sweet Mud אדמה משוגעת was the first prize winner of the Berlin Film Festival's category of films for children and youth (2007).