Youth issues top bill at Israeli Film Festival
InReview
Israeli Film Festival star Sivan Levy believes that films should talk about the things that people won’t.
For Levy, who stars in two of the films in the festival, movies are more than entertainment. Six Acts and Inch’Allah are both strong, controversial films. Both are critically acclaimed, with strong writing, directing and acting.
“I think films should be talked about, and they should talk about things that are uncomfortable and things people are more likely to look away from,” Levy tells InDaily Arts.
“It’s very important to use this method to put a mirror in front of the audience and show them what is going on.”
The Israeli Film Festival is celebrating a decade in Australia with Oscar-nominated documentaries and award-winning features.
“The festival continues to highlight not only the breadth and strength of the Israeli film industry, but also presents the broad spectrum of Israeli society and everyday issues,” Festival director Keith Lawrence says.
“A common thread in many of the films this year is the concerns of young adults – social, sexual and political – whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim.”
Levy says Israeli cinema tackles diverse issues. Six Acts, which has been celebrated on the international film festival circuit, follows a young girl, played by Levy, who is trading her body for popularity.
Levy says it is an all too common occurrence, not just in school, but in all parts of life that people turn their attention away from rather than reaching out to help.
“I’ve had the same reaction all over the world – people are surprised to see it and everyone can find a story from their life that relates.”
In Inch’Allah it is a different kind of conflict.
“Inch’Allah is about two sides Israel and Palestine and to acknowledge how bad each side has it.”
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Levy plays Ava, an Israeli border guard, who is friends with the main character, a Canadian doctor who lives in Israeli but works in Palestine and is caught between the two sides. The doctor is friends with Ava and Palestinian woman Rand of a similar age.
“The story is about how [the main character] tries all through the story to make us friends, but she can not and you can see how we look and act the same but we can never be friends.”
The Israeli Film Festival is on until Tuesday. Details here.
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