Trends%20and%20History%20of%20Israeli%20Cinema

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Trends and History of Israeli Cinema

• Steven Stromberg
• Neal Ballard

2
The Yishuv Period (Pre-Statehood)

• Late 19th Century 1948
• Edison and the Lumiere brothers (as well as other
  outside filmmakers) came to Palestine to shoot
  exotic footage.
• Films were imported from Europe and America
• The beginnings of the Israeli film industry
  travelogues, documentaries and eventually
  narrative films.
• Most productions were influenced and supported by
  Zionist movement.
• Archetypal character of the Sabra (native-born
  Israeli) is introduced.
• Films contributed to renewal of Hebrew as a
  secular language.

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Important Filmmakers and Films of the Yishuv
period.

• Nathan Axelrod (1905 1987)
• Oded the Wanderer (1933)
• Over the Ruins (1938)
• Baruch Agadati (1895 1976)
• This Is the Land (1935)
• AGA Film Co.
  Oded the Wanderer
• Important Films
• Oded the Wanderer (1933)
• Sabra (d. Aleksander Ford) (1933)
• 
  
  Sabra

4
Post 1948 Heroic-Nationalist Genre

• Practically no narrative films were made between
  1933 and the creation of the State of Israel
• Films reflected issues in Israeli society
• Large numbers of new immigrants
• Zionism
• Heroes of the War of Independence
• Memories of the Holocaust
• Six Day War
• Serious limitations on production
• Films produced primarily for audiences abroad
• Focused primarily on the Arab / Israeli conflict
• Arab roles were either very stereotypically
  anonymous or negatively portrayed
• Post 1967 War
• Americanization of Israeli culture and films
• More epic films / larger budgets reflecting post
  war economic prosperity

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Important Filmmakers and Films of Heroic
Nationalist genre

• Many producers and directors were recent
  immigrants to Israel.
• Larry Frisch
• Tel Aviv Taxi (1954)
• Pillar of Fire (1959)
• Thorold Dickinson
• The Red Background (1953)
• Hill 24 Doesnt Answer (1955)
  Pillar of Fire
• Nuri Habib
• Without a Homeland (1952)
• (First color film in Israel)
• Rachel (1958)
• Important Films
• Rebels Against the Light (1964)
• Hill 24 Doesnt Answer (1955)
  Hill 24 Doesnt Answer

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Bourekas / Escapism

• Mostly 70s and 80s
• Deals with ethnic stereotypes (interplay between
  Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews)
• Filmmakers wanted to address the needs of the
  Sephardi Jews because they were becoming the
  majority
• Low budget ethnic comedies, heavily emotional
  melodramas, ethnic nostalgia, teen sex comedies,
  and light entertainment
• Retreat from old Zionist values
• Severe criticism because of little cinematic or
  artistic sophistication

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Important filmmakers and films of Bourekas /
Escapist Cinema

• George Ovadiah
• Harbour of Love (1967)
• Arianna (1971)
• Zeev Revach
• Only Today (1976)
• Batito (1987)
  Sallah
• Important Films
• Sallah (1964)
• (d. Ephraim Kishom)
• Light Out of Nowhere (1973)
• (d. Nissim Dayan)
• House on Chelouche Street (1973)
• (d. Mose Mizrachi)
  Light Out of Nowhere

8
Personal Allegorical Cinema

• Counter-response to Boureka/Escapist and
  National-Heroic Genres of film
• Younger generation of Israeli filmmakers (1960s
  1970s)
• Kayitz movement
• Influenced by French New Wave many studied in
  Paris
• Individual Issues
• Disillusionment / ideology-of-having-no-ideology
  
• Marginality of the protagonist.
• Criticism of Society
• Issues in Israeli Society
• Individual vs. National Identity the
  personal/political and the private/historical are
  linked together.
• What defines the state of Israel (shifting
  borders)? / Who is a Jew (many diasporas)?
• Post-Holocaust Jewish survival
• Individual characters can be representative of
  the state.

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Important Filmmakers and Films in Personal
Allegorical Cinema

• Uri Zohar
• Hole in the Moon (1965)
• Three Days and a Child (1967)
• Dan Wolman (1941- )
  Hole in the Moon
• The Dreamer (1970)
• My Michael (1975)
• 
  
• 
  
  My Michael

10
Return of the Repressed The Palestinian Wave

• Student films began focusing on Israeli/Arab
  conflict in new ways.
• Films began to include Palestinian characters
  (mostly in minor roles).
• Films operate w/in a general framework and
  assumption of Zionism and Arab/Israeli conflict
  as a given.
• Wider social and cultural perspectives dependant
  on equality between Oriental Jews, European
  Jews and Palestinian Arabs

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Important Films and Filmmakers in the Palestinian
Wave of Cinema

• Uri Barabash
• Beyond the Walls (1985)
• Nissim Dayan
• A Very Narrow Bridge (1985)
  Beyond the Walls
• Shimon Dotan
• The Smile of the Lamb (1986)
• Avanti-Popolo (1986)
• 
  
  
• 
  
  A Very Narrow Bridge

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Observations

• Israeli Film History and Genres somewhat parallel
  American/Hollywood Films
• National-Heroic John Wayne, John Ford
• Bourekas/Escapist Howard Hawkes, Billy Wilder
• Personal/Allegorical Martin Scorsese, Francis
  Ford Copolla, etc.