Panim- Faces of Art and culture in Israel- September - October 1996

"Fragments * Jerusalem" - A Cinematic Collage of a City and a Family

When Ron Havilio started out ten years ago to make his first film all he knew was that it would be a personal one. Since he would be using his own money, he wanted to produce something of value for his own children. Coming from a long line of Jerusalemites, Havilio spent many years researching his city's past and was constantly driven to dig deeper into the many layers and complexities beneath the surface. Staying away from the travelogue or overly simplistic documentary formats, Havilio turned to his own ancestors, many of whom were prominent figures in Jerusalem's history, for his film's inspiration. Fortunately, his family had preserved a wealth of historical documentation in the form of old photographs and texts that helped bring the past to life.

A photographer and painter from an early age, Havilio recognized that cinema was the ultimate visual medium even though it did not afford the immediate and direct look at the world that did painting and photography. Another problem Havilio had with the film industry was its intrinsic division between fiction and documentary, fiction being the stuff of art while documentary being analytical and scientific. Refusing to accept this dichotomy, Havilio invokes painters such as Vermeer, Van Gogh and Monet -- artists who described the the world around them through the filters of their individual eye and style. In this fashion, Havilio's work also walks the fine line between art and documentation. "I have tried to use the camera the way a writer uses a pen, or an artist a brush and palette," he says.

The result is somewhat astounding. "Fragments * Jerusalem" consists of some 140,000 feet of 16mm film shot by Havilio, 8mm films taken by his parents in the 1950's-60s, family photos, archival footage and photographs by early visitors to the Holy Land. The six-hour film, which is divided into two cycles and seven chapters, is a personal journal and family saga interwoven with the tumultuous history of Jerusalem.

The story of his four ancestral lines is one of the two central subjects of the film. If there is such a thing as Jerusalem pedigree, Havilio is it. On his father's Sephardic side are the Havilios who arrived in Jerusalem a generation or two after the expulsion from Spain 500 years ago, and the Menachems who came at the turn of this century. On his mother's Ashkenazi side are the Paritzkys, and the Rosenthals who arrived from Vilna at the beginning of the 19th century and, according to some, were the first Ashkenazi family to buy property and settle in Jerusalem.

The early periods of Jerusalem are seen in the film through the Havilio family eyes, while the stories of 19th-century Jerusalem come from the Rosenthal family. The beginning of the 20th century, World War I and the last years of the Ottoman rule are recalled through the life of grandmother Sarina Menachem.In the 1920's, as tensions rose between Arabs and Jews, the family of Golde Paritzky, Havilio's other grandmother, ran a dairy in the Old City's Moslem Quarter. The struggle for a state and the War of Independence in 1948 were experienced by Havilio's father, Shlomo, who joined the underground Haganah. Havilio hopes to complete three more chapters in a final cycle that will close the circle and bring the project up to present-day Jerusalem, relations between Jews and Arabs and, generationally, to his three daughters.

The second subject addressed in "Fragments" is the image of the divided city, the tensions between Arabs and Jews, between the burden of history and the private person. Havilio observes that the overwhelming weight of religion and history makes Jerusalem a very difficult city in which to live a normal, daily life. Jaffa Gate becomes, in this context, the geographic center of the film and the leitmotif through its episodes. It is where the border ran, dividing the old and new parts of the city, east and west. It is the contact point between past, present and future, between the old world and the new one. It is also the point of origin of many conflicts including the riots in 1921 and the War of Independence in 1948. Mamilla, the neighborhood just outside Jaffa Gate, was once the city center and is Havilio's point of departure.

Producing "Fragments" has been an all-consuming venture for Havilio and his family. With financial assistance from the Israel Film Center, the Fund for the Promotion of Israeli Quality Films and the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Havilio was very much a one-man show, directing, filming, writing the text, recording the voice-overs and editing. The film premiered at the recent Jerusalem Film Festival where Havilio received the New Cinema and Television Foundation's award for best documentary film maker. He is currently preparing English and French versions of the film.

SPOTLIGHT

The energy Chen Zimbalista exudes on stage should be enough to propel a packed theater into galactic orbit. A virtual one-man band, Zimbalista uses his hands, his feet and sometimes his voice -- every so often a spontaneous "whooopie" escapes his lips -- as he waltzes around the stage with his marimba, vibraphone, drums and some 30 other percussion instruments. With the magical intensity of a snake-charmer, he cajoles an enchanting array of rhythmic sounds out of instruments usually relegated to the rear of the orchestra pit.

Zimbalista insists he derives much of his energy from his listeners. "The more receptive the crowd, the better the music," says the affable and charismatic 30-year old performer who likes to open his show by chatting with the audience, telling them a little about himself -- "I want them to see who I am as a person" -- and a bit more about the music they are about to hear.

And what is it, anyway, this euphonious and idiosyncratic blend of pulses and beats they're hearing? "It defies classification," insists Zimbalista. Pressed, he says his music is international, a smorgasbord of classical, blues, jazz and soft rock. Although not identifiably Israeli, Zimbalista says his sounds are also "a reflection of the cultural and political landscape of this country."

But in Israel's stratified music industry, he truly is a rare bird. There are only about 30 solo percussionists worldwide and Zimbalista is Israel's one and only, the result of an almost primordial thirst for creative freedom ("I don't want anyone to tell me how or what to play") and not a little ambition and talent.

Then, there is his name. Mysticism or happenstance, Zimbalista traces his surname to an eastern European ancestor who played -- what else? -- the cymbals. Add to this fairy-tale combination, Zimbalista's first name (chen in Hebrew means charm and this pony-tailed, brown-eyed musician is certainly charming) and, voila, a star is born.

Well, not quite. Zimbalista was a prodigious youngster. Like many a young lad, he wanted to play the drums. First the flute, his parents insisted when Zimbalista was eight. Two years later, his parents finally acquiesced, after adding piano lessons to the deal. Zimbalista stuck to his mallets and by the time he was 14, he was studying percussion instruments with the Israel Philharmonic's Allon Bor. At 16, the Philharmonic invited Zimbalista to sign on as a reserve percussionist. It was around then that he won the Young Artist Performing Israeli Music award.

After completing his army duty -- in the Israel Defense Forces Orchestra -- Zimbalista spent three years in New York under the tutelage of Morris Lang of the New York Philharmonic. Zimbalista returned to Israel in 1991 and competed for the prestigious Francois Shapira Prize, which he won. "It was now," Zimbalista recalls, "that things started rolling."

Deciding to go solo, Zimbalista had to open his own doors and prove himself to a public not accustomed to a percussionist taking center stage. Today, he gives three or four concerts a week all over Israel (he especially enjoys performing on kibbutzim) and will be releasing two CDs in the near future. This past year, he appeared with the Bat Dor Dance Company in a surrealistic production ("Echoes") which he created together with choreographer Domy Reiter-Soffer.

Zimbalista rarely composes his own music, preferring to adapt and interpret existing pieces. Several Israeli composers -- Shlomo Gronich, Benny Nadjari, Noam Sheriff-- have written pieces especially for Zimbalista, who admits to being highly selective about who accompanies him on stage. "I'm spoiled," he confesses.

You would never know it. He gets up everyday at 5 am and heads straight to his Tel Aviv studio. By 7:30, he's back home for some time with his wife (a costume designer) and two young daughters. Zimbalista says he often works up to 18 hours a day and has little time for anything else. Books? "Only newspapers." Movies? "Nope." Concerts? "Yeah, but that's work."

He does travel -- for work. Zimbalista has performed in Holland, Italy, Germany, Portugal, the United States and China. Emerging on stage with his signature grin, Zimbalista says he likes to teach foreigners a few Hebrew words. The audience warms up and the magic begins...once again.

- Shelley Kleiman

FILM

Joseph Pitchhadze's "Under Western Eyes" (Leneged Enayim Ma'araviot) was chosen as this year's best feature film in the Wolgin Awards competition for Israeli cinema at the recent Jerusalem Film Festival. Nizar Hassan's "Yasmin" took the prize in the best documentary category. "Operation Ruth" by Yoav Gurfinkel was singled out for best short subject. The Lipper Foundation Award for best screenplay was awarded to Igal Bursztyn for "Everlasting Joy" (Osher lelo gvul). Ron Havilio was honored as best documentary film maker by the New Cinema and Television Foundation for "Fragments * Jerusalem" (see cover story). The Mediterranean Cinema Award was shared by the Tunisian "A Summer in La Goulette" by Ferid Boughedir and Rashid Mashrawi's "Haifa". Marian Marzynski's "Shtetl" received the Wim van Leer In the Spirit of Freedom award. Also in this category, Mohammed Bakri received a special award for best actor for his title role in Haifa.

New On-Line Service for Israeli Film Industry

INDIC (INDependent Israeli Cinema) is the new web site of film and television services for independent film makers. Started up by directors and screenwriters Rami Na'aman and Yossi Somer, together with Third Ear Productions, the site offers a wide range of information and services, both local and international. INDIC offers local film makers pre- and post-production services such as screenplay evaluation, budgeting, translations, legal assistance and distribution and marketing advice for a fee. The free data base contains a comprehensive listing of industry services and facilities available in Israel, including vital information and contacts for co-productions. INDIC also has direct links to media web sites and data bases worldwide, including grant sources and film festival information and will soon be linked to other Israeli cultural sites. Na'aman foresees homepages for Israeli films as well as for industry professionals in the near future. The address is: http://www.indic.co.il.

Israeli "Oscar" Competition Heating Up

Eleven feature films will compete for nominations at this year's Israeli Film Academy Awards. Israel's highest film tributes, including NIS 230,000 in prize money, will be handed out for the seventh time on October 8th. As in every year, the winner of the best picture award will be Israel's submission to the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars. In addition to the features, 33 documentaries and six television dramas will be in competition. The Israeli Film Academy is composed of 500 members from all branches of the local film industry.

New Films Released:

"Under Western Eyes" (Leneged enayim ma'araviot): This Wolgin Award winner is a tragi-comic road movie about Gary Razumov, a young architect living in Berlin, who is called back to Israel by news of his father's death. Upon arrival, he discovers that he was tricked. His father, a former scientist and Soviet spy imprisoned for the last 20 years, is, in fact, alive and has escaped from prison. Gary sets out to locate his father with the help of Tom, a young actress whom he meets in Tel Aviv. On their tail is Wolf, an aging internal security agent obsessed with finding Gary's father, and his young sidekick Carmi. During the journey which ends in the heart of the desert, Gary is forced, for the first time, to confront his traumatic past. Directed by Joseph Pitchhadze. Produced by Dubi Baruch and Joseph Pitchhadze.

"Marco Polo - The Missing Chapter": In 1298, war erupts between the two Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa. Marco Polo, a Venetian citizen, is imprisoned in Genoa. During his year in prison, Polo dictates his memoirs of his 20 years in China to his cell mate. This lavish, English-language production tells the heretofore "untold" tale of Marco Polo's experiences in the Holy Land as he journeys from China back to Italy. At the center of the story is Polo's destructive love for Tamara, his Jewish wife. Directed and produced by Rafi Bukaee.

BOOKS

The 1996 Hans Christian Andersen gold medal, considered the "Nobel Prize" for children's literature, was awarded to Uri Orlev. The biannual award given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) was bestowed on Orlev in Holland in August, for his works, determined by the judges to "stand out for their humor and completeness without slipping into sentimentality." The 65 year-old, Polish-born writer who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Bergen-Belsen uses his experiences "to show how children can survive, without bitterness, in horrible times." Orlev writes his adventure stories mostly for young people but also has a long list of children and adult books to his credit. His works are widely translated. In 1990, Orlev received the Janusz Korczak International Prize.

THEATER

Gesher Goes on the Net and to the U.K.

The highly acclaimed Gesher Theater is now accessable via the Internet. Their English-language site contains background information about the theater which was established five years ago by Russian immigrants, information on their productions (synopses, credits, photographs) and details about ordering tickets. The address for Gesher is: http://www.gesher-theatre.co.il.

Following a visit to Israel by a delegation of British theater directors that was sponsored by the Foreign Ministry and the Arts and Culture Administration, Gesher has been invited to bring its hit play "Village" (Kfar) by Joshua Sobol (PANIM March-April 1996) to England for a five-week tour in spring, 1997. Performances are planned for London, Brighton, Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle.

NEW PRODUCTIONS

Two new photography exhibits sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have just begun to tour:

The Transformation of Israeli Cities: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is the latest exhibit sponsored by the Foreign Ministry's Division of Cultural and Scientific Affairs with the Municipality of Jerusalem. Initiated by the Israel Institute of Architects and Town Planners for the recent architecture triennale, "UIA Barcelona 96," this exhibit illustrates ways in which architects have addressed urban transformation in two very different cities over the past decade. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are both faced with the challenge of preserving the past while planning and providing for the rapidly encroaching future.

Many of Jerusalem's historic treasures have been renovated and renewed in recent years: the Tower of David, Western Wall Plaza, Damascus Gate, and the Musrara, Mamilla and Yemin Moshe neighborhoods. Side by side with the renewal are some examples of modern structures supplying the needs of a bustling city: the Supreme Court, Hebrew Union College and the Laromme Hotel. Meanwhile, some 60 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv has been undergoing changes of its own. From the renewal of the narrow streets of the quaint Neve Tzedek neighborhood, the rejuvenation of the distinctive Bauhaus buildings and the restoration of Old Jaffa, to the construction of Tel Aviv's most modern office towers and performing arts center, the exhibit provides a picture of what began as a garden city and developed into a metropolitan center.

The exhibit will be shown in Brazil in October in coordination with the upcoming lecture tour of architect David Resnick. From there, it will move to Europe.

The migration patterns of birds carry them above and beyond political borders as they heed the higher laws of nature and the universe. Its freedom to travel makes the bird an ideal symbol of the era of peace dawning on the Middle East and is the inspiration for Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries, a new exhibit produced by the ministry's Public Affairs Division and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).

Located at the junction of three continents, Israel is crossed by migrating birds on a massive scale. Studies over the past decade indicate that a staggering 500 million birds cross Israel's narrow airspace twice a year in the course of their migrations. While Israel has become an attraction for bird enthusiasts worldwide, these massive migrations pose grave safety problems for the Israel Air Force, civilian planes and the birds themselves. A joint study carried out by the IAF and the SPNI over the past ten years has led to new ways of reducing the number of mishaps involving aircraft and birds by an amazing 88 percent.

The new exhibit captures the beauty of the birds in migration and shows how cooperation between agencies and countries can ensure the continuation of this phenomenon. Ten copies of the 28-panel exhibit have been produced with catalogues in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Russian. The exhibit has begun touring North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

There is not a romantic tutu to be found anywhere in "G is L-2," Amir Kolban's contemporary, multi-media piece for 11 dancers that conjures up, albeit freely and associatively, elements from the ballet classic Giselle, particularly the Willies of Act II, spirits of maidens who died before their weddings and who are condemned to dance until the end of time. The hour-long piece explores the dreams, passions and fears found behind the scenes in the dance world. It is a glimpse into the world of those "condemned" to dance. Previously the artistic director and choreographer of the Jerusalem Tamar Dance Company, Kolban now directs the Combina Dance Company which he founded in 1995. "G is L-2" was originally commissioned from Kolban by the Szegedi Kortars Ballet of Hungary.

YAG: Naharin's New Work for Batsheva

From the moment the audience enters the hall through the backstage quarters and files across the stage - where a dancer is dancing - to reach its seats, the mood is set. Where Ohad Naharin, artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, is concerned, anything is possible. YAG is his 13th work for the company he has brought to the forefront of international contemporary dance. An intimate, 80-minute piece for six dancers, Naharin set it on two different casts composing a family - parents, two daughters, a son and a grandfather. Making it even more his own, Naharin designed all aspects of the piece, creating the lighting, costumes, stage and part of the musical score. The piece has already been performed during the company's August tour of Germany and Switzerland where it was invited by presenters well before rehearsals had even begun.

Habima Moves Mountains in New Play by Gilad Evron

16th-century feudal Japan is probably as far from local reality as an Israeli-born playwright and Israel's oldest theater company can get, yet it is, nonetheless, the setting for Gilad Evron's "A Mountain Won't Move" (Har lo zaz), the new play produced by the Habima National Theater. Based on Akira Kurasawa's film "Kagemusha", the production, rich in Samurai tradition and atmosphere, tells the story of a no-name thief about to be executed who is saved by the fact that he resembles a tribal lord mortally wounded in battle. In order to fool the enemies, the thief replaces the dead leader of Tekada upon his death. As his identification with the part deepens, his identity as a thief gradually fades away, not only for him but also for those around him. When the double is finally forced to remove his mask and relinquish his acquired identity, he finds he has no other identity to return to. As the master of Tekada, the double sentences himself, the actor who overplayed his part, to death.

Established in Moscow in 1917, the Habima resettled in Palestine in 1931 and has been Israel's national public theater since 1968. It has produced some 450 plays over the years. Now under the direction of Yaacov Agmon, the company has just returned from Oslo where it mounted "Ghosts" at the recent Ibsen Festival.

EVENTS

The Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater will mark seven years of activity as it hosts the Third International Dance Competition in October. After a six-month selection process, 13 pieces, nine foreign and four Israeli, were chosen to compete for three prizes - choreography, dancer and audience's choice - totaling NIS 95,000.

The Israeli entries include Ido Tadmor's "Ta ("Cell"), Uri Ivgi's "Parade" (Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company), Noa Dar's Lachrymosa and the Batsheva Dance Company in Paul Norton's "The Rogue Tool."

From among the 90 foreign pieces submitted to the competition, two each were selected from the USA and France, and one from Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Slovenia and Spain. The international participants include the Sharir Dance Company (Austin, Texas), the Pal Frenak Company (France), the Company Alix Riga (Belgium), Diez y Diez (Madrid), En Knap (Slovenia) and the Quasar dance group (Brazil).

Over the years, the Suzanne Dellal Center has established itself as the leading forum for contemporary dance in Israel. Center director Yair Vardi notes that the competition affords local audiences exposure to international trends in fringe dance while encouraging creative dialogue between Israeli and foreign dancers and choreographers.

Theater Madness at Acre Festival

When the Israeli Fringe Theater Festival lets loose on the Crusader fortress in the ancient port city of Acre, one never knows just what to expect...except that it will be most unexpected. A point of annual pilgrimage during the Sukkot holiday for tens of thousands of ticket holders and hundreds of thousands of spectators who come for the street theater and carnival atmosphere, the Acre festival is an Israeli tradition in the best sense. It celebrates alternative theater and provides it with venues as unique and varied as the productions themselves.

This year, the 17th for the festival, 17 premieres, including five debuts by young playwrights, will compete in the competition that was reinstated after a year's absence. Actor/director Itzik Weingarten, himself a familiar face at the festival and its new artistic director, describes this year's crop of plays as "journeys" - to the souls of the Israeli, the Jew and the Arab.

The competition program includes: the ever-innovative Honi Hameagel with the multi-media "Between the Sacred and the Secular" that recreates for the audience ritual purification ceremonies in the ancient baths of Acre's Hamam (bathing suits are suggested attire); "Sultana Ammora", a spiritual detective drama by Elisheva Greenbaum about a boat-full of war refugees attempting to forget the past and find love in a better world, asks the questions "Is it possible to escape responsibility in favor of personal realization?" and "What happens to the person along the way?". The Acre Theater Center explores the issues of identity and stereotypes in Roi Rashkes' "Arab Dream," a journey into the dream of an Israeli-Arab (based on the true story of Haled Abu-Ali, an Acre resident and actor in the theater); Edna Shavit's "A Simple Story and More...," a collage of works by S.Y. Agnon, uses song and movement to turn Agnon's Jewish/Israeli universe into a theatrical experience; Yoram Falk's "Ben-Hor and the Rebbitzen" is a romantic comedy set in a development town about a touching encounter between the soccer coach and the wife of the town's rabbi.

In addition to the premieres, the festival includes 13 free street theater shows, 11 guest productions, four master classes, three dance theater pieces, drag queens and a ship of fools. Always promising...never a dull moment.