On MSNBC yesterday, Emad Burnat told Andrea Mitchell that “5 Broken Cameras,” the Oscar-nominated documentary that he co-directed, is a Palestinian movie. The Forward says the Israeli consulate is bragging on the film, which demonstrates the cruelty of the occupation, as proving Israel’s diversity of opinion; though Burnat’s Israeli co-director has endorsed boycott:
Despite his effort to put a positive spin on the movies’ Oscars nods, [Israeli Consul General in L.A. David] Siegel did lash out at Guy Davidi, co-creator of “5 Broken Cameras” for backing an international boycott on Israel in order to force it to end the occupation.
“This is a cynical PR maneuver aimed at promoting the movie’s chances to win an Oscar,” said David Siegel, Israel’s Consul General in Los Angeles. In a Thursday interview Siegel went on to ask whether Davidi’s call for a boycott “would also include the Israeli funds that provided support to his movie.”
The creators of “5 Broken Cameras,” Davidi, who is an Israeli, and Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat, made clear from the outset they do not view their movie as representing Israel and would refuse any attempt by Israeli government officials to embrace their success.
Is boycott really so hip that it would please the Academy? I doubt that. But things are changing fast!
Dear Phil,
Asa Winstanely of the Globe and Mail reports that the Israeli co-director, Guy Davidi, told her the Israeli National News story made up quotes by him and never interviewed him. The INN story says:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164095#.USkAwWfN8fT
There was a discussion if Israel has admirable diversity of opinion etc.
The fact that the movie was at last in part financed by Israeli Film Fund and thus by the ministry of Sports and Culture is admirable.
Can one call for sanctioning the admirable? I think that sanctions are ultimately a political tool to change behavior that we find detestable, and if this behavior coincides with admirable behavior that does not constitute a free pass. Otherwise a Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine would be entitled to rape some teenage girls etc.
So keen to take credit for something they cannot stop, you wonder if these knaves and fools have actually watched it, or if so, have understood a single thing about its contents. Gideon Levy was in no doubt about its message:
“This documentary should make every decent Israeli ashamed of being an Israeli. It should be shown in civics classes and heritage classes. The Israelis should know, at long last, what is being done in their name every day and every night in this ostensible time of no terror. ….
This documentary proves that, for the locals, the reality of the occupation is that there is no such thing as nonviolent struggle. For the information of those who preach nonviolence (from the Palestinians ): The Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the Border Police will ensure that it becomes violent. …Anyone who watches this film understands that it is very difficult to face the wall, the settlement project and the soldiers – all of which scream “violence” – and remain nonviolent. Nearly impossible….
Anyone who behaves this way in his dark backyard cannot boast about what happens in his enlightened show window, with all that high tech and democracy. Anyone who knows what is happening in Bil’in and the other villages understands that a state that behaves in this way cannot be considered democratic or enlightened.”
And so on.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/the-documentary-that-should-make-every-decent-israeli-ashamed-1.468409
That the consul can try and take credit for this film, while blithely ignoring and NOT taking credit for the inhuman actions and attitudes of his soldiers and his settlers tells you a lot about the twisted psyche of Israel, which is so much in denial of the crimes it commits against a poor, defenceless people, that when it sees them, it shrugs and carries on, entirely unmoved, uninterested and secretly approving of the violent ethnic cleansing they commit. Depraved people.
I think its really unlikely that “Five Broken Cameras” is going to win. I think it’s great and groundbreaking that it was nominated but thinking about the politics of what goes into the voting process and the fact that the voters make up the older generations of Hollywood elite, I’m just going to say they’re not going to let it win.
I watched how to survive a plague and it was really good too. It’s hard to remember when AIDS was a literal death sentence because i was so young when it happened and the debate over bringing drugs to the market quicker or taking the time to make sure they really work well is interesting (coming from the daughter of a research statistician for “Big Pharm”). Still liked five broken cameras better but it was interesting.
Also, they really just need to make these movies more available to the public. I want to see gatekeepers but its only playing in New York and I can’t go see it. Can filmmakers self publish to amazon or iTunes or google so the public can see their work instead of limiting it to the theater circuit?
RE: “Is boycott really so hip that it would please the Academy? I doubt that. But things are changing fast!” ~ Weiss
MY COMMENT: Perhaps things are not really changing so fast. Accoring to Guy Davidi, industry insiders have warned him that pressure has been exerted on the Academy to stop either 5 Broken Cameras or The Gatekeepers from winning the Oscar® for Best Documentary.
SEE: “Pictures speak volumes in Oscar-nominated Israeli films”, By Jonathan Cook, Israeli Occupation Archive, 2/20/13
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2013-02-20/pictures-speak-volumes-in-oscar-nominated-israeli-films/