By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2024-09-30 21:35:14 | Updated at 2024-09-30 23:36:16
2 hours ago
Israeli cinematheques commemorate the October 7 attacks with special screenings, featuring documentaries, dramas, and films exploring themes of loss, heroism, and resilience.
By HANNAH BROWN OCTOBER 1, 2024 00:22
People in a movie theatre wait for the screening of the film 'The Boy' created by Yahav Winner, who was killed following the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, on November 11, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/Joseph Campbell)
To mark the end of a year like no other, cinematheques are featuring special programs for October 7, which will reflect the events of the past year and try to help people find the way forward.
The Tel Aviv Cinematheque will present several recent feature films and documentaries, as well as movies about previous conflicts that can shed light on the current war, from October 6-10.
One of the films it will show will be Yariv Mozer’s We Will Dance Again, a documentary about the massacre at the Supernova music festival, which combines video and audio clips of the event (including some filmed by the terrorists themselves), as well as interviews with survivors and their families.
I saw it at its premiere screening at the National Library of Israel and there is no question that it should be seen on the big screen rather than on television, although it is currently available on Hot VOD. This is the most graphic of the documentaries I have seen so far, but it is very affecting and there is no way to tell the full story without including disturbing images. The director and a number of those who appeared in the film will be present at the screening.
One Day in October, the series by Daniel Finkelman and Oded Davidoff that will become available on Yes Drama on October 7, will be screened. Its episodes are so vivid and cinematic that they will definitely be enhanced by being shown in a theater. There will be a discussion following the screenings by members of the cast and crew.
What will be shown
One of the first feature films made about the attack, Haim Bouzaglo’s Red Flower, will be shown. Bouzaglo has described it as a docu-drama, which picks up where his previous film, Roses Gate, left off. That one is about an older couple played by Albert Ilouz and Annette Cohen, living across from the police station in Sderot.
After the attack on the police station on October 7, he decided to go back with his cameraman and the actors and film a new story, which shows 25 hours during which they are trapped at home because of the fighting. They watch the events unfold at the police station and wait for word about their son, who is at the Supernova Music Festival, and their niece, a border policewoman in the South. The events of the war intertwine with their personal drama.
Michael Veksel and Alexandra Petrova’s documentary, In the Same Boat, tells the story of Israeli Arabs from different walks of life, including a driver, nurse, gas station worker, and paramedic, who heroically saved dozens of people’s lives during the terrorist attack.
Rachel from Ofakim is a documentary that tells the story of Rachel Edri, one of the best-known figures from the early days of the war, who managed to keep the terrorists who invaded her home well-fed and distracted enough so that they spared her life and the that of her husband, David, who has since passed away. This documentary was directed by Zohar Wagner, who made the acclaimed docu-drama Savoy, about a very different terrorist attack decades ago.
These are just a few films from an extensive program that includes short films, among which will be The Boy by Yahav Winner, which recently won an Ophir Award for Best Short Film. Winner was killed at his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, distracting the terrorists so his wife could escape with their baby. The film is set in the kibbutz and tells the story of the complex relationship between a father and son, in the shadow of the Gaza Strip and frequent missile attacks.
Stay updated with the latest news!
Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter
Avi Maor-Marzuk’s The Secrets of War is a documentary about the massacre of Israeli prisoners of war by Syrians in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War. The director makes the case that the Israeli military establishment made it difficult for families to learn the truth about their loved one’s fate.
The full program is available at cinema.co.il
The Jerusalem Cinematheque marked the first anniversary in late September, ahead of Rosh Hashanah, with movies that are thematically resonant in light of the war. On October 7, it will show two Japanese films about loss and redemption. Departures is Yojiro Takita’s Oscar-winning story of a cellist who finds a job in a rural mortuary, which puts him at peace with his life. Still Walking, by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is about a family that gathers every year to mark the death of their eldest son, who was killed in a boating accident 15 years before, and their struggle to come to grips with his loss, and how they have managed to move on with their lives.
