The 14th epic festival for cultural and artistic films (from Friday, March 3 to Saturday, March 11) will be held at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and the Tel Aviv Museum. As in previous years, films, mainly documentaries, about people and currents in the various arts will be screened there. There will be films about Yves Montagne, Arthur Rubinstein, George Balanchine, Pablo Picasso and Patti Smith, alongside lesser-known artists. Under the title “Classic Israeli” the festival offers a reunion with films such as “Indian in the Sun” by Ram Levy and “Emil Habibi: ‘I stayed in Haifa'” by Dalia Karpel. I chose to recommend five movies that I found very interesting.
Haspen the thief
Stories about art theft have produced quite a few fascinating films. I’m still waiting for someone to make a movie about the incredible story of the theft of the altar painting from Ghent Cathedral in Belgium. “The Thieving Collector” tells a jaw-dropping tale of a heist later. In 1985, a painting by Willem de Kooning was stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Arizona. Although there were eyewitnesses to the daylight robbery, the FBI remained unanswered and over time the value of the painting was estimated at $160 million. About thirty years after he disappeared, the painting was discovered in the home of retired teachers who lived in an isolated house in New Mexico. After the couple passed away, the nephew who handled the sale of the house invited antique dealers to examine its contents, and they took the painting that was hidden behind the bedroom door without knowing what had fallen into their hands. One day someone who knows a little about art enters their shop, and the rest is told in Alison Otto’s film, which dives into the lives of the couple, and builds a fascinating and very entertaining ensemble of a pair of art thieves (it didn’t amount to De Kooning) who deceived all their acquaintances. A witty combination of fictional reconstructions, interviews with puzzling relatives, photographs from the couple’s travels around the world and a perusal of the books of the frustrated teacher and artist yields a most enjoyable viewing experience.
Reknati Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, 27 Shaul Hamelech Street, Thursday (9.3) 9:30 p.m.
Krayan and Bernstein head to head
Conductors Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karaian were the biggest superstars of the world of classical music in the twentieth century. The first was a warm Jew and an enthusiastic Zionist, the second was a member of the Nazi party (probably a self-interested decision rather than an ideological one). Their conducting styles were also very contrasting. The mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig describes the differences beautifully: “Bernstein was sweating, moving, very free on the podium. And Karaian was always dignified, with his eyes closed and all that. An expression of the fact that music is a sacred thing. For Bernstein, I don’t think music is sacred, but an expression of joy”. The short film (50 minutes) by Emmanuel Fern describes the parallel and contrasting careers of the two musicians (as we know, Bernstein also composed three beloved musicals alongside symphonic works) and provides a host of fascinating details. Among other things, it tells that during the period when Karaian was boycotted by many due to the Nazi stain, Bernstein reached out to him and helped him get an invitation to play in New York. These concerts were met with severe opposition (a Jewish organization bought all the tickets and left the hall empty) which caused Karayan to alienate his friend. On the other hand, when Bernstein came to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the lack of chemistry between him and the stiff players produced another clash. Conductor Seiji Ozawa and Bernstein’s daughter are among the interviewees in a rhythmically and immersively edited film.
Reknati Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, Shaul Hamelech 27, Thursday (9.3) 4:00 p.m.
Ulysses, even after 100 years
Even if you haven’t read James Joyce’s book from 1922, which follows a day in the life of a Jewish resident of Dublin, which has been established as one of the most important novels of the 20th century, Adam Lowe’s film will interest and entertain you in his book about the stormy life of the writer and his wife in Ireland, Italy and France. Name of the book Published by a small independent publisher. Well, unlike Joyce I have trouble writing without punctuation. This beautiful and captivating film invites us to walk through the pages of the monumental book, offers an enlightening overview of its structure, and at the same time tells about the circumstances of its writing and publication. It is illustrated with clips from the 1967 film adaptation of “Ulysses” directed by Joseph Strick, alongside (ridiculous) clips from a 1954 film based on the original “Odyssey”, starring Kirk Douglas and Silvana Mangano. Along with Salman Rushdie and other scholars, one of the most endearing characters in the film is Sylvia Beach, a Parisian shop owner in the 1920s, who was the first to publish “Ulysses”, after its publication in the sequels in the US was stopped due to accusations that it was disgusting material (many descriptions of sex in the language not encrypted). “I met Joyce one day at a party,” she says in an old interview, a segment of which is included in the film. “I went over to talk to him and he seemed very interested in my bookstore, Shakespeare & Company. He began to frequent the shop, like all the others who had adopted it as their headquarters. Hemingway and all the young writers more or less lived in my shop. I could hardly find time to work.” In general, it seems that if it weren’t for the brave lesbians in Europe and the USA who dared to publish his writings, James Joyce would have remained a writer writing in a drawer.
Kaufman Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, Shaul Hamelech 27, Saturday (11.3) 12:00
Oscar Michaud, the pioneer of African-American cinema
In a world where the horrifically racist “Birth of a Nation” from 1915 was considered a masterpiece and the first blockbuster, it was hard to imagine black cinema. But Oscar Michaud, whose father was born into slavery, imagined and also realized. After a few years in which he made a living as a porter at train stations – a profession in demand among black men – Micho wrote his first book, which he published and distributed himself. The book was somewhat successful and in 1919 he adapted it into a film which he wrote, directed and financed himself. This was the beginning of an impressive film career, during which he wrote and directed about 43 “race films”, which appealed only to a black audience. These were low-budget films made far from Hollywood, but they had impressive cinematic qualities, and they dared to engage in racism long before Hollywood acknowledged such a thing. Contemporary actors and filmmakers such as Morgan Freeman and John Singleton, as well as film historians, unfold in the Italian Francesco Zipel’s film the extraordinary story of the man and his work, which only decades after his death in 1951 began to become more than a footnote in the history of cinema.
Kaufman Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, Shaul Hamelech 27, Saturday (11.3) 17:00
Body on body
Christy Gabara-Flanagan’s film looks at the way the female body has been showcased since the early days of cinema, and even before that. It’s a loose film that demonstrates the phrase “you caught a lot you didn’t catch”. Nevertheless, I chose to recommend it because it has a lot of interesting examples, and interesting testimonies, each of which could be used as a springboard for an entire film. It has a variety of famous interviewees such as Jane Fonda, Rose McGowan and also Rosanna Arquette, who tells how early in her career, when she appeared in a small role in “SOB” the director Blake Edwards demanded that she undress (it was not written in the script), and when she expressed discomfort he threatened Call her agent. Later, David Simon and Elizabeth Mead tell how the new profession of intimacy coordinator was born on the set of the series “The Couple”, as a result of Simon listening to Mead’s complaint about James Franco’s behavior during filming. A less famous interviewee is Julia Roberts’ body double in the nude scenes in Pretty Woman, who is finally revealed to the camera as a whole person. The film also talks about the unpleasant experience of shooting a sex scene, about the treatment of fat women as a joke, about aggressive kissing, about body renovations, about bodysuits that simulate nudity (including a pubic hair-like wig), about sexual harassment during the filming, and more and more. Some of the more informed and comprehensive diagnoses are from Professor Linda Williams who wrote “Hard Core”, the ultimate book on porn, and deserves her own movie.
Recanati Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, Shaul Hamelech 27, Saturday (11.3) 5:30 p.m.