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ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL 2002 Send This Review to a Friend
On opening night of the 18th Annual Israel Film Festival, playing New York June 13-27, 2002, the attraction was the U.S. premiere of "A Trumpet in the Wadi," a sample of the many features and documentaries scheduled in the event that shows the sort of work recently emanating from the cinema of Israel. But first there were two other major attractions, the presenting of awards to Nobel Prize winner Eli Wiesel and former Home Box Office head Michael Fuchs.
Bette Midler was a hit fulfilling the task of bestowing the Israel Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award to Fuchs. She sang a specially written number that she did once before when honoring Fuchs. New lyrics were supplied to the Depression era song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Fuchs had lost his position at the time, and Midler cracked up the crowd as she belted her appeal for helping him, "Hebrews, can you spare a dime?"
Weisel's Lifetime Visionary Award from the Festival was handled more seriously by film director Peter Bogdanovich, who extolled Weisel for, among other reasons, the role he has played as a voice of conscience. In general there was a strong feeling at the opening, held at the Directors Guild of America Theater, that presenting films from Israel was important evidence of ongoing culture in the face of the crisis that Israel has been facing in a time of violence and challenge.
The film itself, "A Trumpet in the Wadi" is a mostly exuberant romantic comedy that nurtures the possibility of Israeli and Arab personal relations despite the political gulf. Directed by Lina and Slava Chaplin from a screenplay by Amit Lior, the film, set in Haifa, concerns Huda, an Arab woman who falls in love with trumpet player Alex, an Israeli man who has immigrated from Russia. Short and hirsute, he's not handsome, but he pursues her ardently and has a lively sense of humor. Can they bridge the gap? Will her family accept him?
There is a side story involving her sister, who is pregnant from a lapsed relationship, and she is scheming to get another man to marry her. Much of the film is free-spirited and amusing, with one particularly hilarious scene when Alex takes Huda to see his crazed mother who does nothing but berate him.
The film's concerns are of the every day variety, played out against the background of what's going on generally. But despite the romance and the comedy, there is an underlying sense of foreboding that something tragic will happen. The movie's style is along realistic lines with jangling camera movements to provide the feeling of truthfulness. The screenplay was adapted from a novel by Sami Michael.
The opening was attended by the beautiful actress Raeda Adon, who plays the pregnant sister, and producer Riki Shelach.
The regular showings of films were scheduled at the Clearview East 59th Street Theatre, 239 East 59th Street, with the New York event following earlier Israel Film Fesival versions in Los Angeles , Chicago and Miami, all under the guidance of founder and director Meir Fenigstein.
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