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Some local film
ael b Du e fftr soi b t ra inngew mekti r n od

of festival.

LYNNE KONSTANTIN STAFF WRITER

With

P

icture it: A young romantic
dreamer falls in love with the
girl of his dreams. The girl of
his dreams, however, turns out
to be a beautiful actress who
wants nothing to do with him.
Sound like a hit Julia Roberts
flick of the American cinema? Try
Hannah Azulai-Hasfari, Israeli actress.
And the film? Lovesick on Nana Street,
directed by Savi Gabizon, and winner
of eight Israeli Academy Awards.
Never heard of it? The America-Israel
Chamber of Commerce of Michigan is
not surprised. That's why the chamber
has teamed up with Midrasha, a divi--
sion of Southfield's Center for Adult
Jewish Studies, and the Maple Theatres
3, to bring to metropolitan Detroit its
first-ever Israeli Film Festival.
The festival, which will feature 10
award-winning Israeli films — all re-
cently produced in Israel — will fill myr-
iad gaps in American-Israeli relations,
says Michael Traison, president of the
chamber. "It's good for business," says
Traison. "The film industry in Israel is
an important business, and I think it's
good in terms of Jewish and Zionist %
sues, for Jews and non-Jews to be aware
of this spectrum of Israel's capacity."
"The chamber is not Jewish by objec-
tive, it's secular," adds Neil Jackson, a
member of the chamber's executive
board and chairman of the festival's pub-
licity. "We're trying to reach out to the
entire community."
All business aside, the festival's goal
is to bring to a major film-appreciating
community a scope of cinema which
larger cities, such as New York and Los
Angeles, have had access to for years.
Naomi Blumenberg, director of
Midrasha, had the job of choosing which
films will be shown.
"We watched a million videos," she
laughs. In gathering information on
available films, she and her committee
contacted other existing Israeli film fes-
tivals, went through their programs and
had assistance from New York's Israeli

TH E D ETROIT J EWISH NEWS

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86

Under the Domim Tree,

directed by Eli Cohen, is based
on Gila Almagor's
autobiography, and is the
sequel to Summer of Aviya.
Fifteen-year-old Aviya —
played by Kaipo Cohen — and
her village of teen-age death
camp survivors and war
orphans find solace from their
past beneath a beautiful
crabapple tree.

--.0•Pitalolommierimeinposoc-

ove