Tag Archives: Israeli cinema

between duty and love (Film: Lemale et ha’halal / Filling the void – Rama Burshtein, 2012)

Rama Burshtein‘s first feature film Lemale et ha’halal / Filling the Void was awarded the prize for the best Israeli movie in 2012 and yet, it belongs to a genre which is quite unique in the landscape of the Israeli … Continue reading

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elephants eating pastries (Film: Hunting Elephants – Israel, 2013)

The popular comedies mixed with Mediterranean melodramas got a name of their own in the Israeli cinema of the 70s: ‘bourekas movies’. ‘Bourekas’ are the local flavor of the Turkish pastries. The genre was dominant while the Israeli cinema was … Continue reading

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an Israeli exercise in ‘horror’ movies (Film: Big Bad Wolves – Israel, 2013)

I must launch one of my rants about film titles translations. Usually my complains are about translating English titles to Hebrew or my mother-tongue Romanian – now it’s about the reverse translation. This film is titled in Hebrew ‘Who’s afraid … Continue reading

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a too decent job (Film: Kirot – Danny Lerner, 2009)

Violent thrillers are yet a rather unexplored territory for the big screen Israeli cinema, and I really wonder why. The Israeli reality even if we put aside the political conflict is quite violent at least if one follows the news. … Continue reading

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Cameras and Gatekeepers (Film: 5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, 2011)

Two of the five documentary films competing for the Academy Awards (‘Oscars’) that will be distributed a few days from now deal with the conflict between Jews and Arabs, between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land. The Gatekeepers was … Continue reading

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The Voice of the Gatekeepers (Film: The Gatekeepers – Dror Moreh, 2012)

Israelis abide to very few myths. In a young country that is a melting pot of people coming from almost one hundred different countries, where a majority of the population is either born some other place or belong to the … Continue reading

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uneasy rest (Film: The Human Resources Manager – Eran Riklis, 2010)

The Hebrew name of the film is a little longer than the one chosen by the distributors for the English version. It reads ‘The Mission of the Human Resources Manager’ and actually the word used is ‘shlihut’ which has a … Continue reading

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Midnight in Tel Aviv (2 Night – Israel, 2010)

Israeli film makers like playing with confined spaces. A couple of years ago first-time director Samuel Maoz was skillfully confining in Lebanon the drama of young men caught up in the cruelness and absurdity of the war as they participate … Continue reading

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Film: HaMashgihim (a.k.a. God’s Neighbors) – Israel, 2012

The producers or the distributors decided to translate HaMashgihim with God’s Neighbors for the English distribution of this film. I have a hard time to understand their intention, but I agree that the translation is not easy, as The Supervisors … Continue reading

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more than a Footnote? (Film: Footnote, Joseph Cedar, 2011)

If ‘Footnote’ will win the Oscar for the Best Foreign language film it will certainly by more than a footnote in the history of Israeli cinema, it will be a big event, the first time an Israeli film gets the … Continue reading

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