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The Director’s Chair Issue #22 – Feb. 25, 2002 (On Israeli Cinema)

On Israeli Cinema
by Maia Shani

Israel and cinema – two concepts that strike me as very different
in their nature. The first is associated with war, violence,
dispute, the second with art, freedom. Like any country, Israel
too has a film industry, but as much as Israelis grow up on
American cinema and on the Hollywood dream, as far as film
production goes, Israel belongs somewhere between third world
cinema and countries like Argentina and Iran, who have actually
already made their mark in the world.

As a young student of film and television in Israel, I’ve met
many young people, who are frustrated with Israel’s film
industry. On completing their studies in film, they either
compromise and go to work in television, take small-time jobs as
editors, sound men etc., or abandon the field altogether. It
seems like something stands in the way of fulfilling the dream
and of becoming real film makers. What actually stands in the way
are factors such as tight low budgets and strict puritan rules.

In light of the high standard of any other art form in Israel, it
is surprising we haven’t so far managed to achieve a high
standard of film production. We have good musicians, good
artists, renowned writers, but what we don’t have are directors
and producers who make a difference. Along with Israeli theatre
we are still struggling to keep our heads above water.

The main problem of Israeli films, ever since the formation of
Israel in 1948, has always been the issues they address. Israel
has not yet satisfied the need to talk about notions such as war,
army and the struggle between sectors in Israel. Most Israeli
films ever since the forties have dealt with these issues: the
struggle between Ashkenazi Jews (Jews from Europe) and Sepharadic Jews (Jews from Africa), how war affects the society and the individual, and in the nineties, the subject of Russian Jewish
immigration and absorption in society.

With a war breaking out in Israel approximately every 7-8 years
and the dispute between different sectors within the Israeli
society, what we see on the big screen is films whose subjects
are soldiers in the Israeli army, wars and their aftermath and
social justice.

In the fifties the ‘Burekas’ film was the most popular genre
around: films that used humor to present the unofficial war
between the Ashkenazim and the Sepharadim. The Sepharadim were
always depicted as low class and grotesque, whereas the Askenazim
were the ruling class, the ones you wanted to be like or marry
into. To this day, some of those films are still in top priority
if you want to enjoy a Saturday morning having lots of laughs.

Films that deal with personal issues of individual characters
were also made in Israel, but were much scarcer. ‘The Personal
Cinema’ as it is referred to has introduced a few good movies but
the movies best known are those dealing with the Holocaust,
wars, army service and social discrimination.

We still have a lot to learn in terms of film making. The truth
is we do have a very unique society with its own problems and
weaknesses, but we have great minds, and if ‘they’ can do it, we
can too.

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Maia Shani was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. After her army service,
she studied film making for her bachelor degree. Her main goal
now is to become a film director and a screen writer. Maia is
presently taking film courses at Ryerson in Toronto, Canada.
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Copyright (c) 2002 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved