Screenings, page 12
Bazi Gete Red Leaves By Sarah Cooper
With themes of immigration and the family, Ethopian-Israeli director Bazi Gete’s first feature — about an Ethiopian man living in Israel who sells his house after the death of his wife and moves between his children’s homes — is inspired partly by Gete’s personal experiences and partly by Shakespeare’s King Lear. “In [Lear] the immigration is internal, from one home to another; the protagonist never leaves the country. The play inspired me to write an immigration story, dealing with subjects such as generation gaps, family life and my personal story,” says Gete, whose family emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel when he was eight years old, going through refugee camps in Sudan. “Although 30 years has passed, in my eyes, an immigrant stays an immigrant,” says Gete, who admits his attitude has changed during the film-making process. “I began to understand there is also the opportunity to change and become someone else,” he says. Other than lead actor Debebe Eshetu, Gete cast non-actors in his debut fea-
Red Leaves
ture, which he shot in a documentary style mainly in Tel Aviv. “Each actor knew where he was going and we simply rolled and kept on filming through the scene. I think it was a wise choice. This almost documentary cinematic style serves the film’s voice and preserves its authenticity,” Gete says.
Red Leaves; (left) Bazi Gete
Continuing with his Shakespearean theme, he is now writing a script called Other Love, this time based on Romeo And Juliet and set in south Tel Aviv. It centres around a tragic love story between a Jewish Ethiopian widow and a young, non-Jewish, Eritrean worker. “Like in King Lear and Red Leaves, this
film also deals with the unhappiness and sorrow that people cause, and the dangers that lie in prejudices and racism,” says Gete, whose short Medium Rare screened at Jerusalem Film Festival in 2010. “The beautiful Cinematheque overlooking the city walls is a great stage,” adds the director.
Martina Gedeck jury member By Andreas Wiseman
German actress Martina Gedeck is known for standout performances in acclaimed features including Oscar winner The Lives Of Others, Oscar nominee The Baader Meinhof Complex and hit comedy Mostly Martha. Now the actress has a different role — juror — during her first trip to Jerusalem, serving on the Israeli Feature Film jury. “This is a young and modern festival,” she enthuses. “I find it very exciting. The whole city is a fascinating one.” Gedeck knows about fascinating and challenging cities, having grown up in Berlin in the 1970s. “We know about walls and a heavy security presence. Being enclosed became normal and natural. It felt harmless to us but, of course, it wasn’t. When the wall came down, we felt free. But this is a different situation here, of course,” she says. Gedeck has never shied away from challenging roles. Portraying radical terrorist Ulrike Meinhof in The Baader Meinhoff Complex stands out as a par-
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Martina Gedeck
ticularly challenging undertaking. “It was difficult because I had to get inside the mind of this complicated and very radical woman but to keep a distance from her dogmatism at the same time. It was an excellent but sad experience. She is a harsh character. She began as a soft woman, who was raised near a concentration camp. Her father was a priest.
Both her parents died by the time she was a teenager.” Understandably, Gedeck continues to be in demand for directors. Earlier this year she wrapped on Mika Kaurismaki’s period drama The Girl King. “Working with Mika was an extraordinary artistic experience,” she says. “He doesn’t say much. He’s very precise in what he
wants. There was a lot of freedom for me. I play the mother of Queen Kristina. It gave me a chance to play someone I’ve never played before. She’s always furious, mad. It was more theatrical than normal. I had tremendous dresses and wigs.” More recently she finished shooting on a three-part German TV special Tannback, about a small town divided between East Germany and West Germany, set in 1945-52. Later this summer she will shoot Jane Ainscough and Christoph Silber’s adaptation of Hape Kerkeling’s bestselling comedy book Ich Bin Dann Mal Weg from director Julia von Heinz (Hanna’s Journey). In the autumn she expects to star alongside Thomas Kretschmann in Arsen A Ostojic’s Second World War drama Man In The Box, about an Austrian family who take a Jewish doctor into hiding. “I’m really looking forward to this film,” explains the actress. “The Second World War remains a common theme for everyone in Germany. They are stories that have to be told.”
July 15-16, 2014 Screen International at Jerusalem 5