Jerusalem International Film Festival
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The Jerusalem (and Sderot) International Film Festivals 2016
The 33rd Jerusalem Int’l Film Festival celebrated the 30-year anniversary of Avanti Popolo (1986), directed by Rafi Bukai, with the premiere of a newly completed digital restoration. Now considered an Israeli classic, the film is set during the last days of the Six Day War. The story focuses on two Egyptian soldiers (played by two Palestinian actors) who are trying to get out of the Sinai desert war zone and back home to safety in Cairo. Unusual for an Israeli feature: the Arab soldiers are positioned as the central, sympathetic protagonists. Even more unusual: they ultimately join up with three Jewish […]
by Nina Menkes on Jul 18, 2016 -
Air Raid Sirens and Israeli Bombs: The Jerusalem International Film Festival
Noa Regev, the new director of the Jerusalem International Film Festival, had a difficult task for her first edition. Walking a fine line between continuing with the film screenings while acknowledging “the situation,” as it is called here, wasn’t easy but she handled it with grace and intelligence. “The situation”: Israel is bombing Gaza to smithereens while sirens wail over Israel, warning of Hamas rocket fire. The vast majority of the rockets cause little to no damage; the same, however, cannot be said of the Israeli bombs. So, with this as a background, many of the films showing at the […]
by Nina Menkes on Jul 28, 2014 -
Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself — Not: Powerful New Work at the Jerusalem International Film Festival
The last years have brought us a number of outstanding films that expose Israel’s brutality in the West Bank and Gaza — areas captured in the 1967 war which have remained under the harsh grip of direct or indirect Israeli control for over 40 years, in total violation of international law, and more importantly, in total violation of any human, moral or spiritual consideration or justice. The Law in These Parts, The Gatekeepers, 5 Broken Cameras and this year’s The Lab by Yotam Feldman, about the booming Israeli weapons industry, are among the excellent documentaries which — if the international community […]
by Nina Menkes on Jul 12, 2013 -
THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP FALSE GODS BEFORE ME: ISRAELIS, CHILDREN, AND THE 2012 JERUSALEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
We learnt from Abraham that when it comes to the hierarchy between our children and God, God comes first…but this story, with all its profound meaning, has been lost and denied—for many understandable reasons-by contemporary Israeli culture…a fact that can be seen in two films I recently viewed at the 2012 Jerusalem International Film Festival. Dover Kosashvili’s new feature, Single Plus (above), tracks the story of a woman and her 35-year-old single daughter. The mother is so distraught by the fact that her daughter has not yet reproduced that she comes up with an outrageous ruse. The mother lies to […]
by Nina Menkes on Aug 7, 2012
