Women descend on Holon for Int'l Festival

Festival celebrates 10th anniversary with six days of women's creativity.

By HELEN KAYE
women festival 298.88 (photo credit: )
women festival 298.88
(photo credit: )
The Holon International Women's Festival in honor of International Women's Day on March 8 is celebrating its 10th anniversary with six days of creativity by women from March 6-11. There are performances, premieres, tributes, exhibitions and for the first time ever discussions in fields where women are having a definite impact: society, economics and design. First the tributes, and this year the honorees are veteran Habimah actress Leah Kenig whose honed skills shine equally in Yiddish and Hebrew, and documentary film maker Nurit Kedar. Guests from abroad include Sharon Stone, Almodovar actress/singer Victoria Abril, Romanian poet Ana Blandiana and actress Barbara Dzeikan from Poland. In recent years Stone has devoted much time working for Third World needs, such as the fight against AIDS and other diseases. Stone will take part in an evening organized by the Peres Peace Center (Mr. Peres will be the guest of honor), entitled "Women Leading Change" (8/3) and will be joined by Senator Hillary Clinton via video-conference, Abril, who's starred in three Amodovar films, will present an evening of songs from her native Brazil (10/3); Dzeikan will present "Drama Is a Woman" (6/3), her onewoman take on the story of Adam and Eve that premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Blandiana was an outspoken opponent of dead Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu, and suffered for it. Romanian-born actress Gitta Munte will read her poems (9/3). Premieres include "The Dentist" written and performed by Razia Israeli, a drama based on memories from a man who was an Auschwitz sonderkommando, one of those Jews who stripped the gold from the teeth of gassed Jews. Then there's also "I Hate to Cook," Shosha Goren's wryly humorous look at middle-age. There's an evening of skits called "Girls" with Yael Leventhal, Yarden Bar-Cochva and others, a festival special called simply "Show" written and directed by Dalia Shimko that features the poems and songs of Yona Wallach, an encounter with local women travelers, an economic forum organized by Globes Magazine, a design seminar and much more. The many exhibitions include "Humiliations and Other Love Stories" by Karen Gillerman-Harel inspired by the poems of actress Meital Dohan. All the events take place in and around the Holon Theater.