CINEMA: What’s in a Name?

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Igal Avidan

BERLIN, Jun 27 1995 (IPS) - The first Berlin Jewish Film Festival, held under the theme ‘Life with the Holocaust in the Second Generation’ ended here June 25 with critical acclaim – and uneasiness among some participants.

It had to do with the designation of the Festival.

“I’m not in favour of Jewish film festivals because I feel it’s like a feminist or a gay movies festival,” said Frans Weisz, the prominent Dutch director. “I don’t want to be in a ghetto.”

Weisz entered his film ‘Polonaise’, which earned him an Oscar nomination in 1990. He said he would have liked to cross out the word ‘Jewish’ from the festival’s name.

Still, he decided to participate because “I make films in order that they are seen, so any excuse to have them shown is to me a valuable excuse.”

However, said Weisz, “I feel that if people go and sit already with their handkerchiefs ready because they know it’s going to be about the ‘second generation’ or the war or someone who died in Auschwitz, I get uneasy.”

Dani Levy, the only local representative at the festival, also said he regretted that a Jewish film festival is necessary and that “Jews and Germans cannot belong to one melting-pot. But this is impossible in Germany because there is so little Jewish culture.”

On the other hand, Levy added, “I find it positive that public institutions invest efforts to try to interest a wide audience because I don’t want to see Jewish culture banished into an anonymous corner.”

Levy was present here with his film ‘Without Me’, the story of a young Jew in Germany who gets increasingly frightened by the wave of neo-Nazi violence.

The young man, Simon, is played by Levy himself and is based, to some extent, on his real-life experiences.

When attacked by a gang of skinheads, Simon uses black humour to fight back. “We will transport you to Auschwitz,” one skinhead shouts at him. “I thought Auschwitz was just a legend,” Simon replies, then runs away.

Levy himself was harassed by skinheads and did – like Simon in the film – consider leaving Germany. Nevertheless, he stayed and now he speaks of Berlin as his home.

His new projects, he said, include a thriller called ‘Meschugge’ (‘mad’). It is a wicked murder mystery set both in New York and Germany. (MORE)

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