12.06.2021 21:30 Eng. subtitles Open Air Kino HKW (Tickets)
Hopefully no viewers will seriously attempt to put into practice what Avi Mograbi offers us from his living-room chair: a how-to guide to military occupation. His strategic reflections have the innocent veneer of general considerations as to how one might successfully occupy a foreign territory against all resistance. His prime example here is the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Statements from Israeli soldiers about their service there, which were gathered for the organisation Breaking the Silence, give insight into the historical stages of the occupation and its daily routines, which have been in place for decades. These emotionless descriptions of everyday arbitrariness and cruelty are harrowing and difficult to listen to.
Eyewitness reports and archival material are just two of the basic documentary techniques to which Mograbi’s instruction manual lends a reflexive frame and analytical acuity. Without relativising, he concentrates on the side of the perpetrator. The result is sharp-tongued and ironic but often helpless and full of sadness too in light of the seemingly unstoppable escalation. (Anna Hoffmann)
Avi Mograbi was born in 1956 in Tel Aviv. He studied art history at Hamidrasha Art School and philosophy at Tel Aviv University before starting to work in 1982 as first assistant director on various Israeli and international film projects. Since 1989 he has directed around twenty of his own films.
Production company Les Films d'Ici (Paris, Frankreich). Written and directed by Avi Mograbi. Cinematography Philippe Bellaiche, Tulik Gallon. Editing Avi Mograbi. Sound Avi Mograbi. Executive producers Camille Laemlé, Serge Lalou. Co-producers Annie Ohayon-Dekel, Farid Rezkallah, Fabrice Puchault, Anne Grolleron, Elina Pohjola, Leila Lyytikäinen, Heino Deckert, Avi Mograbi. Co-production Les Films d’Ici, 24 Images, Citizen Jane Productions, Avi Mograbi, Ma.ja.de productions. With Avi Mograbi, Zvi Barel, Shlomo Gazit.
World sales The Party Film Sales
Films: 1989: Deportation (11 min.). 1994: The Reconstruction (The Danny Katz Murder Case) (50 min.). 1996: Eich hifsakti lefached velamadeti lehov et Arik Sharon / How I Learned to Overcome My Fear and Love Arik Sharon (61 min., Berlinale Forum 1997). 1999: Yom Huledet Same'Ach, Mar Mograbi / Happy Birthday, Mr. Mograbi (77 min., Berlinale Forum 1999), Relief (5 min., Loop). 2000: At the back (32 min.), Will You Please Stop Bothering Me and My Family (3 min., Loop). 2002: August (72 min., Berlinale Forum 2002), Wait, It's the Soldiers, I'll Hang Up Now (13 min.). 2004: Detail (8 min., Berlinale Forum Expanded 2004), Details 2 & 3 (9 min.), Detail 4 (5 min.). 2005: Nekam achat mishtey eynay / Avenge But One of My Two Eyes (100 min.), Details 5–10 (13 min.). 2006: Mrs. Goldstein (9 min.). 2008: Z32 (82 min.). 2009: Details 11–13 (11 min.). 2012: Once I Entered a Garden (100 min.). 2016: Bein gderot / Between Fences (85 min., Berlinale Forum 2016).
