On Video

Israeli Film At
Cannes Film Festival

A new video
collection
spotlights
the work
of Israeli
filmmaker
Ephraim Kishon.

■

Thro

ens

random excavations lead to comic confusion as
he National Center for Jewish Film
misguided bureaucrats race to assist and claim
(NCJF) at Brandeis University in
credit
for the mysterious "project."
Waltham, Mass., has released a series of
The
Policeman, Kishon confronts the foibles
In
videotapes celebrating Israel's past and
of
his
ever-turbulent
adopted homeland from the
present. Among the highlights of the collection are
ironic
perspective
of
an
aging, inept beat cop. As
three features directed by acclaimed satirist and sem-
he
approaches
retirement,--the
beleaguered officer
Arbinka
inal Israeli filmmaker Ephraim Kishon:
Azoulay
(Shaike
Ophir)
has
a
series
of misadven-
(a.k.a. Ervinka, 1967), The Big Dig (a.k.a.
tures
during
which
he
befriends
an
enigmatic
pros-
Blaumilch Canal, 1969) and The Policeman (1971).
titute
and
unwittingly
solves
a
crime
staged
for
his
These titles are available through NCJF for the first
won the Golden
The
Policeman
benefit.
In
1972,
time in English-language subtitled versions.
Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and
The Hungarian-born Kishon made his director-
was
nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
ial debut in 1964 with the Academy Award-nomi-
In addition to-the Kishon films, NCJF
a
comedy
about
the
nated Sallah,
is offering a diverse array of Isiaeli
chaos of Israeli immigration and
Ephraim Kishon:
documentaries, features and shorts.
resettlement that introduced actor
Three features om the
The American-made Exodus 1947
Chaim Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) to
seminal Israeli lmmaker
(1996), directed by Elizabeth Rodgers
audiences worldwide. The antic
are available or the first
and
Robby Henson, examines the his-
humor and earthy social satire of
time in English-language
tory
and impact of the famed steamer
subtitled versions.
Sallah placed Kishon and producer
ship
which attempted to run the
Menahem Golan among the first
British blockade to Palestine. Another
Israeli filmmakers to achieve international success.
historic ship is the subject of liana Tzur's documen-
Kishon employed a similarly light-hearted
tary Altalena (1994), a film that resonates with dis-
approach in his second film, Arbinka, which reunit-
turbing political implications in its study of the
ed Topol with his Sallah co-star Gila Almagor in the
infamous arms vessel which nearly sparked a civil
story of an irrepressible iconoclast out to beat the
war
in 1948. Dreamers and Builders (1997), a
system. Almagor is now well known as one of
restoration produced by NCJF and the Israel Film
Israel's most beloved screen luminaries and as
Archive-Jerusalem Cinematheque, documents the
author of the autobiographical memoirs Summer of
early history of Palestine and its pioneering Zionist
Aviya and Under the Domim Tree.
founders through rare footage shot in the 1920s by
The Big Dig offers a colorful, absurdist view of
cameraman
Ya'akov Ben'Dov.
'60s urban life and politics in the Holy Land as an
Contemporary
narrative features include the late
escaped lunatic (Bomba Tzur) armed with a pneu-
Himmo,
King of Jerusalem (1987), a
Amos
Gutman's
matic drill proceeds to wreak havoc on the streets of
romantic drama set during the 1948 siege of
Tel Aviv. In exemplary Kishon style, the madman's

T

6/11
1999

100

Detroit Jewish News

.

A love story set in a fervently Orthodox neighbor-
hood in Jerusalem was among the films shown at
the 52nd Cannes Festival last month.
The movie, directed by Amos Gitai, was the
first Israeli film in 25 years to be screened as part
of the main competition at the prestigious festival
in the French resort town.
Kadosh, which means "holy," portrays the expe-
rience of two sisters trying to come to terms with
fervently Orthodox life in Mea Shearim.
One sister, Rivka, has been married to Meir for
10 years. The two love each other but do not have
any children.
The other sister, Malka, is in love with Ya'akov,
who has chosen to leave the fervently Orthodox
community.
Kadosh failed to.pick up any awards from the
festival's jury, which gave the top award, the
Golden Palm, to a dark-horse Belgian film,
Rosetta, which depicts an 18-year-old girl's strug-
gle to make her way in the world.
Kadosh opened in Israel on June 10 against the
backdrop of secular-religious tensions that are
now a familiar feature of Israeli life.
"From the beginning, I was aware of the diffi-
culties of making a film about ultra-Orthodox
society," Gitai recently told the Israeli daily

Hakretz.

"I came to this film, like all my others, out of
great curiosity and a desire to understand the phe-
nomenon the film deals with.
"The preparation and making of the film are a
form of research, and with Kadosh I was trying to
understand without erasing my personality or giv-
ing up my secular beliefs. My goal was to discuss
the contradictions that characterize ultra-
Orthodox society and determine the fate of its
members without making them exotic or carica-
tures," he said
Gitai said that while he spent time in Mea
Shearim in preparation for the film, the scenes,
which took place indoors, were filmed on a Tel
Aviv set, partly out of respect for the residents of
the Jerusalem neighborhood.
Gitai said it Was important to him that the film
accurately portray fervendy Orthodox life.
"It was really important to me that the film be
as accurate as possible in its portrayal of religious
ritual, such as the wedding, immersion in the ritu-
al bath — or even the way the married couple has
sexual relations," he said.
Gitai, who lives in Paris, was born in Haifa in
1950. Kadosh is the third part of a film trilogy by
Gitai that is set in Israel's three largest cities.
Zichron Dvarim takes place in Tel Aviv, and Yom
—\
Yom' is set in Haifa.
Gitai, who has worked in film for 20 -years, has
also shot documentaries.

— Naomi Segal
ewish Telegraphic Agency