10421 Israeli Fiction and Cinema

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Film Studies or in Hebrew Literature

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Understanding Movies: Introduction to the Art of Cinema

Authors: Nurith Gertz, Ilan Avisar

The course deals with Israeli films adapted from literary works of central modern writers. It develops the students’ ability to analyze films and guides them in studying the movie adaptations of literary works and understanding the history of Israeli cinema. The course reviews the history and ideology of Israeli cinema to the present against the background of processes that Israeli society and culture underwent.

Topics: National cinema: “They Were Ten”; Later national cinema: “He Walked in the Fields,” “Every Bastard a King”; Class cinema: “Sallah Shabati,” “Charlie and a Half”; Personal cinema: “Three Days and a Child,” “My Michael”; Adolescent comedy: “The Troupe,” “Lemon Popsicle”; Deviant cinema: “Stretcher Drill,” “Atalia”; Return to the past: “Avanti Popolo,” “Once We Were Dreamers”; The later years: “Saint Clara,” “Beaufort.” The films will be loaned to the students for the semester.

Books: Moshe Shamir, He Walked in the Fields; A. B. Yehoshua, “Three Days and a Child”; Amos Oz, My Michael; Izhak Ben Ner, “Atalia.”