FEATURE FILM
Ana Arabia
Filmed in one 85-minute sequence-shot, Ana Arabia presents a moment in the life of a small community of Jewish and Arab outcasts living together in a forgotten enclave on the “border” between Jaffa and Bat Yam in Israel. One day, the young journalist Yael visits them. In a place dominated by dilapidated shacks, low-income housing, and a lemon orchard, she meets and listens to the words of Yussuf, Sarah, Miriam, Walid, as well as those of their friends and neighbors. They tell Yael about their lives, dreams, hopes, love affairs, desires, and disappointments. Yael watches and listens. Their relationship to time differs from that of the city that surrounds them. In this makeshift and fragile place there exists a possibility of coexistence. A universal metaphor.
PRESS
Shot on March 6 between 4 and 5:30 pm, Ana Arabia is Amos Gitai’s 21st fiction feature film. It paints a much more concise picture of society than his other films… The first day of shooting took place on Sunday, March 3. However, what was shot that day was not the film Gitai ended up showing in Venice. Between Sunday evening and Wednesday, the main character vanished. The lead actress left the set and the screenplay was significantly reworked. The film is the outcome of a series of metamorphoses, which illustrates the Gitai method… Upon seeing the finished film, composed of remnants of the one originally intended to be completed on a Sunday afternoon and the efforts of an entire team over the course of the following three days, one sentence by the director comes to mind. He was speaking about the Middle East: ‘We have no choice. We have to stay optimistic despite what we know. Hope must be injected into the real.’ A good way to summarize the filming of this single sequence.
Thomas Sotinel, Le Monde, September 19, 2013
FESTIVAL
• Biennale di Venezia/Mostra d’arte cinematografica 2013 – Official competition
CREDITS
Screenplay Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme
Cinematography Giora Bejach
Production design Miguel Merkin
Editing Isabelle Ingold
Sound Alex Claude
Costumes Laura Sheim
Casting Ilan Moscovitch
Cast Yuval Scharf (Yael), Yussuf Abu Warda (Yussuf), Sarah Adler (Miriam), Assi Levy (Sarah), Uri Gavriel (Hassan), Norman Issa (Norman), Shady Srur (Walid)
Production Hamon Hafakot, Agav Hafakot, Agav Films
Producers Michael Tapuach, Amos Gitai, Laurent Truchot
Line producer Gady Levy
Filmed in one 85-minute sequence-shot, Ana Arabia presents a moment in the life of a small community of Jewish and Arab outcasts living together in a forgotten enclave on the “border” between Jaffa and Bat Yam in Israel. One day, the young journalist Yael visits them. In a place dominated by dilapidated shacks, low-income housing, and a lemon orchard, she meets and listens to the words of Yussuf, Sarah, Miriam, Walid, as well as those of their friends and neighbors. They tell Yael about their lives, dreams, hopes, love affairs, desires, and disappointments. Yael watches and listens. Their relationship to time differs from that of the city that surrounds them. In this makeshift and fragile place there exists a possibility of coexistence. A universal metaphor.
PRESS
Shot on March 6 between 4 and 5:30 pm, Ana Arabia is Amos Gitai’s 21st fiction feature film. It paints a much more concise picture of society than his other films… The first day of shooting took place on Sunday, March 3. However, what was shot that day was not the film Gitai ended up showing in Venice. Between Sunday evening and Wednesday, the main character vanished. The lead actress left the set and the screenplay was significantly reworked. The film is the outcome of a series of metamorphoses, which illustrates the Gitai method… Upon seeing the finished film, composed of remnants of the one originally intended to be completed on a Sunday afternoon and the efforts of an entire team over the course of the following three days, one sentence by the director comes to mind. He was speaking about the Middle East: ‘We have no choice. We have to stay optimistic despite what we know. Hope must be injected into the real.’ A good way to summarize the filming of this single sequence.
Thomas Sotinel, Le Monde, September 19, 2013
FESTIVAL
• Biennale di Venezia/Mostra d’arte cinematografica 2013 – Official competition
CREDITS
Screenplay Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme
Cinematography Giora Bejach
Production design Miguel Merkin
Editing Isabelle Ingold
Sound Alex Claude
Costumes Laura Sheim
Casting Ilan Moscovitch
Cast Yuval Scharf (Yael), Yussuf Abu Warda (Yussuf), Sarah Adler (Miriam), Assi Levy (Sarah), Uri Gavriel (Hassan), Norman Issa (Norman), Shady Srur (Walid)
Production Hamon Hafakot, Agav Hafakot, Agav Films
Producers Michael Tapuach, Amos Gitai, Laurent Truchot
Line producer Gady Levy
SALES / DISTRIBUTION
AGAV FILMS
6, cour Berard. 75004 Paris – France
+33 (0)1 42 40 48 45
agav@amosgitai.com