2005
97' – Video – Color – Israel
News from Home / News from House




This is a film shot several times over a period of 25 years. It tells the story of a house in Jerusalem and its occupants. It is like observing a human archaeological site. Just before the war of 1948, the house belonged to Doctor Mahmood Dajani. Then the family Touboul from Colomb Béchar moved in. Its new owner, Haim Barkai, an economist, used stones from the mountains of Hebron to transform it (House, 1980).
Amos Gitai returned to the site of this house and the district, the Dor Dor ve Dorshav (“every generation and its master”) Street in 1998. A House in Jerusalem (1998) once again shows relations between Israelis and Palestinians, between the former inhabitants and the present ones. Each embodies, in their own way, the destiny of this land.
The stonemason of the first film is now 70 years old in News From Home / News From House (2006). He lives in the new village of Wallaja. Part of the Dajani family lives in Amman. Some of the inhabitants of the Dor Dor ve Dorshav Street are still there. The house is no longer the common space that unites the first film with the second. The juxtaposition of tales and memories now replace the site of House and A House in Jerusalem. The space has become a mental space. The site has dissolved into a microcosm that prepares itself for inner or outer exile. During these 25 years, concrete reality has been transformed into memories and remembering. We assist in the creation of a new identity, the identity of a diaspora. The reality for the filmmaker, the traveller in these places, is a juxtaposition of the contemporary and older fragments of memory that we revisit.
FESTIVALS
• Berlin International Film Festival / Berlinale 2006 – Presented at the International Forum of Young Cinema
• Cinéma du réel 2006 (Paris) – Out of competition
CREDITS
Screenplay Amos Gitai
Cinematography Haim Asias
Sound Ravid Dvir, Alex Claude, David Gillain
Editing Isabelle Ingold
Research Ayelet Tamari, Jamil Khoury
Production Agav Films
In association with ARTE (France/Germany), Artemis (Belgium), Agav Films (France), Sundance Channel (USA), RAI 3 (Italy), RTBF (Belgium), YLE (Finland), Hamon (Israel), The New Fund for Israeli Cinema (Israel), Second Channel (Israel), CNC (France)
Producers Amos Gitai, Michael Tapuach, Laurent Truchot, Patrick Quinet
This is a film shot several times over a period of 25 years. It tells the story of a house in Jerusalem and its occupants. It is like observing a human archaeological site. Just before the war of 1948, the house belonged to Doctor Mahmood Dajani. Then the family Touboul from Colomb Béchar moved in. Its new owner, Haim Barkai, an economist, used stones from the mountains of Hebron to transform it (House, 1980).
Amos Gitai returned to the site of this house and the district, the Dor Dor ve Dorshav (“every generation and its master”) Street in 1998. A House in Jerusalem (1998) once again shows relations between Israelis and Palestinians, between the former inhabitants and the present ones. Each embodies, in their own way, the destiny of this land.
The stonemason of the first film is now 70 years old in News From Home / News From House (2006). He lives in the new village of Wallaja. Part of the Dajani family lives in Amman. Some of the inhabitants of the Dor Dor ve Dorshav Street are still there. The house is no longer the common space that unites the first film with the second. The juxtaposition of tales and memories now replace the site of House and A House in Jerusalem. The space has become a mental space. The site has dissolved into a microcosm that prepares itself for inner or outer exile. During these 25 years, concrete reality has been transformed into memories and remembering. We assist in the creation of a new identity, the identity of a diaspora. The reality for the filmmaker, the traveller in these places, is a juxtaposition of the contemporary and older fragments of memory that we revisit.
FESTIVALS
• Berlin International Film Festival / Berlinale 2006 – Presented at the International Forum of Young Cinema
• Cinéma du réel 2006 (Paris) – Out of competition
CREDITS
Screenplay Amos Gitai
Cinematography Haim Asias
Sound Ravid Dvir, Alex Claude, David Gillain
Editing Isabelle Ingold
Research Ayelet Tamari, Jamil Khoury
Production Agav Films
In association with ARTE (France/Germany), Artemis (Belgium), Agav Films (France), Sundance Channel (USA), RAI 3 (Italy), RTBF (Belgium), YLE (Finland), Hamon (Israel), The New Fund for Israeli Cinema (Israel), Second Channel (Israel), CNC (France)
Producers Amos Gitai, Michael Tapuach, Laurent Truchot, Patrick Quinet
SALES / DISTRIBUTION
AGAV FILMS
6, cour Berard. 75004 Paris – France
+33 (0)1 42 40 48 45
agav@amosgitai.com
SALES / DISTRIBUTION
AGAV FILMS
6, cour Berard. 75004 Paris – France
+33 (0)1 42 40 48 45
agav@amosgitai.com
