Israel Matzav

Iran celebrates 'victory' over Israel

For the 10th year in a row, an Israeli film was nominated for Best Foreign Film and did not receive the Oscar. Instead, the prize went to an Iranian film called A Separation.

"Footnote," the story of the rivalry between two Talmudic scholars who are also father and son, was the second Academy Awards entry for Cedar, 43, a New York native who now lives in Tel Aviv. “Beaufort,” his film about the first Lebanon War, lost its bid in 2007.

Others vying in the best foreign-language film category included “In Darkness,” by Poland’s Agnieszka Holland, which follows the fate of a dozen Jewish men, women and children who hid for 14 months in the underground sewers of Lvov during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Also, “Bullhead” by Belgium’s Michael Roskam, and "Monsieur Lazhar” by Canada’s Philippe Falardeau.

At the Cannes Film Festival, "Footnote" was awarded the top prize for best screenplay, and in the United States the National Board of Reviews of Motion Pictures placed the film among the five top foreign-language features.

Cedar's first two films, "Time of Favor” and “Campfire,” also were chosen as Israel's entries to the Academy Awards but did not make the finals. They explored the gulf between observant and secular Israelis.

Okay, so let's watch the trailer of A Separation. Let's go to the videotape.



Iran is now claiming that the Oscar is a victory over Israel (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

The groundbreaking success of "A Separation," which tells the story of a failing marriage, was cast mostly in nationalist terms by Iranian authorities amid a mounting showdown between Israel and its Western allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

Yet the high-profile attention by Iran's Islamic leadership also represents a rare stamp of approval on the country's movie industry, which collects awards and accolades worldwide but is often dismissed by hard-liners at home as dominated by Western-tainted liberals and political dissenters.

...

Javad Shamaghdari, head of Iran's Cinematic Agency, portrayed the Oscar decision as the "beginning of the collapse" of Israeli influence that "beats the drum of war" in the U.S.

In Israel, however, the film has been a hit despite the daily headlines in Israeli newspapers warning of the Iranian nuclear threat.

"It's very well acted, exceptionally well written and very moving," said Yair Raveh, film critic for Israel's leading entertainment magazine, Pnai Plus. "Ultimately you don't think about nuclear bombs or dictators threatening world peace. You see them driving cars and going to movies and they look exactly like us."

The local favorite was still Israel's Oscar contender, Joseph Cedar's "Footnote," a Talmudic scholar saga. But their interest in "A Separation" was piqued by the rare glimpse it offered into the living rooms of a country they regard as a threat to their very survival.

Read the whole thing.

I wonder if the authorities in Iran know that director Asghar Farhadi appeared at a pre-Oscar panel with Israeli director Joseph Cedar. They sat at opposite ends.

During the two-hour panel discussion, Cedar and Farhadi did not speak to each other directly, but joined their colleagues in chuckling at each other’s jokes and politely applauding their respective remarks.

The same applied when Holland discussed her film about a dozen Jews hiding in underground sewers during the Nazi occupation of Poland, a theme directly contradicting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s insistence that the Holocaust never happened.

All the panelists used hand-held microphones except for Cedar, whose stationery mike was fastened to the armrest of his chair, because of the Jewish Sabbath.

The symposium is always held on Saturday preceding the Sunday Academy Awards and Cedar, who is a Shabbat observer, walked two miles from his hotel to the theater.

In 2007, when Cedar’s war film “Beaufort” also was among the five finalists, he consulted his rabbi and was told that he could not use a mike during the symposium. As a result, only those in the first few rows could hear his remarks. This time Cedar consulted a different authority, who advised that the director could speak into a mike, as long as he did not actually hold it in his hand.

I wonder what the Iranian authorities will think of the panel. I also wonder when the Israeli movie will be shown in Tehran like the Iranian movie is shown in Jerusalem. Probably never.

Labels: Footnote, Iran, Oscars

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:19 PM