TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 TEN YEARS LATER 59 Actors to Watch Dan Fainaru 79 THAT KID IS ME: THE PERSONAL 10 THE ICEBERG EFFECT: ISRAEL'S CINEMA FILMS OF THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY OF DISENGAGEMENT Avital Bekerman Pablo Utin 84 REDUCING THE LIGHT: 16 LAMENTING LOST YOUTH: THE 'LEBANON' AN INTERVIEW WITH FILMS OF THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY CINEMATOGRAPHER SHAI GOLDMAN Yael Munk Pablo Utin 22 AN INTIMATE FAMILY PICTURE: 89 THE PEOPLE WANT POPULAR CINEMA A LOOK INTO THE FRAGILITY OF THE PRESENT Marat Parkhomovsky Tom Shoval 94 Producers 28 THE FAMILY IN LATE MARRIAGE Roger Ebert 102 INDUSTRY FACTS & FIGURES 29 DIRECTORS & SCRIPTWRITERS TO WATCH 103 ONE BIG FILM SCHOOL Joshua Simon 43 THE VITAL TENSIONS OF CONTEMPORARY ISRAELI CINEMA 107 THE INDEPENDENT FILM SCENE Annette Insdorf Noa Mendel 46 AJAMI: ONE CONFLICT, MANY VIEWS, 108 ISRAELI CINEMA COMES NO ACTORS OUT OF THE SHADOWS Ethan Bronner Hélène Schoumann 49 THE ‘ETHICAL TURN’ IN RECENT 110 LEADING FESTIVAL AWARDS ISRAELI CINEMA Nurit Gertz 112 PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT LIST 54 THE REMARKABLE CASE OF JOSEPH CEDAR Yair Raveh A DECADE IN MOTION: THE ISRAEL FILM FUND THE NEW VOICE OF ISRAELI CINEMA CHIEF EDITOR: CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: KATRIEL SCHORY JACOB PERRY EDITORS: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: KATRIEL SCHORY JACOB PERRY PROF. DAVID ALEXANDER AVITAL BEKERMAN, NOA MENDEL KATRIEL SCHORY Executive Director Chairman of the Board Chairman Israel Film Fund Israel Film Fund Israel Film Council PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: HEAD OF PRODUCTIONS & FINANCE: NAAMA BOTZER DAVID LIPKIND GRAPHIC DESIGN: BOARD OF DIRECTORS: The Israel Film Fund is the main fund which encourages, In the last decade, since the Cinema Law was legislated AVIGAIL REINER – THE STUDIO GERY AGRON, DORLEE ALMAGOR supports and promotes Israeli films and Israeli and the Israel Film Council was established, The State of AVIHAI MIZRAHI NISSIM CALDERRON, URI DORI, DOV EICHENWALD, filmmakers. We at the Israel Film Fund are proud to have Israel has witnessed a wonderful and moving blossoming YONA ELIAN, AMIR HAYEK, HAIM RASNER, supported in the last 10 years the production of more of our films: in variety, in subject matter, in quality, and PHOTOGRAPHY: RAMI SHALMOR, NATASHA SHUKIN, DALIA YAIRI, than 150 feature films, encouraging the talent, creativity, as part of an ongoing dialogue with its audiences. AMIT BERLOWITZ ORLY YEHESKEL and imagination of Israeli filmmakers as reflected in the Israeli movies are among our best ambassadors many films which have become milestones of the Israeli worldwide - introducing our people and their narrative, CONTRIBUTORS: cultural heritage. and reflecting on the challenging nature of our current AVITAL BEKERMAN, ETHAN BRONNER, In the last 10 years Israeli cinema has gone through existence, as well as on the visions we seek for the future. ROGER EBERT, DAN FAINARU, a period, which is fair to call dramatic as it regained Our filmmakers have become house-hold names NURIT GERTZ, ANNETTE INSDORF, it's domestic and international audiences as well as and have achieved recognition, appreciation, and awards NOA MENDEL, YAEL MUNK, recognition and acclaim. at the most prestigious of international forums. MARAT PARKHOMOVSKY, YAIR RAVEH, The interest in Israeli films and the many inter- I truly believe that the framework of motion HÉLÈNE SCHOUMANN, JOSHUA SIMON, national co-productions produced in the last decade pictures is by far the most efficient and exciting agent TOM SHOVAL, PABLO UTIN We wish to thank; are an acknowledgement of the talent and professional connecting people from diverse cultures. The Israel Film Council, The Ministry of Culture & Sports skills of Israeli filmmakers. In this creative territory all five Film Funds TRANSLATION: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Division for Cultural & Israeli films managed to make the crossover and touch operating in Israel, as well as numerous festivals & other SIVAN RAVEH, YARON KAVER Scientific Affairs. the hearts and souls of hundreds and thousands of “cultural agents”, are continuously setting a high mark viewers around the world. All this could not have by relentlessly networking to enhance Israel’s films and The films mentioned in this publication were produced with the support of: COPY EDITOR: happened without the spirit and total commitment promote our filmmakers. The Israel Film Fund; Cinema Project - The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation SIVAN RAVEH for the Arts; The New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & TV; of Israeli filmmakers, and without the support of our On behalf of my colleagues at the Israel Film Council, Makor Foundation for Israeli Films; The Gesher Multicultural Film Fund; friends and colleagues from around the world who I am pleased and proud to congratulate the directors and The Jerusalem Film & TV Fund welcomed the renewed and emerging Israeli cinema and managements of the Film Funds of Israel, as well as all embraced Israeli films and filmmakers. We have never artists who lead the Israeli film industry from one apex taken it for granted! to the next. We at the Israel Film Fund will continue to support and encourage emerging Israeli filmmakers who tell with great courage and in total freedom the story of Israel's © An Israel Film Fund Publication, 2012 turbulent and complex society and the challenges The Israel Film Council constantly facing our region. FROM THE EDITORS Dear Reader, A palpable sense of excitement has been felt in the Israeli or biographies of their creators; the development of an film industry since the beginning of the 21st century. In independent film scene in the last few years; the ‘Cinema this special edition we set out to look into the changes Law’, and the film schools from which many of the new that occurred during the last decade, which brought Israeli talents have emerged. cinema to its current state, examining what has made Israeli Telling the story of the dramatic comeback Israeli cinema films generate renewed interest. Is it the filmmakers new is experiencing is a challenging task. As such, we were voice, a new look at reality, different types of stories being unable to mention all the films and filmmakers that deserve presented, or perhaps institutional changes? being acknowledged. Likewise, due to the large number of All the contributing writers address certain aspects of screenings and awards Israeli films received at International Israeli cinema of the last decade offering ideas as to what film festivals, we were bound to mention only those that characterizes and distinguishes recent Israeli feature films. best represent the sum of these achievements. Pablo Utin looks at the ‘Cinema of Disengagement’ – We aimed at pointing a wide lens and shining as much cinema that has cut its ties with explicit political issues, light as possible on ten years of Israeli filmmaking. treating them in a more ambiguous manner. Nurit Gertz This edition focuses entirely on feature films and does not discusses the ‘Ethical Turn’ in new Israeli cinema. Tom refer to documentary cinema. The Israeli documentary films Shoval sees the ‘family unit’ films as mirroring the fragility presenting a unique view and visual language have gained of local society and reality as a whole. Yael Munk focuses world wide merit and acclaim. This division between fiction on three important films dealing with the Lebanon war. and documentary is, in our opinion, somewhat artificial. Annette Insdorf suggests that many Israeli films are built Finally, in the last decade a small number of wonderful around a variety of tensions. And Marat Parkhomovsky films were produced and directed by women. We address a offers reasons for the popularity and renewed connection number of these films, and the small amount of references recent Israeli cinema is enjoying with local audiences. are a reflection of the situation. It is worth noting that in the Part of the success of the Israeli films in the past 10 years last two years an increasing number of women are making can be attributed to the films and filmmakers opening up feature films. In the coming year around 9 feature films by to a variety of stories, voices, places and cultural tendencies women filmmakers will be screened in cinemas. We hope describing the multicultural society of the country. that this will be one of the major phenomena that will define One of the main characteristics of Israeli filmmaking the next decade of Israeli filmmaking. in the last decade is the discovery of new directors and filmmakers. Some interesting features of Israeli filmmaking Enjoy! relate to this and they are addressed throughout the edition such as films based on the personal experiences Avital Bekerman Noa Mendel LATE MARRIAGE 6 Ten Years Later Dan Fainaru Ten Years Later Dan Fainaru 7 secure?), demand more for themselves WITH NO CLEAR-CUT heartbreaking portrait of the relations and turn around the famous Kennedy STATEMENTS UP FRONT TO between a young student and her dictum, asking not what they had done streetwalking mother, To Take a Wife (2004), TRUMPET IN THEIR FILMS, for their country but what they expected Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz' searing family THE ISRAELI FILMMAKERS their country to do for them. Not really a drama in which a rebellious wife refuses surprise, since this was the prevalent spirit WITHDREW, LIKE THE to accept the authority of old-fashioned in the whole of the Western world which FRENCH NEW WAVE AT family customs carried over from the Israel considered itself to be an integral THE TIME, TO INTIMATE Diaspora, David Volach's My Father My Lord TEN YEARS LATER part of. The eruption of the Intifadas (the PORTRAITS WITH WHICH (2007), a profoundly disturbing portrait Palestinian uprising), the first one in 1987, THEY WERE FAR MORE of religious addiction, or Tawfik Abu DAN FAINARU the second in 2000, badly shook off this FAMILIAR Wael’s Atash (Thirst) (2004), a generational kind of complacent self-confidence and power struggle inside a Palestinian the prevalent established answers to all family under Israeli occupation, shaped the problems facing the country, certainly like a classic Greek tragedy.