That’s the Jewish Journal’s cover story this week.
So what does that mean? I hope it means that new Israeli films aren’t as interminably boring as their predecessors. Despite using the most generous standards, I’ve found nine out of ten Israeli films terribly dull.
Ushpizin was an exception.
Jane Ulman, who can’t help herself from using the word "backdrop" at every opportunity, writes for the Journal:
Against a backdrop of threatening skies, clearly not a metaphor for the future of Israel’s film industry, two Israeli feature films premiered on May 15, opening day of the 61st Cannes Film Festival. And a short by Israeli student filmmaker Elad Keidan took first prize in the Cinefondation, a competition supporting new talent.
The highly anticipated "Waltz With Bashir," by established documentarian but first-time Cannes invitee Ari Folman, made its international debut as one of 22 films in the official competition, alongside features by Clint Eastwood, the Dardenne brothers and Steven Soderbergh.
Four years in the making, with 2,300 original illustrations transformed into a combination of Flash, classic and 3-D animation, the anti-war film, "Waltz," chronicles Folman’s very personal experiences as a young Israeli soldier during the 1982 Lebanon War. He excavated his own traumatic but buried memories by questioning nine fellow soldiers about their recollections, specifically those recollections surrounding the massacre at the Sabra and Satila Palestinian refugee camps.
"Coming to think about it, it’s all about memory, it’s about lost memory, it’s about repression, it’s about where do our memories go when we repress them. Do they still live in us?" Folman said at a Cannes press conference following the premier.
On the same day, "Shiva," by the well-known brother and sister filmmaking team, Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz, was selected to open the parallel and prestigious International Critics’ Week festival, running May 15 through May 23.
A French-Israeli co-production, also known as "Les Sept Jours," this is the second film written and directed by the Elkabetz siblings, with the role of Vivianne acted by Ronit Elkabetz. The film follows the large, extended Ohaion family as they mourn the sudden death of Maurice — husband, son, brother and father — by sitting shiva according to the cloistered and regimented Moroccan tradition.
The film takes place against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War. In fact, hearing the familiar siren, the family dons gas masks while reciting the Mourner’s Kaddish at the cemetery. Then, confined to Maurice’s house for the full seven days — with all the mourners sleeping on the floor in one room every night — the family soon becomes consumed by internecine feuds, affairs and business failures.
