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The Promised Land of Cinema
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10072 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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4 / 1993 |
2,119 Words |
| Author
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Fern Siegel
Fern Siegel is a New York-based freelance writer. |
Israel. The Promised Land. For centuries the land of milk and honey has been the site of many of the most stirring events in the history of mankind. For Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Jerusalem, the Holy City and eternal capital of Israel, retains its aura of sanctity. Thousands of all faiths retrace the steps of Joshua or Jesus or Muhammad in Jerusalem's Old City.
But Israel is more than historic sights and religious pilgrimages. It is a country that challenges the mind as well as the spirit. This nation of only eighty-one hundred square miles, part desert, part coastline, fertile valleys, and spectacular vistas, is also home to a distinct cinematic vision. Israel stands at a point of convergence--a panoply of cultures, languages, traditions, and political persuasions inhabit this tiny terrain.
What forum can justly express this complex mosaic? Israeli cinema is mediated expression of this multiplicity--at once volatile and tender, provocative and profound. Conflicting ideological and religious impulses, war with its Arab neighbors, tensions between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews-- Israeli society and cinema are traditionally characterized by such contradictions.
"Israeli films," notes Lia van Leer, director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, "recreate the world as a global village, depicting the dreams, the sounds, the sights and the problems of our time." At the same time, Israeli cinema renews its exploration of the Jewish experience as seen in films.
The corpus of Israeli films is finite--feature film production has hovered for decades at approximately ten films per year. The films, however, run the gamut of cinematic styles--from the polished Hollywood production values of Menahem Golan to low-budget austerity of Amit Goren. Historically, Israeli films have focused largely on military or political concerns. Yet in 1992, in an exciting departure from form, the Ninth Israeli Film Festival in the United States debuted eleven premieres that concentrated on a domestic agenda.
"The films illustrate the emergence of a remarkable new wave in Israeli filmmaking," boasts Meir Fenigstein, the festival's executive director. "We now see an original spectrum that encompasses comedy, romance, contemporary urban intrigue, and family drama." The variety is due, in part, to a change of government. But this dramatic shift also underscores the maturity of Israeli culture.
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