Tonight we saw an Israeli film that will be shown at the Austin Jewish Film Festival next month. The JFF program directors introduced the film, explained how they select the films for the festival (it takes a year!) and then gave a shout out to Chale Nafus, AFS Program director calling him "a gem." Chale's response was "I'll miss this when I'm dead." No matter how difficult the subject of the film to be seen is Chale humanizes the experience with his humor.
The documentary tells us the family story of the filmmaker, Noa Ben Hagai. She discovers that a great aunt converted to Islam, lived in the occupied territories with her Arab husband and 8 children and had no contact with her family for 26 years. The film is about Ben Hagai's attempt at uncovering the truth about her great aunt and her attempt at reconciliation with her Arabic relatives. All does not end well, although many attempts are made to help, socialize, and help some more. The problems encountered are too much for individuals to overcome. There was no comfortable solution. It left me feeling as uncertain as ever about the possibility of a peaceful resolution between Israel and the Palestinians.
I have always loved my visits to Israel and seeing the filmmakers family's homes and gardens reminded me of why I love Austin. It's edgy, the people are fiercely independent and creative, they smoke too much, the women are outspoken, alas there wasn't a tattoo in the bunch (an old religious taboo that many of us hold on to). Once again AFS selected well!
I truly hope I will get to see this film here in NYC.
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