ntertainment

Four Tops

From stage and screen to fine arts and broadcast journalism
an introduction to some of Israel's cultural superstars.

parent, she did not intend to have her
thoughts published.
"I was in a very fragile situation in
my life, and to keep my sanity, I wrote
something for myself," Almagor
explains. "Five. months later, it was on
the shelves and became a best-seller.
Now both books are part of the cur-
riculum in the schools.
"The first one, Summer of Aviya, is
about [our] very special and unique
relationship. The other, Under the
Domim Tree, is about the time I spent
in a youth village."
Besides bringing inner peace to the
actress, these self-told tales gave
understanding to her own daughter.
They were completed when Israeli
productions on stage and for the
screen had long moved away from eth-
nic comedies to serious expressions of
life's experiences.
Almagor's career developed along
with the Israeli film
industry.
The actress, who
studied her craft in

.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News

a

Gila Almagor

ila Almagor, known as
Israel's "First Lady of Cine-
ma," has not neglected the
theater. Currently filming a
psychological thriller, she also is per-
forming on stage in Master Class and
appearing in a one-woman show of
her autobiographies.
In the 40th year of her celebrated
career, she shows no sign of slowing
down.
"I came to Tel Aviv when I was 15
years old and decided I wanted to be

5/1
1998

120

an actress after I saw a professional
play," Almagor says. "I was accepted
to drama school, and before ending
the first year, I was accepted into the
National Theater Company.
"Ever since then, I've been on stage,
and two years later, I started to make
films. I just kept working."
While Almagor has made some 50
films and been part of countless stage
shows, her most meaningful perfor-
mances have involved taking the part
of her mother in stage and screen pro-
ductions based on her two autobio-
graphical books.
When she began chronicling expe-
riences with her emotionally troubled

New York for two years, returned last
year to introduce a retrospective of her
films at the Museum of Modern Art.
"I'm married to Yaacov Agmon, the
artistic and general director of the
National Theater, and I think God
was very nice to me when he made us
meet," Almagor says. "My husband
and I are very connected to the artistic
life here, and he understand s my
needs as I do his."
Almagor, who is active in the peace
movement, considers the personal
highlight of her week to be the Shab-
bat dinners served in her home to
family and friends. Besides her daugh-
ter, there is a son from her husband's
first marriage, their spouses and three
grandsons.
"For me, it's very important to have
family around with everybody telling
about what happened during the past
week," Almagor says.

_

T

Tsibi Geva

assom.'imis

sibi
Geva
express
es
political and
social interests
through prize-
winning paint-
ings.
"You can see
the abstract in m
work, but it
always has a refer-
"Kaffiyeh,"
ence to very sym-
1991, by
bolic objects from
Tsibi Geva.
our environ-
ment," says the
artist, who, at 46, is almost as old
as his country.
"It's based on very simple
objects. I took, for example, a
backgammon game, which is a very
typical game, and I'm doing an
abstractional piece.
"My most recent series relates to
architectural objects like doors and
gates. My studio is outside Tel Aviv,
where there are typical architectural

sovi

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