It may be “way up north,” far away from where the cultural action is purported
to be, in the center of the country, but next week’s DocAviv Galilee Festival
has got plenty of bases covered.
For a start, the five-day documentary
bash at Ma’alot Tarshiha has a 35 film lineup that is culled from practically
every walk of life, mindset and energy level. There are stirring works, films
that pose troubling questions about society, a blast or two from the past and a
couple of music-based projects. Add to that an exhibition of graffiti
photographs, documentary discussion panels, a children’s animation workshop, a
workshop on how to present life to children from different backgrounds and a
cooking competition featuring some of the traditional dishes regularly served up
by local domestic gastronomy experts.
The film
Skate of Mind is
ostensibly about a bunch of youngsters hooked on skateboarding. They spend most
of their waking hours on their skateboards, trying out various techniques and
ever-more perilous stunts. When they’re not out on the street or in parks, they
follow each other’s athletic antics on the computer. But at least one of
the skateboarders has some other non-wheeled issues to deal with as the
complexities of romance and family life converge. Skate of Mind is about
youngsters setting out and trying to live life to the full, on wheels.
A
veteran violinist and devoted teacher’s love of music comes through in every
second of Alexander Gentelev’s delightful film Violinists. Anna Rosnovsky spent
more than three decades earning a living as a member of the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra. Five years ago she upped from Tel Aviv and moved to the Galilee to
teach children on a voluntary basis. Violinists follows the progress she makes
with five very different children and her relentless search for new junior
musical talent.
Elsewhere on the musical film front,
Iraq n’ Roll tells
the story of rock singer-guitarist Dudu Tasa and his remarkable family heritage. Tasa’s
grandfather was an acclaimed Iraqi musician named Daoud el-Kuwaiti who, together
with his brother Sallakh, were among the most well-known artists in the Arab
world. Daoud forbade his children to be professional musicians, saying that it
was a hard life full of pain. However, Tasa has become a leading light on the
local rock scene.
Iraq n’ Roll follows Tasa’s search for his musical
roots.
Visitors to the North next week will also get to see two of the
award-winning films from the main spring DocAviv Festival, which takes place at
the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
Free Improvisation centers on 61-yearold
Tunisian-born Jerusalemite bass player, record producer and teacher Jean Claude
Jones. He has been battling multiple sclerosis for some years now but continues
to perform periodically and devotes some of his time to nurturing the talents of
child prodigy pianist Ariel Lanyi.
The film that won the spring
competition is
Tzalmania – A Life in Stills. Anyone who has walked past Mograbi,
at the corner of Tel Aviv’s Allenby and Ben- Yehuda streets, in the past 70 or
so years would have noticed the famed photography store that was opened by Rudy
Weissenstein. Czech-born Weissenstein came to Israel in 1936 with a camera and
about $10 in his pocket. He went on to document many of the country’s major
events and buildings, including the Declaration of Independence in 1948 and the
first concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He also took portraits of
leading public figures, and the enlargements of the prints adorned the store
window until it was closed down by the Tel Aviv Municipality and relocated to
Chernikovsky Street earlier this year.
Tzalmania – A Life in Stills is
about Weissenstein’s legacy but also about the touching relationship between his
nonagenarian widow Miriam and her grandson Ben and how they kept the store
going. Miriam died at the age of 98 shortly after she and Ben were forced to
vacate the original store.
Other films to watch out for at the DocAviv
Galilee Festival include
The Collaborator and His Family, about a former
collaborator and his wife who have been stripped of their identity, and the
price the children pay for their parents’ choices. Father’s Rights follows the
struggle of four divorced men who decided to fight for the right to raise their
children and established the first men’s organization in Israel that champions
equal gender rights.
For more information about the DocAviv Galilee
Festival: www.docaviv.co.il