Israel: A Right to Live

Last updated

Israel: A Right to Live
Directed by John Schlesinger
Written by Wolf Mankowitz
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Cinematography Anthony B. Richmond
Release date
  • 1967 (1967)
Running time
53 minutes

Israel: A Right to Live is a 1967 documentary shot in Israel about the Six-Day War. John Schlesinger directed and Harry Saltzman produced. Anthony B. Richmond photographed the 16 mm film. Wolf Mankowitz wrote the narration; [1] David Samuelson was a camera assistant. [2] The film is believed to be lost.

Contents

Production

Filmmaker and author Alan Rosenthal claims that the film was very "pro-Zionist" and would show "the new Israel, the new spirit." [3] In December 1967, an Israeli reporter Haggai Eshed attended a private London screening of Saltzman's "film about Israel", noting that after the screening it was decided that some further changes should be made to the film. Eshed described the film he saw as "the best propaganda film ever produced about Israel", adding that it especially succeeds in two aspects: "It illustrates the Jewish background of the establishment of the State of Israel and of the Six-Day War, and it successfully brings to life through cinematic techniques the experience of Jerusalem’s reunification and of the Jewish people’s reunion with the Western Wall.” [4] Saltzman, Mankowitz and Schlesinger were all Jewish. Saltzman was also chairman of the "Show Business Aid for Israel" committee. [5]

Schlesinger flew to Israel—he'd never been there before—and shot considerable footage. For Schlesinger, this was "a sense of reclaiming his heritage" and he found the experience "quite moving." [6]

Current status

Cinematographer Richmond claimed in 2011 that he's never been able to find a copy of the documentary. [7] Alan Rosenthal claims that "hours of film had been shot and edited, but nobody liked the result. Israel was too triumphant, too out of keeping with the changed mood. It had a few showings and then passed into oblivion." [3] On the other hand, William J. Mann claims that Schlesinger never finished the documentary "due to 'creative differences' with the BBC." [6]

The British National Archives contains several items pertaining to the film. These include "colour and black & white photographs"; a 7 December 1967 letter from the Israeli Embassy in London "congratulating Schlesinger" on his work in the documentary; a 5 October 1967 list of potential titles for the documentary; and a transcript of interviews filmed for the documentary. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Salesman</i> (1969 film) 1969 direct cinema documentary film

Salesman is a 1969 direct cinema documentary film, directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, about door-to-door Bible salesmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Schlesinger</span> English film and stage director (1926–2003)

John Richard Schlesinger was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing frankly in provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the rare openly gay directors working in mainstream films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haskell Wexler</span> American filmmaker

Haskell Wexler was an American cinematographer, film producer, and director. Wexler was judged to be one of film history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the International Cinematographers Guild. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography twice, in 1966 and 1976, out of five nominations. In his obituary in The New York Times, Wexler is described as being "renowned as one of the most inventive cinematographers in Hollywood."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March of the Living</span> Annual international Holocaust education and remembrance program

The March of the Living is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish calendar, thousands of participants march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerusalem Film Festival</span> Film festival

The Jerusalem Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia Van Leer, and has since become the main Israeli event for filmmakers and enthusiasts. Over the course of ten days every summer, over 200 films from 60 countries are screened at the Festival, along with a variety of special events, panels, and meetings with prominent local and international filmmakers, as well as professional industry workshops and events.

Cyril Wolf Mankowitz was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter. He is particularly known for three novels— Make Me an Offer (1952), A Kid for Two Farthings (1953) and My Old Man's a Dustman—and other plays, historical studies, and the screenplays for many successful films which have received awards including the Oscar, Bafta and the Cannes Grand Prix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uri Zohar</span> Israeli film director (1935–2022)

Rabbi Uri Zohar was an Israeli film director, actor and comedian who left the entertainment world to become an orthodox rabbi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Israel</span> Film production in Israel

Cinema of Israel refers to film production in Israel since its founding in 1948. Most Israeli films are produced in Hebrew, but there are productions in other languages such as Arabic and English. Israel has been nominated for more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film than any other country in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Thomas Sigel</span> American cinematographer

Newton Thomas Sigel, ASC is an American cinematographer best known for his collaborations with director Bryan Singer on films like The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, and the X-Men film franchise. He has also worked with filmmakers like Haskell Wexler, Mike Newell, David O. Russell, Terry Gilliam, Alan Ball, Robert Redford, and Nicolas Winding Refn. He is a BAFTA Award, Independent Spirit Award, Critics' Choice Award, and Satellite Award nominee.

<i>David & Fatima</i> 2008 film by Alain Zaloum

David & Fatima is a 2008 drama film about a Palestinian woman and Israeli man from Jerusalem who fall in love. The film is a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and was directed by Alain Zaloum, and stars Cameron Van Hoy, Danielle Pollack, Merik Tadros, Anthony Batarse, Ismail Kanater, Sasha Knopf, John Bryant Davila, Ben Kermode, Allan Kolman, Tony Curtis and Martin Landau. This was the last fictional movie Tony Curtis starred in.

Robert F. Kennedy visited the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948, one month before Israel declared its independence. Twenty-two years old at the time, he was reporting on the tense situation in the region for The Boston Post. During his stay, he grew to admire the Jewish inhabitants of the area. He later became a strong supporter of Israel; this was later cited as Sirhan Sirhan's alleged motivation for assassinating him on the first anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War on June 5, 1968. Sirhan happened to see a documentary about Kennedy in Palestine in 1948. Later in his murder trial, Sirhan Sirhan testified: "I hoped he will win Presidency until that moment. But when I saw, heard, he was supporting Israel, sir, not in 1968, but he was supporting, it from all the way from its inception in 1948, sir ..." Author Robert Blair Kaiser points out a discrepancy in the timing of Sirhan's decision. In Sirhan's diary, the entry in which he decided to kill Robert Kennedy was made on May 18. The documentary in question was first shown on TV in the Los Angeles area on May 20. When asked to explain, Sirhan said that he did not recall writing the journal.

The Shakshuka System is a 2008 Israeli documentary film created by the Israeli investigative journalist Mickey Rosenthal and the Israeli director Ilan Aboody. The film focuses on the connection between private capital and government in Israel and suggests that a system exists whereby the State of Israel sells its limited resources, cheaply, to a handful of wealthy families. The film shows this by specifically focusing on the business relationship between the political leadership in Israel and one of the wealthiest families in the Israeli economy – the Ofer family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Jewish Film Festival</span>

The UK Jewish Film Festival is an annual film festival dedicated to world cinema that explores Jewish life, history and culture worldwide. It was founded in 1997 and takes place in November, in London and in other cities in the United Kingdom.

Gidi Avivi is an Israeli film producer, the founder of Vice Versa Films.

<i>The Flat</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Arnon Goldfinger

The Flat is a 2011 feature documentary film, an Israeli–German co-production written and directed by Arnon Goldfinger. It was theatrically released in Israel in September 2011. It played continuously for thirteen months and has received rave reviews. Time Out Tel Aviv chose to place the film at the top of its recommended films for 49 weeks under the headline: "not to be missed" and chose it as one of the 25 most important art works from around the world for 2011. The Flat was theatrically released in Germany in June 2012. The German version of the film features the voice of renowned German actor Axel Milberg taking on the role of narrator Arnon Goldfinger. The Flat was theatrically released in USA in October 2012 and was theatrically released in Hungary in April 2015.

<i>The Gatekeepers</i> (film) 2012 Israeli film

The Gatekeepers is a 2012 internationally co-produced documentary film by director Dror Moreh that tells the story of the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, from the perspective of six of its former heads.

Johanna Harwood, a.k.a. J. M. Harwood, is a retired Irish screenwriter. She was born and raised in County Wicklow, Ireland. She co-wrote two James Bond films, and went uncredited for adaptation work on a third.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danae Elon</span> Israeli filmmaker

Danae Elon is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer from Jerusalem. She is based in Montreal, Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobi Farag</span> Israeli actor and filmmaker

Kobi Farag is an Israeli actor and filmmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amichai Chasson</span> Israeli poet, curator and filmmaker

Amichai Chasson is an Israeli poet, curator and filmmaker.

References

  1. Graham, Sheilah (1967). "Hollywood(?) (incomplete title)" (PDF). Watertown Daily Times . p. (14?).
  2. "Anthony B. Richmond, BSC/ASC". Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers.
  3. 1 2 Rosenthal, Alan (2000). Jerusalem, Take One!: Memoirs of a Jewish Filmmaker. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 110. ISBN   9780809323111.
  4. Haggai Eshed (15 December 1967). "He-hazon ha-Yisra'eli shel ish ha-seratim". Davar. 12932: 12.
  5. anonymous (10 November 1972). "Showbiz Men at Lunch". Jewish Observer and Middle East Review. 20: 23.
  6. 1 2 Mann, William J. (2006). Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger. Random House. p. 281. ISBN   9780823084692.
  7. "Tony Richmond – Racing Time". MovieScope magazine. March–April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  8. Bevan, Carolyne (August 2003). "John Schlesinger" (PDF). The National Archives (UK).