Cinema Can Do Dialogue: Once I Entered a Garden

At the heart of ONCE I ENTERED A GARDEN by Avi Mograbi are conversations between the Israeli filmmaker and his Palestinian friend and former Arabic teacher Ali Al-Azhari. They were inspired by a dream that Mograbi had about an impossible meeting between him and his grandfather Ibrahim in front of their house in Damascus in 1920. Which language do they speak? Avi’s Arabic is rudimentary, while Ibrahim has to learn Hebrew. In order to bring his dream to life, Avi Mograbi turns to Ali Al-Azhariand and suggests that they make a film together, “to the last touch”, as Ali puts it. In typical Mograbi manner, the filmmaker weaves together a story about filmmaking with the film itself, a film about identity that questions our fundamental assumptions about what makes us who we are. (stss)

The conversation with Avi Mograbi that follows the film will be conducted by Christoph Terhechte, director of DOK Leipzig and head of the Berlinale Form from 2001 to 2018.