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Photo: AP
Photo: AP
Photo: AP

Ending racism begins with our children

Opinion: Guy Nattiv, the Israeli director who claimed the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film, says 'Skin' was inspired by his Holocaust survivor grandparents and the need to confront the rampant hate that has again reared its head in the West.

The day after the Oscars ceremony, I woke up at seven in the morning with hangover.

 

 

It was crazy. To my right —my wife is still asleep, with a five-month-old young lady beside her. To the left — boom! I saw two huge golden Oscar figures on the dresser. Holy shit, it was not a dream, it's absolutely real.

 

Guy Nattiv's Oscar
Guy Nattiv's Oscar

 

Oscars night was a crazy night of going from party to party, of consuming alcohol in bulk, of meeting legends like Steven Spielberg, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Quincy Jones and Spike Lee, who actually voted for us and pushed for us to win.


Guy Nattiv with fellow 2019 Oscar winner OIivia Colman
Guy Nattiv with fellow 2019 Oscar winner OIivia Colman

 

In the few quiet moments I have had between cocktails and car interviews, I keep thinking about my private heroes - my grandparents who went through hell in Poland and Romania during the Holocaust, lost their entire family, arrived in Israel on an immigrant ship to establish Kibbutz Megiddo and fought for our country to exist. It was important to me to say on stage in front of five hundred million people - that the rampant racism in the US and in Europe has to end!

 

 

We are seeing more and more racist phenomena against Jews, blacks, Muslims and foreigners in the US and Europe, perpetrated by white fascist white groups who reared their heads when Donald Trump came to power. Our message is clear and direct, and connects directly to what my grandmothers and grandfathers taught us about the values with which we grew up. My grandfather, Reuven Monowitz, a Holocaust survivor and a hero, took us on a trip to Poland ten years ago, where he declared that the family he established was his greatest revenge.

 

It is natural that in Skin, my first American film, I explore the racism of a white American family, a work that conveys the clear message that it all begins with the education of our children. Because when you're a 10-year-old boy in a racist town in Ohio and your father teaches you to shoot Mexicans at the border with a sniper rifle, it is fair to assume that within a few years you'll become a violent, dangerous racist who will take the same rifle and start shooting Jews.

 

 

The poster for Skin
The poster for Skin

 

I hope that now that Skin has received so much exposure, more people will see it both in the US and around the world - and in Israel too - and digest this message. To everyone in Israel – I have endless thanks for the tremendous support we received from our family and friends and all the people who we do not know personally.

 

This film was made for all of our children, and for the hope that they will grow up in a less violent and racist world. Amen.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.26.19, 16:22
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