Herzliya gets its very own cinematheque

The theater aims to bring a cultural life to local residents.

By HANNAH BROWN
Herzliya theater 88 248 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Herzliya theater 88 248
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The latest cinematheque to open in Israel is the Herzliya Cinematheque. "We want to bring people back to a neighborhood cinema," says Noa Ron, director of the cinematheque, which is located in the Cinematheque Passage at Rehov Sokolov 29 in the center of town. It was opened on the grounds of a movie theater that went bankrupt six years ago and is intended to help revitalize the city's downtown area. "It's not meant to compete with the movie theaters that are already there, or with the cinematheque in Tel Aviv," she says. Instead, Ron emphasizes, it's part of a plan to bring a cultural life to local residents, who number 300,000 in the Sharon area, including 100,000 in Herzliya itself. The cinematheque, which seats 270 people in two auditoriums, will concentrate on screening quality cinema, very much based on the model of the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. The Herzliya Cinematheque recently screened a premiere of the Paul Schrader film, Adam Resurrected, based on a novel by Yoram Kaniuk, which stars Jeff Goldblum and was partly filmed in Israel. Eitan Green's latest film, It All Begins at Sea, will also be screened there. The cinematheque features an eclectic program of Israeli and international cinema, both classic and contemporary, including Truffaut films such as Jules et Jim and Fellini's I Vitelloni. "We plan to have many workshops and courses," she says. One topic that Ron hopes to explore is music. "For example, we could have a program on soundtracks, with composers coming in to tell us how they composed the music." There are two other cultural institutions in the area, the Herzliya Museum and a theater company, the Herzliya Theater Ensemble, that are also attracting audiences, and Ron hopes they will collaborate on programs with the cinematheque. In addition, Ron mentions the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, an institute of higher learning with over 3,000 students, that will be involved with the cinematheque, as well as the film department of Beit Berl in Kfar Saba. "We want to bring the love of film as art to Herzliya," says Ron. For further information, go to hcinema.org.il or call (09) 956-5008.