CANNES, France - Filmmaker Schlomi Elkabetz made a documentary “Les Cahiers Noirs,” ("Machbarot Shchorot" in the original Hebrew) about his recently-departed sister (she died of cancer on April 19th, 2016), the actress and filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz. The project is over a decade in the making. Elkabetz sent a filmed love letter to his sister. Fusing hand-held camera footage with scenes from some of ... more >
ARCHIVES
CANNES FESTIVAL: Schlomi and Ronit Elkabetz explore the past and the present to confront an unavoidable future in “LES CAHIERS NOIRS”
Israël | 2021 | 209 minutes
RONIT IN HER OWN WORDS | Israel’s best-known actress describes her first experiences in Cannes
In a recent interview that she gave to French magazine Télérama (France's answer to TV Guide, but on steroids) Roni Elkabetz recalled her earliest memories of the Cannes Festival: "The first time [I went to the Cannes Festival] was in 1997. It was a very strange experience. I had decided to leave Israel to live my life as an actress in France. I don't even speak the language, so it was a kind ... more >
Conflicting Histories: Israel and Palestine
MOVIETRACKS Episode # 10
Kool Shee Helo, composed by Habib Shehadeh Hanna Feat. Reem Talhami (The Band’s Visit), 2007 Incubator, performed by HaClique (Waltz with Bashir), 2006 Lemon Tree, performed by Mira Award (Lemon Tree), 2009 Ana Albi Dalily, performed by Leila Mourad (The Time that Remains), 2009 Mawal, performed by Maher Halabi (Ajami), 2009 Additional music: “Heal my heart” by Kerri Chandler (pictured: a ... more >
Jaffa
And what about Israel's Arab citizens?
Dana Ivgy, Moni Moshonov and Ronit Elkabetz
Directed by Keren Yedaya
Newscasts and op-eds tell us plenty about the headache and heartache of the relation between neighboring and intermingled Palestinian and Israeli communities and the sporadic efforts to bring a solution to a problem that doesn’t have any good one. But we know less about Israel’s Arabs, second-rate citizens who actually live in the country. Keren Yedaya’s “Jaffa” uses this context to tell us the ... more >
The Band’s Visit
A Screen Comment favorite!
Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz and Saleh Bakri
Directed by Eran Kolirin
A quiet kind of despair inhabits the men in The Band's Visit, a new and must-see film from Israel. As it were, Visit is overwhelmingly composed of male characters, men who seem lost, both spiritually and geographically. But there's also something stirring about these men, who are from Egypt and who've wandered astray, like so many Sufi nomads on an adventure. Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai) is ... more >