By Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The state of Israel began with a war between those who felt
deceived and betrayed by their own leaders against those who felt
relieved and connected to their true destiny. Since its inception
Israel has remained a land of unrest and turmoil, and no one has
documented the last 20 years of its tumultuous past better than
filmmaker Amos Gitai.
"Since the ’70s, after the Yom Kippur War, Amos has shown what
life is like in Israel," explains Mischa Livingstone, an
undergraduate UCLA film student from Israel who came up with the
idea for an Amos Gitai film series. "Amos’s work has been shown all
over the world and I thought it would be interesting for UCLA to
see some of his work," he says.
On each night of the series, Gitai will address the audiences
and answer their questions about his films and about Israel in
general. He was shot down by Syrian forces during the Yom Kippur
War in 1973 and has used his camera since then as a way to provide
information for the world about Israel’s issues. But he also speaks
to groups like the ones gathering for the film series in order to
teach people about his experiences.
Livingstone realizes that UCLA students are familiar with
Israeli issues from local and national newspapers and news
stations, but he feels that Amos’s work provides a unique
perspective on older issues. He looks at these issues not as an
American reporter, but as an Israeli citizen.
"The media gives a certain view about what is going on in
Israel," Livingstone says. "There are other beliefs and other
approaches to the politics of the country and Amos provides his
own. I think it will be an eye-opener for students to see his
work."
But Gitai does not present his opinion as the only one. He
simply offers his perspectives among several others. His films are
not statements, but questions that the audience has to answer on
its own.
"It is a thinking man’s cinema," Livingstone explains. "He
doesn’t spoon-feed you with ideas. He presents a multitude of
questions and you provide the answers."
Students will be challenged with Gitai’s works beginning this
Wednesday night in Melnitz Theater. The series contains eight films
spread over four nights.
On the first night, a reception will begin at 6:30, followed by
a 7:30 screening of his most recent film, "Arena of Murder." This
film explores the trauma surrounding the assassination of Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 4, 1995 after his attendance
to a peace rally in Tel Aviv. "Arena of Murder" is the first film
based on the subject and features Leah Rabin, Rabin’s wife, and
Israeli rock star Aviv Gefen.
The second film of the night will be a documentary about local
people and their changing opinions. Entitled "Wadi 1981-1991," this
film focuses on interviews with both North African and Eastern
European Jewish families and Arab families residing in Wadi, an
abandoned British quarry near Haifa. It reveals how these people’s
social relations have changed during their existence in the
ethnically and religiously diverse community.
On Thursday evening at 7:30, the film festival will feature
"Devarim," a cinematic adaptation of Yaakov Shabati’s modern story
"Zichron Devarim." This film shows how three different generations
of Israelis feel about their country and themselves.
After "Devarim," the portrait of post-Soviet Russia "The
Petrified Garden," will screen. This film follows an art dealer’s
trip to the Ukraine and his discoveries.
The third night of the festival, beginning at 7:30, will show
Gitai’s "Berlin-Jerusalem," a film that follows the experiences of
a man and a woman in Israel. The man is a Zionist from Russia and
the woman is a poet, Else Lasker-Schüler, from Germany. Both
travelers arrive in Palestine in the 1930s and their impressions
provide the backbone of the movie.
Following "Berlin-Jerusalem" is "Esther," Gitai’s first fiction
feature. It tells the biblical tale of Esther from the fifth
century B.C.E. and it also provides a comparison for Jews and Arabs
in contemporary society.
The last night of the festival, beginning at 7:00, will start
off with "Golem — the Spirit of Exile." This film provides the
myth of the Golem, a mythical protector of Jews in exile, with a
foundation in the biblical story of Ruth. This film focuses on the
uprooting of people from their homelands and it mirrors the modern
Jewish Diaspora.
After this film, Melnitz will screen "Brand New Day," a Gitai
documentary that follows the Eurythmics’ Annie Lennox and Dave
Stewart on the Japan segment of their 1987 world tour. The film
focuses on the philosophical and musical movements of modern
times.
FILM: Tickets available one hour before
showtime at the Melnitz Theater box office. Tickets are $4 for
students and seniors and $6 for general admission. On-campus
parking is available for $5 in Lot 3. For more information and an
updated schedule call (310) 206-FILM or for general UCLA
entertainment information call (310) UCLA-ART.