In this course, we will explore Israeli society and its historical roots by looking into its vibrant scene of documentary filmmaking and meeting Israeli filmmakers.
Israeli society has rapidly developed from a highly consolidated socialistic society into a fractured one, dominated by the logic of capitalism. Within just a few decades, multiple social fissures have emerged, revealing underlying ethnic, religious, and racial tensions. These occur mainly between Arabs and Jews, Ashkenazi and Mizrachi Jews and secular and religious Israelis. They force Israelis to re-think their national identity and understanding of the Zionist idea about a national home for the Jewish People.
Documentary films serve as a building block in societies' collective memory: they allow establishing shared narratives about the past as well as challenging such narratives and push for a change. By dissecting selected Israeli documentaries and talking to their creators, we will dive into key elements in the "Israeliness": Zionism, the Holocaust, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Kibbutz, the Israeli army, LGBT rights, and Jewish religious life.