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