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July 22, 1988 - Image 53

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1988-07-22

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

ENTERTAINMENT

I GOING PLACES

IT'S
A
WRAP

WEEK OF JULY 22-28

SPECIAL EVENTS

TOLEDO ZOO
2700 Broadway, lbledo, pandas
Le Le and Nan Nan, through
August, admission. 419-726-3272.
SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL
Downtown Ann Arbor, today and
Saturday. 662-3382.
CELLULAR ONE GOLF
CLASSIC
Plum Hollow Country Club,
Southfield, benefits National
Kidney Foundation of Michigan,
Monday, admission.
1-800-482-1455.

Israel has a vital
film industry, but
problems are
threatening its
survival

JAY ROSS

COMEDY

.

Special to The Jewish News

cene One: "Beyond the
Walls," a feature film which
dramatizes Jewish-Arab re-
lations in an Israeli prison,
wins first prize at the 1984
Venice Film Festival — one of the first
Israeli films ever to capture top
honors at a major foreign film festival.
The resulting publicity catapults the
film into the public eye, and some
600,000 tickets are sold in Israel,
thereby recouping the film's $550,000
production costs. The movie, named
the 1985 Israel Film of the Year, en-
joys a special screening at the Knesset
and is this country's official entry in
the Academy Awards' "best foreign
film" category. Modest profits reach
director Uri Barbash, producer Rudy
Cohen, and the film cast and crew
after distribution rights are acquired
in Western Europe and the United
States.
Scene Two: "Rage and Glory," a
1985 film which recreates the opera-
tion of a Lehi ("The Stern Group," a
Jewish underground) cell in 1947 pre-
state Israel, is released locally. The
film, put together by talented direc-
tor Avi Nehser and starring a
youthful and mostly unknown cast,
has one of the largest budgets ever
amassed for an Israeli film: close to
$1 million. After less than four weeks,
the film is dropped by local cinemas
after having proven a monumental
failure. With a fate similar to that of
numerous other "quality" Israeli
films, "Rage and Glory" dies a sud-
den death and the film's director and
producer, in part to avoid angry in-
vestors, leave the country. Meanwhile,
"Rage and Glory' is left to collect dust
on some distributor's backroom shelf.
Scene Three: In the last days
before the massive Israeli withdrawal
from Lebanon in May 1985, the Israel

S

Anat Waxman and Ilka Zohar appear in a scene from "Don't Give a Damn."

Defense Forces' Film Unit and direc-

tor Eli Cohen quickly set-up in a
village in southern Lebanon to shoot
a film intended for future instructinal
use at IDF bases. The film, "Two
Fingers From Sidon," — or
"Ricochets" as it was subsequently
called in English — shot over 24 con-
secutive days and on a shoestring
budget, is completed hours before the
IDF carries out its withdrawal. Israeli
producer and distributor Jay Koller
sees the film at a private screening
and for an estimated $350,000
package deal, acquires the rights to
the film. "Ricochets" is beaten out as
the 1986 Israel film of the year by
"Avanti Popolo," but becomes one of
the top-grossing Israeli films. Yet for
various reasons, Koller does not suc-
ceed in obtaining foreign distribution
of the film.
Three different films, three dif-
ferent aspects of the sometimes
vibrant, sometimes struggling Israeli
film industry, circa 1988. Those
knowledgeable and involved in the
still-fledgling industry point out that
Israel has the talent, the resources,
the experience and the physical con-
ditions needed to create a first-rate

and internationally competitive film
industry. The same sources add,
however, that government prejudice,
bureaucratic incompetence, the dif-
ficulty of penetrating the foreign
market and the diminutive size of the
local market all interact in such a
way as to keep the Israeli film in-
dustry bottled-up and blocked off from
reaching genuine commercial success.
The same sources note the im-
plicit warning conveyed by the above
factors: if local government officials
and filmmakers do not take the
necessary steps, Israel will continue
to thrive as a preferred on-location
site for making movies, but Israeli
feature films will themselves con-
tinue to suffer from meager — or non-
existent — financial returns.
The native film industry is not,
however, about to disappear. An
average of 13 Israeli feature films are
now being made annually. Two
months ago, Education Minister Yit-
zhak Navon doubled the budget of his
ministry's Fund for the Promotion of
Israeli Quality Films from $250,000
to $500,000. Sources close to the
minister add that Navon has promis-
ed to take additional steps which will

BERKLEY COMEDY CASTLE
2593 Woodward, Berkley, Jack
Gallagher, today and Saturday;
Amazing Jonathan, Tuesday
through July 30, admission.
542-9900.
COMEDY CASTLE AT
PUZZLE'S
29900 Van Dyke, Warren, Carol
Siskind, today and Saturday;
Sheila Kay, Tuesday through
July 30, admission. 751-6010.
HOLLY HOTEL
110 Battle Alley, Holly, Chris
Jakeway, Eddy Strange, today
and Saturday; Keith Ruff, Tim
Butterfield, Al April, Thursday
through July 30, admission.
634-1891.

THEATER

SHAW FESTIVAL

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,
"You Never Can 'loll;' and
"Dangerous Corner;'
through Oct. 15, "Hit the Deck,"
now through Oct. 16; "War and
Peace,'' now through July 31;
through Oct.
"Peter Pan;'
16; "Geneva," now through Sept.
24; "The Voysey Inheritance,"
now through Sept. 25; "The
Dark Lady of the Sonnets,"
Wednesday through Aug 28;
admission. 416-468-2172.

ATTIC THEATER
7339 Third Ave, Detroit, "Lady
Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill,"
now through Aug. 11, admission.
875-8284.
FISHER THEATER
Fisher Bldg., Detroit, "Cats,"
now through July 30, admission.
872-1000.
HILBERRY THEATER
Detroit, "&" Today and Saturday,
admission. 577-2972.
BERKLEY ALUMNI
DRAMATICS

Continued on Page 61

THE DETROIT JEWISH -NEWS

53

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