Entertainment

An Israeli Director Does Battle With The Country’s Culture Ministry In A Provocative New Film

By Andrew Lapin

(JTA) — Before the hero of “Ahed’s Knee,” an Israeli filmmaker known only as “Y,” can screen one of his movies in a public library in an Arava desert town, he is told he must sign a document from Israel’s Ministry of Culture. The agreement states that, during his visit, he will only discuss with his audience a list of approved topics, including “Israeli history,” “the Holocaust,”” family,” “love” and “comrades in arms.” Examples of unapproved topics: Palestinians, the occupation and any suggestion that Israelis will tolerate dissent from their creative class.

This is a problem for Y (Avshalom Pollak). Not only is he prone to monologues about the sorry state of Israeli culture today, but he is also in production on a new movie — this one about the real-life Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi. Jailed after slapping an Israeli soldier in 2017 during a clash in the West Bank, the teenager became a symbol of Palestinian resistance. (The film takes its title from a comment by an Israeli politician who said that Tamimi “should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneecap,” to keep her under house arrest for life.)

Winner of a special jury prize when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, “Ahed’s Knee” is a work of fiction, although its writer-director Nadav Lapid is obviously channeling his own frustrations with working as a filmmaker in Israel. Lapid’s movies, which are frequently critical of nationalism and Israeli identity, are widely celebrated in art houses and film festivals around the world. His film “The Kindergarten Teacher” was remade into an American movie starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.

But on the basis of his latest film, it seems that Lapid has struggled to connect with audiences in Israel itself.

In “Ahed’s Knee,” Lapid’s avatar, Y, wanders through the desert town of Sapir prior to his film screening. He sends frequent photos and text messages to his unseen mother and collaborator, who is dying of cancer. (Lapid’s own mother, Era Lapid, was the editor of all of his previous films until she died from cancer in 2018; his father, Haim Lapid, is credited as a screenplay consultant on “Ahed’s Knee.”) While despairing that all his work has been for naught, and flashing back to traumatic experiences in the military that he may or may not have made up, Y enters an uneasy flirtation with his young escort, Yahalom (Nur Fibak), who works for the culture minister and has to compel the director to sign the approved topics agreement.

Though the minister in the film is never named, Lapid is likely taking shots at Miri Regev, Israel’s previous culture minister, who during her tenure under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the country should not be funding artwork that she deemed “disloyal” to the state. When Lapid’s film “Synonyms,” about an Israeli expat in Paris attempting to erase his national identity, won the Golden Bear at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, Regev announced that no one in her ministry had seen the film.

Much of the events depicted in “Ahed’s Knee” are true, according to Lapid; in the film’s press notes, he says that he encountered a similar dilemma involving an “approved topics” form when he was invited to screen “The Kindergarten Teacher” in Sapir. Like his onscreen avatar, Lapid says he also encountered a young deputy culture minister who expressed serious misgivings about such forms even as she compelled him to sign one, and, as in the film, a journalist friend tried to get him to secretly record the civil servant making such comments. There’s a hint of self-deprecating humor in the way Lapid depicts Y as a blowhard and an egomaniac, while also making clear that the two are united

Eagan Private understands high value homeowners insurance.

• Trusted Partners. “A” rated companies specifically designed for families like yours.

• Experience. Professional staff trained to recognize and handle the complex details.

• Results. Coverages for exceptional building quality, historic residences, elaborate landscapes, antique autos, collections, watercraft, recreational vehicles and excess liability, all with the same carrier.

• Confidence. Eagan Insurance is synonymous with stability and strength with over 60 years providing excellence in products and service.

A Division of Eagan Insurance Agency, LLC Metairie, Covington & LaPlace, LA  Pass Christian, MS www.eaganins.com 888.882.9600 See DIRECTOR on Page 21

DIRECTOR

Continued from Page 20 in their political principles.

The movie explores a central tension between the artist and the state, a tension that has heightened significance in Israel, which aspires to be a democracy despite a constant state of heightened security and ideological tension. As Y weighs whether to blow up his entire career just to make a point, his own wouldbe professional suicide contrasts with other images of grand-scale destruction, like Sapir’s wilting bell pepper harvest, which used to sustain the village until climate change ruined farmers’ livelihoods.

In the spirit of many other film directors who make movies about themselves (Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Hong Sang-soo and others), Lapid also offers no separation between the personal and the political. When Y rants that the culture ministry’s “sole aim is to reduce the soul … to impotence and incompetence so it collapses under the state’s oppression,” both directors, real and fictional, have boiled their frustrations down to only one message: the time for subtlety has passed.

“Ahed’s Knee” opens today in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, and expands across the country in the coming weeks.

An Israeli filmmaker named Y (Avshalom Pollak) makes a series of radical decisions in the movie "Ahed's Knee," written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid. (Kino Lorber)

OCT 2012 Henry Winkler To Star In Racy Israeli TV Series

By Caleb Guedes-Reed SG/JDF/1/6V

PLEASE CHECK YOUR

AD CAREFULLY FOR SPELLING & GRAMMAR, AS WELL AS ACCURACY OF ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS & OTHER VITAL INFORMATION. Your ad will run

AS-IS unless changes Actor Henry Winkler Visits Siriusxm Studios In New York City, Oct. 2, 2019. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) are made and approved with your

Account Executive by

(JTA) — Jewish actor Henry Winkler will star in a new show on Israeli television in Hebrew and English that is being called a “U.S.Israel crossover” series.

In “Chansi,” the man who brought us beloved characters like Fonzie from “Happy Days” will play the father of a haredi Orthodox woman who leaves her community in Brooklyn for Israel. Once there, according to one Israeli site’s description, she attempts to chart an adventurous new life — and to “sleep with as many Israeli soldiers as possible.” The series stars and was created by Aleeza Chanowitz. It is being filmed NOON 9/7 in and around Jerusalem, Variety reported, and will air on the Israeli network HOT later this year.

LHSAA ROOF REPAIRS

Est. 1985

ALL TYPES OF ROOFING • CHECK OUR REPUTATION jharris5678@aol.com • LA State Lic. #56071 504.834.5353 • 985.960.6090 • bandhroofing.com

Best Wishes to my many Jewish friends and constituents for a happy Passover

Charlie Kerner Justice of the Peace

Jefferson Parish 3rd Justice Court

Wishing my many friends & supporters in the Jewish Community a happy Passover.

Candice Bates-Anderson

Judge Juvenile Court, Section C

After this deadline, the only changes OCT 2012 that may be made are to correct

PUBLISHER’S ERRORS.

This is a low-resolutionSG/JDF/1/6V PDF proof of your advertisement (may not be true to actual size). It is property of Renaissance Publishing (or the original creator) and cannot be PLEASE CHECK YOUR AD CAREFULLY FOR SPELLING & GRAMMAR, AS WELL AS ACCURACY OF ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS & OTHER VITAL INFORMATION.866-0276 reproduced, Your ad will run www.exteriordesignsbev.com duplicated or used in any AS-IS unless changes other format. are made and

THE JEWISH LIGHT Copyright 2009, approved with your

Renaissance Publishing.Account Executive by

LANDSCAPE • CONSTRUCTION Courtyards • Pools Driveway Renovations Landscape Refurbishing After Storm Small Carpentry

FREE GIFT WRAP CHATEAU DRUGS & GIFTS Unexpected Elegance (504) 889-2300

M-F 9am-6pm Sat 9am-4pm

3544 West Esplanade •Metairie, LA 70002 Between Severn and Hessmer Avenue