The tanks are rolling into Gaza, as the Israeli invasion seems to finally be happening, after a pause for humanitarian aid and mostly-fruitless negotiations for the release of 220 hostages being held by Hamas.
No one knows how this will end, but one thing is clear: This will be remembered as Bibi’s war.
Yes, of course, Hamas started this round of violence, with their appalling mass slaughter of over 1,400 innocent civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds more. They bear a profound moral responsibility that cannot be justified or excused, no...
No one knows how this will end, but one thing is clear: This will be remembered as Bibi’s war.
Yes, of course, Hamas started this round of violence, with their appalling mass slaughter of over 1,400 innocent civilians and the kidnapping of hundreds more. They bear a profound moral responsibility that cannot be justified or excused, no...
- 10/29/2023
- by Jay Michaelson
- Rollingstone.com
Helen Mirren as Golda Meir and Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger, in Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures’ Golda Photo credit: Sean Gleason, Courtesy of Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures
Helen Mirren portrays Golda Meir, Israel’s first women prime minister, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in Golda. Internationally, Golda Meir is known as the “Iron Lady of Israel” and is an admired figure but she is more controversial in her home country of Israel. In the British historical drama Golda, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ and British scriptwriter Nicholas Martin aim to offer a fresh look at Golda Meir by focusing on her during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel found itself facing two invading armies, from Egypt in the Sinai and Syria in the Golan Heights.
Mirren plays Golda Meir in heavy makeup and prosthetics, transforming her appearenceappearance to more closely resemble the much-photographed Golda Meir and allow director Nativ to more...
Helen Mirren portrays Golda Meir, Israel’s first women prime minister, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in Golda. Internationally, Golda Meir is known as the “Iron Lady of Israel” and is an admired figure but she is more controversial in her home country of Israel. In the British historical drama Golda, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ and British scriptwriter Nicholas Martin aim to offer a fresh look at Golda Meir by focusing on her during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel found itself facing two invading armies, from Egypt in the Sinai and Syria in the Golan Heights.
Mirren plays Golda Meir in heavy makeup and prosthetics, transforming her appearenceappearance to more closely resemble the much-photographed Golda Meir and allow director Nativ to more...
- 8/24/2023
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Oliver Stone said Friday he was shocked to hear that the stars of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had walked out of its London premiere the day before as SAG-AFTRA officially declared strike action.
“I know several producers are opening movies, like Oppenheimer. Chuck Roven, he was in London. I heard it was going to be cancelled,” said Stone, when asked for his view on the strike.
“I don’t know if it went ahead but all the actors left. That was shocking that they really meant business and cut off right away all the promotion, which is big.”
Commenting on the ongoing 11-week WGA strike, Stone suggested the roots of the current industrial action lie in the deal brokered to end the five-month writers strike in 1988.
“There was a basic miscarriage of justice way back when, when Brian Walton was the head of the WGA, when we gave in. I...
“I know several producers are opening movies, like Oppenheimer. Chuck Roven, he was in London. I heard it was going to be cancelled,” said Stone, when asked for his view on the strike.
“I don’t know if it went ahead but all the actors left. That was shocking that they really meant business and cut off right away all the promotion, which is big.”
Commenting on the ongoing 11-week WGA strike, Stone suggested the roots of the current industrial action lie in the deal brokered to end the five-month writers strike in 1988.
“There was a basic miscarriage of justice way back when, when Brian Walton was the head of the WGA, when we gave in. I...
- 7/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
War is coming in Guy Nattiv’s Golda, onscreen and off. But despite the media’s best efforts to turn the casting of British, non-Jewish actor Helen Mirren as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir into an explosive example of cultural appropriation, both Nattiv’s direction and Mirren’s performance are low-key and careful enough to rise above the controversy. In retrospect, it does seem a little strange that no other candidate was deemed suitable, and the movie won’t do much extra business on account of Mirren’s star power, but those anticipating a tone-deaf disaster will be sorely disappointed.
Golda very much exists in the slipstream of two last-decade biopics, The Iron Lady and Darkest Hour, both humanizing studies of seemingly indomitable famous politicians. Nattiv, however, takes a much narrower view of his subject, using Meir’s testimony at an inquest into her government’s handling of the Yom...
Golda very much exists in the slipstream of two last-decade biopics, The Iron Lady and Darkest Hour, both humanizing studies of seemingly indomitable famous politicians. Nattiv, however, takes a much narrower view of his subject, using Meir’s testimony at an inquest into her government’s handling of the Yom...
- 2/20/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Israel’s leading multi-channel platform Yes TV and its production-distribution arm Yes Studios will be launching a record 43 series and documentaries in 2022. The lineup includes several new shows in post production, notably “Fire Dance” and “Bloody Murray,” and some series in development such as “Alef.”
Yes Studios — which is behind two of Israel’s biggest scripted hits in recent history, “Fauda” and “Shtisel” — is co-developing “Aleph,” a six-part series that’s being co-created by Odelia Karmon based on her book “Confidante” about the behind-the-scenes happenings of Israel’s political leadership. Karmon worked for more than 25 years as press adviser for Israel’s top political figures, from Benjamin Netanyahu to Ariel Sharon and former president Moshe Katsav. Karmon accused Katsav of rape during his term as tourism minister, and her key testimony led to his resignation in 2007. He was convicted on two counts of rape, among other charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Yes Studios — which is behind two of Israel’s biggest scripted hits in recent history, “Fauda” and “Shtisel” — is co-developing “Aleph,” a six-part series that’s being co-created by Odelia Karmon based on her book “Confidante” about the behind-the-scenes happenings of Israel’s political leadership. Karmon worked for more than 25 years as press adviser for Israel’s top political figures, from Benjamin Netanyahu to Ariel Sharon and former president Moshe Katsav. Karmon accused Katsav of rape during his term as tourism minister, and her key testimony led to his resignation in 2007. He was convicted on two counts of rape, among other charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison.
- 12/28/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Its Oscar nomination this week as Best Foreign-Language Film isn't the only thing that makes The Insult a must-see – Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri's legal thriller fairly crackles with timely provocations. And don't be put off if the film's structure initially seems schematic to a fault. This is a director who's more than adept at filling in the spaces between feuding characters with insinuating nuance.
The conflict starts when Tony Hanna (Adel Karam), a Christian garage owner with a pregnant wife, Shirine (Rita Hayek), gets all up in the face...
The conflict starts when Tony Hanna (Adel Karam), a Christian garage owner with a pregnant wife, Shirine (Rita Hayek), gets all up in the face...
- 1/25/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Avi Mograbi's Between Fences (2016) is showing on Mubi from March 17 - April 16, 2017 as a Special Discovery.Between FencesIn a bare room, two seated men pretend to offer a deal to a third. They will give the man 2,000 shekels and a passport if he agrees to leave Israel and go to back to Africa. “Your brothers don’t get it,” the boss says. “They’re stupid, but you look smart.” The man listening to the deal, a Sudanese refugee, insists that he must stay in Israel for his own safety. The two men, who are revealed through context to be border patrol agents, up the ante to 3,000 shekels. But the catch is, if the man stays in Israel he will go to Saharonim, a prison-like detention center for an unspecified period of time—“1, 2, 3 years in jail.” As the negotiation wears on, the border agents threaten him with one year, then two,...
- 3/17/2017
- MUBI
Exclusive: Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road has acquired screen rights to the Steven Pressfield hybrid history The Lion’s Gate: On The Front Lines Of The Six Day War. The producer will use the book as a template to tell the story of how Israel, faced with extinction as Jordan, Syria and Egypt prepared to attack, routed the enemy in less than a week in 1967 with a brilliant battle plan. By the time the smoke cleared, Israel had gained hold of three times as much land as it started with, taking over the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall that was part of the ruins of Solomon’s Temple, real estate that hadn’t been in Jewish hands for 1900 years.
Though a period tale, it certainly is a topical one, because the repercussions are still felt today in the constant tension between Israel and its neighbors.
Though a period tale, it certainly is a topical one, because the repercussions are still felt today in the constant tension between Israel and its neighbors.
- 10/10/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
In case you're thinking of naming your baby girl Elsa, know that she may not be the only one in her class. According to the British website BabyCentre, Frozen has popularized the name Elsa, and it has leapt onto the list of the 100 most popular baby names so far in 2014 - at No. 88. While we have yet to see how the name catches on in the States, Frozen's popularity or Elsa's status as a strong, powerful female character who also happens to look great in sparkly dresses - a win for progressive parents and princess-obsessed little girls alike - can't hurt.
- 7/3/2014
- by Drew Mackie
- PEOPLE.com
In case you're thinking of naming your baby girl Elsa, know that she may not be the only one in her class. According to the British website BabyCentre, Frozen has popularized the name Elsa, and it has leapt onto the list of the 100 most popular baby names so far in 2014 - at No. 88. While we have yet to see how the name catches on in the States, Frozen's popularity or Elsa's status as a strong, powerful female character who also happens to look great in sparkly dresses - a win for progressive parents and princess-obsessed little girls alike - can't hurt.
- 7/3/2014
- by Drew Mackie
- PEOPLE.com
Ariel Sharon, the hard-charging Israeli general and prime minister - from 2001-2006 - who was admired and hated for his battlefield exploits and ambitions to reshape the Middle East, died Saturday, eight years after a stroke left him in a coma from which he never awoke. He was 85. As one of Israel's most famous soldiers, Sharon was known for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders. As a politician he became known as "the bulldozer," a man contemptuous of his critics while also capable of getting things done. He led his country into a divisive war in Lebanon...
- 1/11/2014
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
The Gatekeepers is a documentary about the people behind the closed doors. Like America’s Homeland Security, Israel has the Shin Bet, their internal security service. The Shin Bet is comprised of anonymous individuals who work with politicians to make decisions that prevent, or sometimes create, disorder in Israel.
With the Shin Bet having the motto of “Defender that shall not be seen,” The Gatekeepers marks the first time that members of the security group have spoken publicly. Director Dror Moreh’s doc features six former heads of Shin Bet, each with their own stories, and decisions to defend, concerning the difficult choices they have made at the cost of an innumerable amount of lives.
This is Moreh’s second documentary, but the first to be nominated for an Academy Award; he previously made Sharon, about Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2008.
In an exclusive interview with Moreh, we discussed...
With the Shin Bet having the motto of “Defender that shall not be seen,” The Gatekeepers marks the first time that members of the security group have spoken publicly. Director Dror Moreh’s doc features six former heads of Shin Bet, each with their own stories, and decisions to defend, concerning the difficult choices they have made at the cost of an innumerable amount of lives.
This is Moreh’s second documentary, but the first to be nominated for an Academy Award; he previously made Sharon, about Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2008.
In an exclusive interview with Moreh, we discussed...
- 2/20/2013
- by Nick Allen
- The Scorecard Review
Chicago – One of the five documentaries nominated for an Oscar this Sunday is the incendiary story of “The Gatekeepers.” The film goes inside “Shin Bet,” the Israeli secret anti-terrorist agency. By interviewing ex-agency leaders, director Droh Moreh was able to gain insights into the moral failings of their activities.
By dividing the film into seven segments, Moreh breaks down the activities of Shin Bet post the Six Day War in 1967, in which Israel scored a decisive victory over Palestinian territories, including the disputed Gaza Strip. In this comprehensive interview with HollywoodChicago.com, Moreh talks about his process in procuring the interviews of the key Shin Bet leaders shown in the film, and the continuing influence over policy that the Isreali-Palestinian conflict has on geopolitics.
Ami Ayalon is Interviewed in ‘The Gatekeepers’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics
HollywoodChicago.com: Congratulations on ‘The Gatekeepers’ being nominated for Best Documentary in the upcoming Oscars.
By dividing the film into seven segments, Moreh breaks down the activities of Shin Bet post the Six Day War in 1967, in which Israel scored a decisive victory over Palestinian territories, including the disputed Gaza Strip. In this comprehensive interview with HollywoodChicago.com, Moreh talks about his process in procuring the interviews of the key Shin Bet leaders shown in the film, and the continuing influence over policy that the Isreali-Palestinian conflict has on geopolitics.
Ami Ayalon is Interviewed in ‘The Gatekeepers’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics
HollywoodChicago.com: Congratulations on ‘The Gatekeepers’ being nominated for Best Documentary in the upcoming Oscars.
- 2/18/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The Law In These Parts builds a strong case against the judges responsible for Israel's draconian occupation laws
The Law In These Parts, an Israeli documentary awarded this year's Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury prize, examines how the country created a military-legal system to control the Palestinians in the lands Israel occupied in 1967. And at some point during the film, it becomes clear that it's the judges who are on trial. The documentary, which just screened as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, features forceful archive footage, alongside a line-up of Israeli legal experts, explaining how they made Israel's occupation laws.
Each judge sits in a black leather chair at a heavy wooden desk intended, you might first assume, to evoke a serious courtroom. But then, each is quietly interrogated by the film's narrator; asked to explain the military rule that they created. Why did Israel even need hundreds...
The Law In These Parts, an Israeli documentary awarded this year's Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury prize, examines how the country created a military-legal system to control the Palestinians in the lands Israel occupied in 1967. And at some point during the film, it becomes clear that it's the judges who are on trial. The documentary, which just screened as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, features forceful archive footage, alongside a line-up of Israeli legal experts, explaining how they made Israel's occupation laws.
Each judge sits in a black leather chair at a heavy wooden desk intended, you might first assume, to evoke a serious courtroom. But then, each is quietly interrogated by the film's narrator; asked to explain the military rule that they created. Why did Israel even need hundreds...
- 11/13/2012
- by Rachel Shabi
- The Guardian - Film News
From a grumpy Ariel Sharon to a splenetic Tracey Emin, some of the most entertaining, controversial – and cringe-making – encounters from the Guardian's daily features section, G2
Thora Hird
Simon Hattenstone
12 April 1999
She introduces me to Scotty by way of a photograph on her sideboard. "That is the best picture of my husband and my grandson. He was a good man." The picture is taken in Beverly Hills where her daughter, the former child movie star Janette Scott, used to live. "We had 54 years together. It was a wonderful life. And you see, Simon, I was ashamed that I didn't know it was a stroke he'd had. I was getting ready to go to work in the back, and we've got two bedrooms, and I was in one and he was in the other, not because we didn't speak to each other, because my arthritis, well, with all this you wouldn't...
Thora Hird
Simon Hattenstone
12 April 1999
She introduces me to Scotty by way of a photograph on her sideboard. "That is the best picture of my husband and my grandson. He was a good man." The picture is taken in Beverly Hills where her daughter, the former child movie star Janette Scott, used to live. "We had 54 years together. It was a wonderful life. And you see, Simon, I was ashamed that I didn't know it was a stroke he'd had. I was getting ready to go to work in the back, and we've got two bedrooms, and I was in one and he was in the other, not because we didn't speak to each other, because my arthritis, well, with all this you wouldn't...
- 10/17/2012
- by Simon Hattenstone, Emma Brockes, Decca Aitkenhead
- The Guardian - Film News
When River Phoenix died in 1993, George Sluizer abandoned the film they were working on. But after his own near-death experience, the director decided it was finally time to complete Dark Blood
On Christmas day five years ago, George Sluizer had an aneurysm. The director was in France at the time. He was taken to hospital in a coma. One doctor hesitated before giving up on him. "Everything said zero. But he thought he saw a light in my eye," says Sluizer.
He was taken to a specialist hospital in Lyon. There was no helicopter: "I went by ambulance as a dead person for five hours, without blood and without oxygen in my heart or my brain." When Sluizer finally flickered back into consciousness, he instructed the doctors to get a move on as he had to fly back to La. He had decided that he needed to finish a film.
On Christmas day five years ago, George Sluizer had an aneurysm. The director was in France at the time. He was taken to hospital in a coma. One doctor hesitated before giving up on him. "Everything said zero. But he thought he saw a light in my eye," says Sluizer.
He was taken to a specialist hospital in Lyon. There was no helicopter: "I went by ambulance as a dead person for five hours, without blood and without oxygen in my heart or my brain." When Sluizer finally flickered back into consciousness, he instructed the doctors to get a move on as he had to fly back to La. He had decided that he needed to finish a film.
- 9/27/2012
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- The Guardian - Film News
American activist's family vows to appeal against Israeli court's ruling that her death was a 'regrettable accident'
The death of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie was a "regrettable accident" for which the state of Israel was not responsible, a judge has ruled, dismissing a civil lawsuit brought by the family.
The young American had "put herself in a dangerous situation" and her death was not caused by the negligence of the Israeli state or army, said Judge Oded Gershon at Haifa district court.
The 62-page ruling found no fault in the internal Israeli military investigation which cleared the driver of the bulldozer which crushed Corrie to death in March 2003. The judge said the driver could not have seen the activist from the cab of the bulldozer.
Corrie could have saved herself by moving out of the zone of danger "as any reasonable person would have done", he said. The area was a combat zone,...
The death of pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie was a "regrettable accident" for which the state of Israel was not responsible, a judge has ruled, dismissing a civil lawsuit brought by the family.
The young American had "put herself in a dangerous situation" and her death was not caused by the negligence of the Israeli state or army, said Judge Oded Gershon at Haifa district court.
The 62-page ruling found no fault in the internal Israeli military investigation which cleared the driver of the bulldozer which crushed Corrie to death in March 2003. The judge said the driver could not have seen the activist from the cab of the bulldozer.
Corrie could have saved herself by moving out of the zone of danger "as any reasonable person would have done", he said. The area was a combat zone,...
- 8/28/2012
- by Harriet Sherwood
- The Guardian - Film News
Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir (2008) is an animated Israeli film which is nearly four years old but, to my mind, it has become relevant in an unforeseen way with the recent controversy over Günter Grass’ poem about Israel. Grass is a celebrated Nobel Prize winning novelist and his recent poem ‘What Must be Said’ apparently questions Israel’s innocence in the nuclear conflagration developing in the Middle-East, treating both Israel and Iran as equally dangerous. This has led to huge criticism of Grass across the liberal West. For instance, a French ‘philosopher’ Bernard Henri Levy, writing in The Huffington Post, wonders if Grass has nothing better to do than to publish a poem in which he asserts that a serious threat hanging over our heads comes from a ‘tiny country, one of the smallest in the world, one of the most vulnerable as well and, by the by, a...
- 4/15/2012
- by MK Raghvendra
- DearCinema.com
The contentious story of the Mossad cell searching for perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972 is stylish and well acted, but the subject is nearly impossible to scale
Munich (2005)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: C+
In 1972, the terrorist group Black September kidnapped and murdered 11 Israeli athletes, officials and trainers at the Munich Olympics.
Media
In the early hours of 5 September 1972, eight armed men sneak into the Olympic village in Munich, break into the Israeli team's headquarters and take 11 hostages. These tense opening sequences are brilliantly and accurately done, intercutting TV reports with documentary footage and meticulous recreation. The Munich hostage drama, lasting 20 hours, was the first time a major terrorist attack became a live television event. This film captures that with great skill.
Spies
Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) orders the country's security agency, the Mossad, to track down and kill the perpetrators of the attack.
Munich (2005)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: C+
In 1972, the terrorist group Black September kidnapped and murdered 11 Israeli athletes, officials and trainers at the Munich Olympics.
Media
In the early hours of 5 September 1972, eight armed men sneak into the Olympic village in Munich, break into the Israeli team's headquarters and take 11 hostages. These tense opening sequences are brilliantly and accurately done, intercutting TV reports with documentary footage and meticulous recreation. The Munich hostage drama, lasting 20 hours, was the first time a major terrorist attack became a live television event. This film captures that with great skill.
Spies
Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) orders the country's security agency, the Mossad, to track down and kill the perpetrators of the attack.
- 3/15/2012
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
Ralph Fiennes looked to the world political arena for inspiration for his big screen version of Roman leader Coriolanus, he based the character on Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon. The Oscar-nominated actor has gone behind the camera for his directorial debut and decided to tackle the first ever movie version of the Shakespeare play.
And he aimed high when researching how to bring the lead character to life in the 21st century, he studied the personalities of Russian Prime Minister Putin and former Israeli leader Sharon. Fiennes tells Total Film magazine, "Someone who's steeped in vigorous nationalism and authoritarian stance would be Putin."
"He's the person I looked at. And the tougher Israeli leaders, like Ariel Sharon. They reflected aspects of Coriolanus, that intransigence and unbending nationalism."...
And he aimed high when researching how to bring the lead character to life in the 21st century, he studied the personalities of Russian Prime Minister Putin and former Israeli leader Sharon. Fiennes tells Total Film magazine, "Someone who's steeped in vigorous nationalism and authoritarian stance would be Putin."
"He's the person I looked at. And the tougher Israeli leaders, like Ariel Sharon. They reflected aspects of Coriolanus, that intransigence and unbending nationalism."...
- 3/18/2011
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Ralph Fiennes looked to the world political arena for inspiration for his big screen version of Roman leader Coriolanus - he based the character on Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon.
The Oscar-nominated actor has gone behind the camera for his directorial debut and decided to tackle the first ever movie version of the Shakespeare play.
And he aimed high when researching how to bring the lead character to life in the 21st century - he studied the personalities of Russian Prime Minister Putin and former Israeli leader Sharon.
Fiennes tells Total Film magazine, "Someone who's steeped in vigorous nationalism and authoritarian stance would be Putin. He's the person I looked at. And the tougher Israeli leaders, like Ariel Sharon. They reflected aspects of Coriolanus - that intransigence and unbending nationalism."...
The Oscar-nominated actor has gone behind the camera for his directorial debut and decided to tackle the first ever movie version of the Shakespeare play.
And he aimed high when researching how to bring the lead character to life in the 21st century - he studied the personalities of Russian Prime Minister Putin and former Israeli leader Sharon.
Fiennes tells Total Film magazine, "Someone who's steeped in vigorous nationalism and authoritarian stance would be Putin. He's the person I looked at. And the tougher Israeli leaders, like Ariel Sharon. They reflected aspects of Coriolanus - that intransigence and unbending nationalism."...
- 3/17/2011
- WENN
Reviewed at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
Before he directed 1988's astounding "The Vanishing" and 1993's astoundingly disappointing American remake of the same film, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer made a trilogy of documentaries entitled "Land of the Fathers" that followed two Palestinian families through their experiences in 1974, 1978 and 1983 -- the last, "Adios Beirut," he mentioned was sold to PBS but never broadcast. With "Homeland," one of the films making its world premiere at Abu Dhabi, Sluizer revisits those two families, now spread out over Lebanon, Colombia, the U.A.E. and other locations, and also puts himself and his feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict center stage.
"Homeland" starts quietly, with Sluizer discussing his own history, the earlier films, the aneurysm two years ago that left him needing crutches or a wheelchair to get around, and how that brush with mortality encouraged him to revisit the past. It ends with him...
Before he directed 1988's astounding "The Vanishing" and 1993's astoundingly disappointing American remake of the same film, Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer made a trilogy of documentaries entitled "Land of the Fathers" that followed two Palestinian families through their experiences in 1974, 1978 and 1983 -- the last, "Adios Beirut," he mentioned was sold to PBS but never broadcast. With "Homeland," one of the films making its world premiere at Abu Dhabi, Sluizer revisits those two families, now spread out over Lebanon, Colombia, the U.A.E. and other locations, and also puts himself and his feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict center stage.
"Homeland" starts quietly, with Sluizer discussing his own history, the earlier films, the aneurysm two years ago that left him needing crutches or a wheelchair to get around, and how that brush with mortality encouraged him to revisit the past. It ends with him...
- 10/21/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Cannes film review, In CompetitionIn this self-styled "animated documentary," written, directed and produced by Ari Folman, the Israeli television director has added his voice to the maelstrom that has swarmed through Middle Eastern politics for decades, with heartfelt intentions and mixed results. Festival programrs and television buyers should definitely have a look, but a theatrical release in other territories is a longshot.
Disturbed by an old Army buddy's recounting of a persistent nightmare in which he's being chased by 26 enraged dogs, Folman determines that the nightmares are related to their service in the first Lebanon war in the early 1980's. Since the director seems to have repressed his own memories of that conflict, he sets out to interview old friends, psychotherapists and other veterans to help him regain what's been lost.
Nine in number, his sources speak of their own wartime experiences or attempt to interpret Folman's. The entire film is rendered in animation, a clever gesture that allows the director to restage horrifically violent encounters that otherwise would have cost millions to reproduce realistically.
For unknown reasons, however, and though he videotaped all the interviews, Folman decided to forego the rotoscoping method used in Richard Linklater's "Waking Life", in which live-action footage is turned directly into strikingly lifelike animation.
Instead, Folman decided to have his team of illustrators redraw the scenes of the interviews themselves, frame by frame, and to call upon their imaginations to render the wartime memories that are dredged up. The results are mixed.
Scenes of violence (or more frequently, scenes of scared young Israeli soldiers in an alien, hostile land) often have a visceral, poetic power that could only come from a draftsman's imagination. The largely monochromatic palette Folman insists upon, however, works unfortunately in the opposite direction.
In addition, the method visually abstracts the scenes that haunt Folman and his former comrades, making them less emotionally immediate. Furthermore, during the interviews themselves, the chosen style of animation leads to a distracting choppiness that renders the movements, gestures and facial expressions of the interviewees unconvincing. The other problem is that, memory naturally being something that returns in fits and starts, the film is rarely able to sustain any consistent narrative thrust.
Though the film is being promoted as an examination of the Christian Phalangist massacres of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, these are not mentioned until one hour into the film. Nor does it break any ground politically, since the culprit who is rather mildly rebuked, Ariel Sharon, was condemned by an official government committee decades ago for his part in allowing the massacres to happen.
After a dramatic shift to actual newsreel footage of wailing Palestinian women and heaps of Palestinian bodies -- which presumably represents the return of Folman's repressed memories -- the film suddenly ends, with no further exploration of his psychological state.
Director-screenwriter-producer: Ari Folman. Art Director and Illustrator: David Polonsky. Music: Max Richter. Editor: Nili Feller
Sales: The Match Factory GMBH
No MPAA rating, 87 minutes...
Disturbed by an old Army buddy's recounting of a persistent nightmare in which he's being chased by 26 enraged dogs, Folman determines that the nightmares are related to their service in the first Lebanon war in the early 1980's. Since the director seems to have repressed his own memories of that conflict, he sets out to interview old friends, psychotherapists and other veterans to help him regain what's been lost.
Nine in number, his sources speak of their own wartime experiences or attempt to interpret Folman's. The entire film is rendered in animation, a clever gesture that allows the director to restage horrifically violent encounters that otherwise would have cost millions to reproduce realistically.
For unknown reasons, however, and though he videotaped all the interviews, Folman decided to forego the rotoscoping method used in Richard Linklater's "Waking Life", in which live-action footage is turned directly into strikingly lifelike animation.
Instead, Folman decided to have his team of illustrators redraw the scenes of the interviews themselves, frame by frame, and to call upon their imaginations to render the wartime memories that are dredged up. The results are mixed.
Scenes of violence (or more frequently, scenes of scared young Israeli soldiers in an alien, hostile land) often have a visceral, poetic power that could only come from a draftsman's imagination. The largely monochromatic palette Folman insists upon, however, works unfortunately in the opposite direction.
In addition, the method visually abstracts the scenes that haunt Folman and his former comrades, making them less emotionally immediate. Furthermore, during the interviews themselves, the chosen style of animation leads to a distracting choppiness that renders the movements, gestures and facial expressions of the interviewees unconvincing. The other problem is that, memory naturally being something that returns in fits and starts, the film is rarely able to sustain any consistent narrative thrust.
Though the film is being promoted as an examination of the Christian Phalangist massacres of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, these are not mentioned until one hour into the film. Nor does it break any ground politically, since the culprit who is rather mildly rebuked, Ariel Sharon, was condemned by an official government committee decades ago for his part in allowing the massacres to happen.
After a dramatic shift to actual newsreel footage of wailing Palestinian women and heaps of Palestinian bodies -- which presumably represents the return of Folman's repressed memories -- the film suddenly ends, with no further exploration of his psychological state.
Director-screenwriter-producer: Ari Folman. Art Director and Illustrator: David Polonsky. Music: Max Richter. Editor: Nili Feller
Sales: The Match Factory GMBH
No MPAA rating, 87 minutes...
- 5/15/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Panorama Documentary
BERLIN -- Full of talking heads, Dror Moreh's documentary "Sharon", about former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is clearly a television program lacking the flair and ambition of feature documentaries.
The hard-headed warrior who became a controversial political leader and now lies in a coma, reversed the convictions of a lifetime in 2005 with his policy of unilateral disengagement by Israel from the Gaza Strip and parts of Samaria.
Settlers were evacuated and homes were dismantled. Israel left Gaza after 38 years and built a wall around it. With the 1.5 million mostly Palestinian residents of the strip still facing dreadful turmoil, it's a good time to take a look at a man who helped initiate the long harsh occupation of the area only to later withdraw suddenly.
Moreh's film is a dry history lesson, however, as an assortment of political allies and adversaries comment on Sharon and his actions. Perhaps a worthy document for scholars, it is unlikely to claim broad appeal.
There are clips from Sharon's political career and of him at home and on the campaign trail. It's even-handed and reaches no conclusions. Sharon remains in a coma after a stroke in 2005 with the reason for his change of heart still a mystery.
One quote from an old interview offers a clue to the ex-soldier when he describes having to work in politics with people "who have never had to make serious decisions and never knew the thrill of victory."...
BERLIN -- Full of talking heads, Dror Moreh's documentary "Sharon", about former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is clearly a television program lacking the flair and ambition of feature documentaries.
The hard-headed warrior who became a controversial political leader and now lies in a coma, reversed the convictions of a lifetime in 2005 with his policy of unilateral disengagement by Israel from the Gaza Strip and parts of Samaria.
Settlers were evacuated and homes were dismantled. Israel left Gaza after 38 years and built a wall around it. With the 1.5 million mostly Palestinian residents of the strip still facing dreadful turmoil, it's a good time to take a look at a man who helped initiate the long harsh occupation of the area only to later withdraw suddenly.
Moreh's film is a dry history lesson, however, as an assortment of political allies and adversaries comment on Sharon and his actions. Perhaps a worthy document for scholars, it is unlikely to claim broad appeal.
There are clips from Sharon's political career and of him at home and on the campaign trail. It's even-handed and reaches no conclusions. Sharon remains in a coma after a stroke in 2005 with the reason for his change of heart still a mystery.
One quote from an old interview offers a clue to the ex-soldier when he describes having to work in politics with people "who have never had to make serious decisions and never knew the thrill of victory."...
- 2/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Forbidden City International
NEW YORK -- Joel Blasberg and Oreet Rees' documentary focuses on the tumultuous period in summer 2005 when the Israeli government dictated the removal of thousands of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in an attempt to further peace with the Palestinians. Featuring extensive footage of the process as well as numerous interviews with those who were displaced, "Withdrawal From Gaza" details the trauma suffered both by them and the soldiers fulfilling their duties.
Indeed, the film is stronger in terms of emotional impact than providing information. It will be best appreciated by those already somewhat familiar with the events in question, and lacks the historical context necessary to lift the entry above the plethora of similarly themed documentaries concerning the recent travails in the Middle East.
The film centers on the fateful day of Aug. 15, 2005, when Israeli soldiers began the forced evacuation of about 8,500 people from the 21 Jewish settlements (collectively known as Gush Katif) from the Gaza Strip on the orders of then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Focusing on several families (many of whom we also see in flashbacks preparing for the move), it well delineates the physical and emotional turmoil that marked the process on all sides.
Despite the inclusion of interviews with several political and military figures, the film largely focuses on the testimony of the displaced settlers, which tend to carry more emotional than intellectual weight. Another problem is that little or no attention is paid to the perspectives of the Palestinians, with the result that the film seems one-sided in its approach.
Still, there is no denying the power of much of the footage on display, which brings to vivid life events that too many of us have thought about only abstract terms.
NEW YORK -- Joel Blasberg and Oreet Rees' documentary focuses on the tumultuous period in summer 2005 when the Israeli government dictated the removal of thousands of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in an attempt to further peace with the Palestinians. Featuring extensive footage of the process as well as numerous interviews with those who were displaced, "Withdrawal From Gaza" details the trauma suffered both by them and the soldiers fulfilling their duties.
Indeed, the film is stronger in terms of emotional impact than providing information. It will be best appreciated by those already somewhat familiar with the events in question, and lacks the historical context necessary to lift the entry above the plethora of similarly themed documentaries concerning the recent travails in the Middle East.
The film centers on the fateful day of Aug. 15, 2005, when Israeli soldiers began the forced evacuation of about 8,500 people from the 21 Jewish settlements (collectively known as Gush Katif) from the Gaza Strip on the orders of then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Focusing on several families (many of whom we also see in flashbacks preparing for the move), it well delineates the physical and emotional turmoil that marked the process on all sides.
Despite the inclusion of interviews with several political and military figures, the film largely focuses on the testimony of the displaced settlers, which tend to carry more emotional than intellectual weight. Another problem is that little or no attention is paid to the perspectives of the Palestinians, with the result that the film seems one-sided in its approach.
Still, there is no denying the power of much of the footage on display, which brings to vivid life events that too many of us have thought about only abstract terms.
Steven Spielberg has recruited one of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's advisers to help him promote his movie about the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack. Spielberg's film, Munich, follows an Israeli hit squad's hunt for Palestinian terrorists who held Jewish athletes hostage. Eleven of the athletes were killed when a German rescue attempt went wrong. Although still to be released, the movie has attracted criticism and been accused of historical inaccuracy. So Spielberg hopes Eyal Arad - who helped plan the recent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza - will help soften its release in Israel. Arad, who has arranged a screening in Tel Aviv for widows of the murdered Israeli athletes, "We are talking about a film that has generated a lot of interest. Naturally that sort of interest can entail some negative reactions as well as positive reactions."...
- 12/20/2005
- WENN
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will visit Israel this weekend in a bid to promote racial tolerance. The former actor - whose Austrian father was a ranking member of the Nazi SA (Storm Troopers) - will attend the opening of a groundbreaking new museum dedicated to tolerance, in his first foreign visit since taking office last October. Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh says, "He feels it's critically important to keep his commitment to go to Israel and continue a dialogue about tolerance." Speaking earlier this month, the governor described the trip as "an extraordinary moment for me". He will also meet Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but no talks were scheduled with Palestinian officials.
- 4/30/2004
- WENN
Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve will visit Israel this week to study the country's treatment of spinal injuries. The Superman star has been confined to a wheelchair ever since a horrific horse-riding accident in 1995 and has spent the years since campaigning for more funds for stem cell research. During the five-day tour, Reeve will meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, visit research institutions and talk to those paralyzed in terrorist attacks. While Israel is at the forefront of stem cell study, the US remains deeply divided on the issue. Reeve has been an outspoken critic of the stance taken by the Bush administration who strictly limit funding for the controversial research.
- 7/29/2003
- WENN
NEW YORK -- Barbara Walters has a new partner on ABC's 20/20 as ABC News president David Westin has named correspondent John Stossel to co-anchor the show. He will debut on May 23, the night Walters has landed an exclusive interview with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. Stossel is a 22-year veteran of "20/20," and began doing his own one-hour primetime specials for ABC in 1994 focusing on consumerism, and more recently, parenting issues. Stossel prepares both features -- under his "Family Fix" segments -- and a regular commentary called "Give Me a Break". Network executives hope Stossel will expand his reporting duties for the program. In a statement, Westin praised Stossel as "one of the most distinctive voices in network news today."...
- 5/14/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
HBO Documentary Films
NEW YORK -- It should come as no surprise that director Oliver Stone -- who has demonstrated a willingness to tackle such issues as the assassination of JFK, the presidency of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War -- should approach no less a topic than the Middle East morass in his new documentary. Arriving in the region in March of last year with his camera crew in tow, Stone snared a series of filmed interviews with no less than three former Israeli prime ministers, as well as a spokesman for the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and a group of masked terrorists for a group dubbed the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. It must have been supremely galling for this filmmaker/provocateur that he was unable to land sessions with Ariel Sharon or the big kahuna, Yasser Arafat, but unfortunately, suicide bombings and military offensives got in the way.
The resulting 67-minute film, "Persona Non Grata", was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and airs on HBO in June.
Stone's necessarily improvisational approach to his subject results in a less than cohesive, fragmentary film, featuring a style that, other than in its self-centeredness, resembles a lengthy "60 Minutes" segment. When he tried to film as a suicide bomber killed 20 Israelis in what has become known as the Passover Massacre, followed by the Israeli military retaliation in Ramallah, Stone's efforts were quickly squelched. His frustrations are depicted in rather too much detail here, as if the most important aspect of the political and social chaos in the region was its becoming an impediment to his cinematic aspirations.
Still, the interviews he did manage to assemble, with himself acting as an onscreen questioner, are quite interesting, featuring insightful comments provided by such former Israeli leaders as Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.
The most articulate and persuasive of the three is Peres, who offers philosophical musings reflecting a thoughtful approach to the process that has been in too rare supply through the years.
On the other side of the spectrum are the hooded militants, who present matter of fact information about their methods, including the rather surprising detail that a huge cache of guns and ammo was purchased from one of Sharon's former security guards.
The presentation at Tribeca was of an unfinished version, minus end credits, projected on video with the phrase "For Promotion Only" prominently displayed on the upper left hand quarter of the screen.
NEW YORK -- It should come as no surprise that director Oliver Stone -- who has demonstrated a willingness to tackle such issues as the assassination of JFK, the presidency of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War -- should approach no less a topic than the Middle East morass in his new documentary. Arriving in the region in March of last year with his camera crew in tow, Stone snared a series of filmed interviews with no less than three former Israeli prime ministers, as well as a spokesman for the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and a group of masked terrorists for a group dubbed the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade. It must have been supremely galling for this filmmaker/provocateur that he was unable to land sessions with Ariel Sharon or the big kahuna, Yasser Arafat, but unfortunately, suicide bombings and military offensives got in the way.
The resulting 67-minute film, "Persona Non Grata", was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and airs on HBO in June.
Stone's necessarily improvisational approach to his subject results in a less than cohesive, fragmentary film, featuring a style that, other than in its self-centeredness, resembles a lengthy "60 Minutes" segment. When he tried to film as a suicide bomber killed 20 Israelis in what has become known as the Passover Massacre, followed by the Israeli military retaliation in Ramallah, Stone's efforts were quickly squelched. His frustrations are depicted in rather too much detail here, as if the most important aspect of the political and social chaos in the region was its becoming an impediment to his cinematic aspirations.
Still, the interviews he did manage to assemble, with himself acting as an onscreen questioner, are quite interesting, featuring insightful comments provided by such former Israeli leaders as Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.
The most articulate and persuasive of the three is Peres, who offers philosophical musings reflecting a thoughtful approach to the process that has been in too rare supply through the years.
On the other side of the spectrum are the hooded militants, who present matter of fact information about their methods, including the rather surprising detail that a huge cache of guns and ammo was purchased from one of Sharon's former security guards.
The presentation at Tribeca was of an unfinished version, minus end credits, projected on video with the phrase "For Promotion Only" prominently displayed on the upper left hand quarter of the screen.
- 5/13/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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