When in Rome, be an Israeli
Israeli cinema wins much acclaim in Italy in recent years. This year's Israeli Jewish Film Festival in Rome reaffirms surprising popularity
Indeed, the most successful Israeli movie in Italy in recent years was Eran Riklis' "Lemon Tree", which failed at Israel's box offices, yet drew enthusiastic reactions from Italian critics and managed to sell some 213,000 seats at the movie theatre.
Another success was Ari Fulman's acclaimed animation film Waltz with Bashir, which drew some 200,000 viewers.
Success story in Italy. Lemon Tree (Photo: Eitan Riklis)
In addition to these two hits, the festival also screened Samuel Maoz's Lebanon, Keren Yedaya's Jaffa, which tells the tragic story of two lovers, a Palestinian and a Jew in Jaffa, and Dror Zahavi's Sof Shavua B'Tel Aviv ( Weekend in Tel Aviv), which was chosen to be screened on the festival's closing night.
The festival's opening film, in contrast, was the successful and lighthearted comedy "A Matter of Size" by Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor, which was received with great enthusiasm by local crowds who flooded the Casa del Cinema, the Roman Cinematheque located across the famous Via Veneto street, which was featured in Federico Fellini's timeless La Dolce Vita.
Festival's surprise. Tel Aviv-Jaffa (Photo: Ofri Bar-Ilan)
The film festival, which marked Tel Aviv's centennial anniversary, was organized by the Jewish community center in Rome, named after the local philanthropist Pitigliano family.
Everything began with Gitai
"Italy's first exposure to Israeli cinema was with Amos Gitai's film Kadosh, which was very successful here," explains Ariela Piattelli, the festival's artistic director. "It marked the beginning of a love story between Italian viewers and Israeli cinema. The Italians were excited by what they saw as edgy, critical cinema."
"People here are curious about the way Israelis view themselves, yet are still interested to know about daily life in Israel," said movie critic Simone Tedeschi, adding that "this is the reason the film Hatuna Meuheret (Late Marriage) did so well here."
Despite the meager advertisement, the two intimate theaters of Casa del Cinema were filled with a Jewish crowd, Israelis living in Rome, and other Italians who took the opportunity to watch movies that will not be screened in commercial theatres.
The festival's big surprise was undoubtedly Modi Bar-On and Anat Zeltser's television series Tel Aviv-Jaffa, which follows the history of the first Hebrew city. The film drew immense interest from festival goers, many of which were dismayed to discover a sold-out screening.
It seems as though Israeli culture, with its many flavors, is the subject of great interest in Italy. Israeli cinema is following in the footsteps of Israeli literature, which gained tremendous following among the Italian readership in recent years.
