'Sweet 'n' Jewcy': Jewish film festival

"Army service, travel, study at a university, find a partner, get married after a few years, have kids. Always follow the path," Rachel said. "I never dared to take time off and follow my dreams." For her documentary "Promised Lands", award-winning filmmaker Yael Reuveny got together with Rachel and other elementary school classmates from the class of 1988 — very personal portraits, reflections on the past and expectations of life.

The 40-year-old director wanted to find out where Israelis her age find themselves in the timeline of the country's history, what hopes they have and what they feel responsible for.

Reuveny, who lives in Berlin, is interested in redrawing the picture of her native Israel. The public often only learns about the extremes in the media, she says, arguing she wants to present "normal" Israelis. "The people in my film are not settlers, not Orthodox Jews, not left-wing activists. They are people from the middle of society." Reuveny told DW. "If you want to understand Israel, you have to understand these people."

The German-Israeli co-production "Promised Lands" premieres at the 27th Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg (JFBB) on August 15.

From August 12-22, under this year's motto, "Sweet 'N' Jewcy," international filmmakers present their feature and short films, series and documentaries at various venues throughout Berlin and the nearby city of Potsdam at the largest film festival of its kind in Germany.

The festival aims to showcase the diversity of Jewish film and discuss its central issues. Contributions by Israeli artists including Reuveny give audiences a glimpse of a film landscape that has experienced a remarkable upswing over the past 20 years.

Growing market

Demand for domestic productions is on the rise, writes the Israeli Film Fund, one of the largest institutions for film promotion. Films and series from Israel are successful at the major film festivals in Europe and America, the most important consumer markets. In July, the Cannes Film Festival hosted more Israeli filmmakers than ever before — and the jury prize went to Tel Aviv-born star director Nadav Lapid for his film Ahed's Knee.

The development of domestic production conditions is primarily responsible for the successes of recent years, according to Naomi Levari, who is considered one of the most successful Israeli producers in Germany. As a member of the program collective, she also decides on the films shown at the JFBB. Israel's 2001 law on state film funding ensured the financing of film projects, she told DW. "All the creative ideas that had been difficult to realize before could be implemented," she said. The same applies to television and its range of channels that has grown steadily since 1993.

"The urge to tell stories has always existed. But the necessary resources to do so simply weren't available for a long time," Levari said, adding that, thanks to government support, productions are much more innovative in terms of content and technology than in previous decades.

The equivalent of more than €20 million ($23.4 million) in public funds per year is earmarked for the Israeli TV and film industry. In view of the average cost of about €1 million for a feature film production, that is a moderate sum. But, Levari said, it is an important cornerstone.

Imaginative ideas 

"Taking into account the size of the Israeli market and the available budgets, it's a success," Levari said. What the productions lack in money, they often make up for with ingenious ideas that also resonate with international audiences. What's more, the scarcity of financial resources creates a certain competition, in which a wide variety of ideas vie for the limited public budgets, Levari said.

One of the films shown at JFBB, Tal Shmunis' Necro-Men, also targets a broad audience by weaving together personal experience and comedy. The film was his final project at film school in Israel and the US, a bizarre story involving a Muslim and a Jewish con artist who offer their services as ghost exorcists in exchange for money. The scam works until the night the two face something horrific.

"Comedy is something every audience can relate to. If I had made a serious, dramatic film, it wouldn't have been as effective as this," Shmunis argued. The fact that the two main characters have different faiths is no coincidence, he said. "My home country, Israel, is a very big melting pot. I feel surrounded by these two great religions, Islam and Judaism. In the film, I want to connect the two cultures and religions, and they fight together against the evil that unexpectedly appears."

The Israeli narrative

The coexistence and the conflict of cultures characterize Israel, a country of 9 million people. Many internal and external conflicts make the country's vulnerability omnipresent — a situation that also affects the country's filmmakers, and is clearly reflected in the JFBB program.

Some artists focus on the Middle East conflict or the Holocaust and search for their own role in history, others offer new ways of telling the story, criticizing how they, as Jews or Israelis, are too often assigned the role of victim. Still others depict everyday life in Israel or some other part of the world.

Israel has many stories to tell, Reuveny said. "The question is: What stories is the world ready to hear from Israel?" Issues in the past included the Palestinian conflict, the Holocaust and the military, she said, adding it seemed like more family and love themes were cropping up, stories that really can take place anywhere. "There are so many talented filmmakers in Israel and they deserve to tell their own stories," she said.

This article has been translated from German.