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Activities of Amos Gitai at the 12th FICM

FICM is pleased to announce that Amos Gitai will be Guest of Honor at the 12^th edition of the festival. The renowned Israeli director – whose work includes more than 80 titles, created throughout 43 years, and who has received numerous awards and has had retrospectives at the most important museums and film festivals throughout the world – will participate in a series of activities at the 12^th FICM in which he will exhibit part of his work and share his experience with the public and the press.

Born in 1950, Amos Gitai belongs to the first generation of children born after the creation of the state of Israel. He holds a degree in architecture and at a young age began a search for new aesthetic methods, which have imprinted his particular stylistic and thematic mark on his work. Amos Gitai’s work is distinguished by the use of long sequence shots in order to create sensory effects; the exploration of the history of the Middle East through issues like the homeland, exile, religion, social control and utopia; and for its complex dramatic structures, such as asymmetric division in Berlin-Jerusalem (1989), spatial montage in Alila (2003) and the abrupt narrative breaks in Disengagement (2007), starring, in the latter, the 12^th FICM’s Guest of Honor, Juliette Binoche. The totality of his work covers audiovisual, film and literary production; theatrical scenery, filmed sketches; and journals with notes and reflections, among other means.

As an Israeli citizen, he experienced two major events that marked the course of his career: the Yom Kippur War (in 1973), in which he was on the verge of death after his helicopter was shot down by a missile; and his exile from Israel in 1983, due to the controversy generated from one of his first films, House (1980). With these experiences, combined with his social commitment and his critical view of the policies of his native country, Amo Gitai developed a series of trilogies, which were of great importance in the history of cinematography of the late 20^th century and the beginning of this century, such as the trilogy on Israeli political-military practices: Field Diary (1982), Give Peace a Chance (1994) and The Arena of Murder (1996); the triptych on the developments of global capitalism: Pineapple (1983), Bangkok-Bahrain / Labour for Sale (1994) and Orange( 1998); the trilogy on exile: Esther (1985), Berlin-Jerusalem (1989) and Golem, the Spirit of Exile (1991); on cities: Devarim (1995), Yom Yom (1998) and Kadosh (1999); the decisive events in the history of Israel: Kippur (2000), Eden(2001) and Kedma (2002); and the border trilogy: Promised Land (2004), Free Zone (2005) and Disengagement (2007), among others.

During the 12^th FICM, Amos Gitai will offer a talk, moderated by the well-known film critic Nick Roddick, in the Teatro José Rubén Romero, on Tuesday, October 21, at 4:15 pm.

A retrospective of his latest works will also be presented, including his most recent film, Tsili (2014), which premiered at the 71^st Venice International Film Festival. The following films by Amos Gitai will be screened at the 12^th FICM:

• Carmel(2009) – Sunday, October 19, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 8:45 pm
• Roses à crédit(2011) – Monday, October 20, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 8:15 pm
• Lullaby to my Father(2012) – Tuesday, October 21, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 7:45 pm
• Ana Arabia(2013) – Wednesday, October 22, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 5, 8:30 pm
• Tsili(2014) – Thursday, October 23, Cinépolis Centro, Sala 3, 8:30 pm

You can buy your tickets: here

Article by Alejandro M. Azpiri (@nosoyalexalejo)