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No Strings Attached
All the filmmakers interviewed agreed
that there has been no pressure by the
government of Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon to produce "patriotic" films, or
to otherwise dictate subjects or views.
This is rather remarkable, since 70
percent of the cost of Israeli feature
films, from script development and pro-
duction to distribution and marketing,
is borne by the country's government.
The money is administered by an
independent agency, the Israel Film
Fund. Without such government assis-
tance, said fund director Katriel Schory,
the small Israeli film. industry, with a
limited domestic market and a negligi-
ble foreign one, could not survive.
There is a smaller fund for docu-
mentaries, which has supported sever-
al projects by Israeli Arab filmmakers.
Schory's budget peaked last year,
during the intifada, at $9 million,
which was twice as much as the -Fund's
says. "I had never made a film before
— I kind of learned as I went along. I
think of the last three years as film
school."
If this was film school, Morse has
graduated magna cum laude.
In his March 15 review, Clay Smith,
of the Austin Chronicle, wrote that
Morse "follows the sometimes outra-
geous race and run-off with aplomb
and tenacity."
The San Francisco Chronicle's Rob
Morse (no relation) wrote on April 15
that See How They Run "ought to play
nationwide, so everyone can see a
world where an African American lib-
eral is the conservative and a gay radi-
cal is the man of the people."
The documentary has so far played at
film festivals in San Francisco, Austin,
Dallas, East Lansing and Taos, N.M.
Screenings are scheduled at film fes-
previous budget. Currently, he has
more than $6.5 million to invest in
the dozen or so feature films annually
produced by the Israeli movie industry.
The average cost of an Israeli feature
film is $9 million, which might barely
cover expenses for a decent post-Oscar
party in Hollywood.
In any case, local productions are
overwhelmed by foreign imports. "Of
the 170 titles we imported last year,
150 came from America and the rest
from Europe and Asia," Schory said.
Over the years, Schory has seen a
succession of "waves" in domestic
movie output, initially consisting of
broad public or social issues, such as
the Holocaust, Israeli relations with
Arabs and the chasm between reli-
gious and secular Jews.
After the Oslo accords of the early
1990s, with their short-lived promise
of peace, directors came out with films
centering on more personal hopes and
problems.
"Recently, we have seen a wave of
pictures located in the countryside, in
small villages and towns, often dealing
with the lives of disparate immigrant
groups," Schory said.
"That's a reflection that the vision
of our founding fathers of Israel as a
melting pot society didn't work, and
what we are getting is a multicultural
society." ❑
The 18th Israel Film Festival
runs June 13-27 in New York
City. For schedule and ticket
information, go to the Web site
at -www.israelfilmfestival.com .
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play for a comedy about the intifada.
"The most powerful weapon against
fanaticism is humor," said Cohen. He
said he's thinking in terms of a
M*A*S*H-like approach, "but a bit
more politically oriented."
Cohen would like to collaborate on
the project with a Palestinian director,
although "I'm afraid he can't make fun
of his own people as I'm willing to do
of mine."
But even Cohen thinks that the
subject is too touchy and immediate
to set the film in the current intifada.
He'll probably transfer the era to the
less bloody first intifada of the late
1980s and early 1990s.
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of equal or lesser value
tivals in Atlanta and San Rafael,
Calif., and on two public television
stations, San Francisco's WQED and
Howard University Television in
Washington, D.C.
"People think of documentaries as
being boring," says Morse, who has
recently founded ChickFlick
Productions. "You say to yourself,
`Well, I'll be bored, but, after I see it,
I'll be a better person.'
"You won't feel like that when you
see mine." ❑
Monday - Thursday Dine In Only. One Coupon Per Table.
Not Good With Any Other Offer. Expires 6/30/02.
The Waterfront Film Festival,
taking place June 6-9 in
Saugatuck, will show See How
They Run 1 p.m. Friday, June 7,
and 4 p.m., Sunday, June 9.
More information is available at
vvwvv.waterfrontfilm.com
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