Best of Israeli cinema
THE healthy state of Israel’s movie industry is reflected in the program for this year’s AICE Israeli Film Festival, which will be staged around Australia next month.
Festival co-curator Keith Lawrence says: “Most of the films in the festival were made in 2012 and reflect the broad spectrum of issues in Israeli society. This is the festival’s 10th anniversary and features the strongest program ever.”
The festival opens in Melbourne on August 14 with The Ballad of The Weeping Spring, directed by Beni Torati and featuring spellbinding Middle Eastern music from seven musicians.
“This hugely entertaining film was a hit at the Israeli box office and has great music,” says Lawrence.
The controversial documentary The Gatekeepers features interviews with six former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency whose activities are normally closely guarded secrets.
The film was nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards and was the winner of best documentary by the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Cinema for Peace Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Director Dror Moreh will be visiting Australia to introduce the film and join in Q&A sessions after the screening in Sydney (August 14), Melbourne (August 15) and Canberra (August 16).
“Only in Israel could a film like The Gatekeepers come out and it proved to be very controversial when it was released last year,” says Lawrence.
“The heads of Shin Bet say what they think about Israel’s internal security policies.”
Another festival guest is Israeli actress-singer Sivan Levy, who stars in Inch’Allah, a film about a young Canadian doctor Chloe who divides her time between Ramallah, where she works with the Red Crescent, and Jerusalem. As she learns more about life in the occupied territories, she is torn between the two sides of the conflict. The award-winning film is directed by Anais Barbeau-Lavalette.
Levy also stars in Six Acts, director Jonathan Gurfinkel’s edgy portrait of an Israeli teenage girl who uses her sexuality to be accepted.
“Levy gives an extraordinary performance and is on screen for the whole film,” says Lawrence. “The role won her a best actress award at the Haifa Film Festival.”
Levy also has a small role in A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, about a relationship between a 17-year-old Israeli girl and a 20-year-old Palestinian.
Levy will take part in Q&A sessions after the screening of Six Acts in Sydney (August 14), Melbourne (August 18) and Canberra (August 19). This will be followed by a live concert in the cinema foyer as Levy teams up with guitarist Yoav Rosenthal.
Levy will also join discussion sessions after the screening of Inch’Allah in Melbourne (August 17) and Sydney (August 20).
Zaytoun is the new film from Israeli director Eran Riklis, well known for his hit movies The Syrian Bride (2004) and Lemon Tree (2008). Zaytoun stars Stephen Dorff and is a touching drama about a friendship between a Palestinian orphan and a captured Israeli fighter pilot.
Tom Shoval’s Youth is an offbeat commentary on Israeli society told through the lives of two brothers. It focuses on the constant presence of military weapons and the decline of the middle class.
Eagles is a dark comedy by director Dror Sabo about modern values as seen through the eyes of Ephraim and Moshka, Israeli veterans from the 1948 War of Independence. When an elderly woman is run over in front of their favourite cafe in Tel Aviv, they decide to teach the young generation a lesson and embark on a brutal journey of retribution.
In Out in the Dark, Palestinian graduate student Nimr (Nicholas Jacob) meets Israeli lawyer Roy (Michael Aloni) at a Tel Aviv nightclub and they quickly fall in love. But with Nimr having only a study pass to travel between his home in the West Bank and Tel Aviv University, their relationship is restricted.
With a politically active brother and a conservative family that would denounce him, and a homeland that would kill him for his sexuality, Nimr’s situation is compounded when his student visa is suddenly revoked and he faces being sent home.
Family loyalties, political tensions and personal struggles all come under the microscope in this dramatic film directed by Michael Mayer.
Among the documentaries in the festival are Israel: A Home Movie, a collage of home movies from the early years of Israel’s settlement until the late ’70s, including rare archival footage, and Good Garbage, which documents the lives of 200 Palestinian families in the Palestinian village of Yatta who eke out a living from the garbage dump in the Hebron Hills which serves local Israeli settlements.
Hollywood producer Howard Rosenman is also visiting Australia as a guest of the festival.
This year’s AICE Israeli Film Festival is also being staged in Canberra and Byron Bay for the first time.
“Byron Bay has a large number of visiting Israelis and there has been strong interest in the film festival,” says Lawrence.
“A common thread in many of the films being screened at this year’s festival is the concerns of young adults – social, sexual and political.
“Many films are shaped by politics; many are personal, but overwhelmingly they celebrate the stories of people’s lives.”
Festival dates
Sydney: August 13-27
Melbourne: August 14-27
Brisbane: August 20-25
Canberra: August 15-21
Adelaide: August 15-20
Perth: August 21-28
Byron Bay: August 22-28
Screening at Palace cinemas. Bookings: www.palacecinemas.com.au.
REPORT by . Danny Gocs
PHOTO of a scene in the Israeli film Zaytoun.
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