Screening date: 22-11-2007 -- 15h30
Stories from the Middle East – The Mall & Power
A project commissioned by the World Health Organization. Four short films portraying lives of Palestinians and Israelis, inspired by the WHO definition of health: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (WHO Constitution 1948).
The Mall reveals the surreal routine of an abandoned Israeli shopping mall, which is home to hundreds of Palestinian illegal workers. Power is the story of a young Bedouin man from a village which receives no basic services from the state of Israel. He decides to volunteer to serve in the Israeli army, believing that by doing so he will help bring electricity to his home and save his sick little sister.
(Missing Gaza and Journey with Naba complete the series, but will not be presented at the festival).
Country: Israel/Palestine
Production: Video 48 - Nir Nader, Sobhi al-Zobaidi, Ayelet Bechar, Hanna Musleh
Year: 2006
Director: Jonathan Ben Efrat; Ayelet Bechar
DigiBeta – color – 30min
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biography
The Mall (10 minutes), edited by Sari Ezuz, Sharon Horodi, cinematography by Gonen Glazer, was directed by Jonathan Ben Efrat. Other works from the director, who is also an author, include Breaking Walls for Video 48.
Power (15 minutes), edited by Miri Laufer, cinematography by Shai Peleg, original music by Tal Yardeni was directed and produced by Ayelet Bechar, who was born in Tel Aviv in 1972. She studied Film and Television in Tel Aviv before moving to New York where she received a master in journalism at Columbia University. As a freelance journalist, she contributed to Ha' aretz and the Jerusalem Post, and, at the same time, was a reporter and producer for a local television. Just Married, 2005, was her first feature documentary film.
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