The depression-era photojournalist once said that “the camera is an instrument that teaches people to see without a camera,” a sentiment presciently expressed in Israeli filmmaker Orit Fouks Rotem’s latest film with her new project, “Cinema Sabaya”.
The film, which is Israel’s official selection for the Oscars, follows a group of eight women of various Arab and Jewish origins (as well as different ages and economic positions) who sign up for a video workshop in an effort to express themselves. in the midst of social unrest.
“I wrote characters based on women I met and then changed them after meeting the actresses,” director Rotem told moderator Sharon Waxman, CEO and editor-in-chief of TheWrap, for the season screening series of awards 2022-2023. Rotem was joined on Zoom by producer Maya Fischer and actors Dana Ivgy and Joanna Said. “After meeting Joanna, a lot of her life became the character in an emotional way. It was important to me to be very specific and not say anything about the entire society of Israel through the characters.”
The film has brought many women (and some men) to tears through its 91-minute exploration of women’s roles in the turmoil of Israeli-Palestinian relations today.
Ivgy, the award-winning actor who plays Rona, the film’s videography instructor who brings out these stories in the various women, has been wowed by the audience.
“The responses are really strong and people tell us their stories right away,” says Ivgy. “We have some men who walk out of the movie and say, ‘What I’m sure of is that I’m going to be a better husband.'”
The film was a special experience for Said, who said creating theater as a college student during a period of divisive political discourse after the Gaza War came at a real cost. “I came to Jerusalem afraid to speak Arabic because of the ingrained fears in me. I felt that people would be repelled by me, knowing that I was an Arab.”
Producer Fischer feels “we have a long way to go” but is optimistic that the Arab-Jewish collaborations are improving. “Where there are women, you can create true intimacy. I don’t think film can change the world, but even the process of making it can initiate change.”
