FRANCE: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS, AN ISRAELI FILM "KADOSH" COMPETES IN THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Record ID: 388349

  • Title: FRANCE: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS, AN ISRAELI FILM "KADOSH" COMPETES IN THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
  • Date: 22nd May 1999
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 13, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GITAI SAYING: "I think that cinema should not give up this role of being disturbing, of being subversive, of really posing questions which are not easy to digest. As an Israeli and a secular Israeli, I'm torn between my affection and my love to certain people in this country and being very disturbe
  • Embargoed: 6th June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JAHKCBZSWN6993WCEVIW5PUS
  • Story Text: For the first time in 25 years, an Israeli film is competing for the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or, and director Amos Gitai has chosen to represent his country with a tribute to women.
    "Kadosh", which Gitai completed only three days ago, is a quiet, moving film about the oppression of women in radically Orthodox Jewish communities.Gitai attended the film's official screening on Thursday (May 13) with the cast from "Kadosh".
    "Kadosh" is set in Mea Shearim, a deeply religious neighbourhood in Jerusalem, where a woman's role is to take care of the house, produce children and even be the family's breadwinner while her husband spends his days at the synagogue praying and studying the Torah.
    In "Kadosh", which means sacred, Rivka (Yael Abelcassis) and Meir (Yoram Hattab) have been married for 10 years but have been unable to have children.
    Meir's father, the local rabbi -- played by Palestinian actor Yussef Abu Warda -- insists that Meir disown his wife for "a woman who has no children is as good as dead".Meir is torn between his duty to God and his love for his wife.
    "I've dedicated this film to women.In all the monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- a masculine ideology has tried to reduce women to the sole role of reproduction," Gitai told Reuters."As a secular Israeli I don't like the fact that Israel is gradually being taken over by a clergy that is very reactionary," added the former architect who was born in Haifa.
    Gitai admits that the film could cause a backlash among religious Jews, but that's not his concern.
    "It's possible, especially when you touch a nerve like religion which is very sensitive in Israel.But I don't intend to stay mute.The camera is not just for making beautiful images, but is a way of protesting," he said.
    The staging and action of "Kadosh" is static, forcing the viewer to focus on the characters and their emotions.
    Gitai is something of an activist and has made a film with a Palestinian director.Several of his films, such as "Give Peace a Chance", "Yom Kippur" and "War and Peace in Vesoul"
    address the problems between Israelis and Palestinians.
    "I'm very happy that my film is shown the same day as (Egyptian director) Youssef Chahine's 'The Other One' because he has had problems with Islamic censors," he said.
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